What Isn’t

Most of the time when we think of expressing thanks, it’s for the gifts we have: food, shelter, provision, family. And it can feel more natural to consider what isn’t in our lives as prayer requests, not praise reports.

But sometimes gifts from God are in what we don’t have.

Today let’s embrace this uncommon approach to gratitude and give thanks for what isn’t in our lives.

Think back to a tough season. Maybe it was just a hard time, or it could even be before you received salvation. What trajectory was your life on before God intervened?

What “not great” things were once your norm, but now no longer exist in your life? Think about how you’ve changed and grown since then. Maybe even from who you were as a teen to who you are now.

What did you struggle with before that doesn’t plague you any longer?

What’s a lie you long believed but you don’t tolerate anymore?

What character traits has God formed or transformed in you as a new creation?

Think back on a time that God rescued you. Again, this could be salvation, or it could be when He opened your eyes to a dangerous path. What difficulty had you previously accepted as your unwelcomed lot in life, but then God brought you truth and freedom?

One example for me is my internal self-talk. My natural self-critic is loud, mean, and bossy. Only within the past few years did I learn that not everyone’s internal dialogue is as resounding or as cruel as mine used to be. I still remember the pivotal moment I realized I could adjust the tone and volume of my self-criticism.

When talking with God about my old loud mean internal voice, I felt Him say to me, “You used to think that’s how I talked to you, too.” So I started a journey of changing how I spoke to myself, and how I listened for God’s true loving voice.

The whole of Psalm 107 is powerful to read and study as you recall what “once was” in your life and “what isn’t” any longer. I encourage you, read it as a celebration of God’s steadfast love and let it prompt uncommon gratitude for what isn’t yours anymore.

God, thank You that those things that aren’t in my life anymore.