Gratitude Makes a Significant Difference

What if I asked if you consider yourself to be a grateful person? I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that you often breathe a sigh of contentment and thank God for the obvious blessings in your life. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that saying thank you comes naturally to you. 

But then again, perhaps that is more of a “gratitude-on-autopilot” situation?

Here are a few questions that take it a step further and determine if you consider yourself intentional about gratitude. Do you wake up and count your blessings? Does gratitude set the tone for how you respond to people throughout the day? Do you go to bed at night thanking God for the evident and the not-so-evident gifts He granted you during the day?

Research confirms that intentional gratitude produces positive results. Let’s discover how practicing gratitude can make a significant difference in our lives.

Mental Benefits

Practicing gratitude produces benefits for our mental health. For example, it decreases anxiety and depression, helps us handle negative emotions, and fosters contentment. 

Physical Benefits

When we practice gratitude, we reap many benefits on the physical front as well – benefits which include better sleep, improved immunity, decreased pain, and lower blood pressure.

Spiritual Benefits

It is clear that intentional gratitude significantly affects our mental and physical health, but that isn’t where it stops. We experience benefits in our spiritual lives, too. 

God’s will for us is to be thankful no matter what we face, as we find in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which says, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Becoming a person who consistently looks at life through a grateful lens is a significant spiritual benefit. 

When we are grateful to God alone for His blessings and realize that we receive blessings only because of His goodness, we cultivate humility. Humility is another significant spiritual benefit. 

Also, a humble heart allows additional Christlike characteristics such as joy, hope, and peace to take root. When those traits become more evident in our lives, people are impacted for Christ, which is one more significant spiritual benefit.

Friends, please pray with me that we will be inspired to pursue intentional gratitude.  

Your Thoughts?

Even though this post discussed several benefits, I believe there are many more. Can you list some that I did not include? Please comment with more physical, mental, and spiritual benefits of practicing gratitude. 

Additional Note: This is an incredible tool to check out if you want to make gratitude a daily practice. This link will take you to the Daily Prayer and Gratitude Journal from The Christian Journal Co.

First of all, this journal has a beautiful appearance. When you open it, you will find each page divided into a morning and an evening portion. The morning half of the page has a space to write down a prayer request for that day, three things to thank the Lord for, and three ways to make the day great. The evening half of the page has blanks to fill in three blessings that happened during the day and ways you can make tomorrow better. A different Bible verse separates the morning and evening sections on each page.

P.S. Please let me know if you order this journal. I would love to hear what you think!