Christianity Oasis Forum

[Angelwings]

How to Be Thankful in Tough Times


Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God
what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

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1. Don't worry about anything. Worrying doesn't change anything. It's
stewing without doing. There's no such thing as born worriers; worry is
a learned response. You learned it from your parents. You learned it
from your peers. You learned it from experience. That's good news. The
fact that worry is learned means it can also be unlearned. Jesus says,
"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.
Today's trouble is enough for today" (Matthew 6:34 NLT).

2. Pray about everything. Use the time you've spent worrying for
praying. If you prayed as much as you worried, you'd have a whole lot
less to worry about. Some people think God only cares about religious
things, such as how many people I invite to church or my tithing. Is God
interested in car payments? Yes. He's interested in every detail of your
life. That means you can take any problem you face to God.

3. Thank God in all things. Whenever you pray, you should always pray
with thanksgiving. The healthiest human emotion is not love, but
gratitude. It actually increases your immunities; it makes you more
resistant to stress and less susceptible to illness. People who are
grateful are happy. But people who are ungrateful are miserable because
nothing makes them happy. They're never satisfied; it's never good
enough. So if you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, of being thankful
in everything, it reduces stress in your life.

4. Think about the right things. If you want to reduce the level of
stress in your life, you must change the way you think. The way you
think determines how you feel, and the way you feel determines how you
act. So if you want to change your life, you need to change what you're
thinking about.

This involves a deliberate, conscious choice where you change the
channels. You choose to think about the right things: focus on the
positive and on God's Word. Why? Because the root cause of stress is the
way you choose to think.

When we no longer worry, when we pray about everything, when we give
thanks, when we focus on the right things, the apostle Paul tells us the
result is, "The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7 NLT).

What a guarantee! He is guaranteeing peace of mind.