🎶 This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held 🎶

– Natalie Grant, “Held“

Happy November! I love new months and what they represent: new beginnings, change, and sometimes, continuation. Welcome to a new month and a new day!! Let’s make November a never-ending Praise PARTY. Look for reasons to shout and celebrate. Fight for your happy. The above lyrics, song by Christian recording artist, Natalie Grant, are so powerful. In a world consumed with grief, it’s crucial to understand that pain is inevitable. We will suffer. We will experience loss. There will be so many unfair circumstances and, so often, the things we hold dear will be torn from our lives. We are able to SURVIVE it all; and for that, we can be grateful. 

With all that being said, the truth is, we won’t always feel thankful. That’s why we have to choose it. Just this week, I experienced an extremely unexpected turn of events. The circumstance made my heart sting. Whew! But I survived! I was held together by God and a commitment to having a grateful heart. I have learned the art of gratitude. It has to be practiced when it’s felt and when it’s hard to find. Choosing thankfulness is power. It puts us in the driver’s seat. It gives us control. It regulates our perspective and our emotions.

It’s so easy to look at what’s missing, what has or hasn’t happened, the injustice and prejudices. But with practice, it’s just as easy to flow into thankfulness and gratitude. It becomes easier to appreciate the little things and those we take for granted (the air that we breathe and the water we have to drink). We can be thankful for the clothes we have to wear when so many others have so little. We can appreciate our one faithful friend when some have no friends. We can celebrate being of stable mind. We can celebrate having access to medical care for both physical and mental needs. We have so many reasons to choose thankfulness. Remember, at any moment, we could always have less than we have today. 

What makes you thankful? What will you celebrate today? How will you walk with Thanksgiving this month?  Fighting to maintain a grateful heart keeps depression, loneliness, disappointment, loss, and the effects of abuse and a painful past from stealing the spotlight. YOU and happiness get to be more important. Your well-being gets to be a priority. When we focus less on what we don’t have, we will find that we have so much more. I wish you an amazing November and an even more amazing future. 

Hope Always, 

💜Missy