How to Be Grateful When Life Is HardSample

We live in an age of anxiety. Alongside the potent fears of our frail hearts and the steady barrage of bad news, the internet and social media have only made things worse. Anxiety, fear, stress, and worry can crush us.

Anxiety can cripple us if our eyes get so stuck on the “problem” that we can’t see God. It pushes God to the side when what we need most amidst our anxiety is Him. We’re not strong enough to silence our fear or overcome it with optimism. We need hope, but we also need help.

Fight anxiety with adoration. Push back against fear and worry through the power of thanksgiving. Don’t think of gratitude as something to do when life is easy. Gratitude is gritty. It’s needed when the rug is swept out from under us. We turn to thanksgiving when blessed or burdened.

Instead of strategies centered on self, Paul points us to God. But he doesn’t turn to gratitude as if to say, “It could be worse. Suck it up and look on the bright side.” Instead, thanksgiving redirects our hearts. Thanksgiving stirs up trust and hope for what God has done and can do. As we lean into gratitude and note God’s goodness, it shines hope into our darkness.

The first thing Paul encourages us to do is pray with thankfulness. This not only involves making thanksgiving a bigger part of your prayer life but also praying with thankfulness in all things. When we pray, we don’t stop working toward a remedy and do nothing, but we do surrender control. We open our hands (and hearts) and give God what only He can figure out and fix.

We also cultivate gratitude in anxiety by giving thanks for blessings. Worry can cloud our perception of the world and lead us to believe that nothing good is happening to us. When faced with anxiety, try to give thanks for any blessing in your life. Do you have breath in your lungs? Are you fed? Is there anything good you can recall from the last week or month? What is one blessing in your life today that you can give thanks for?

Or, can you give thanks for forgiveness, mercy and grace, adoption in Christ, God’s Word, the Spirit at work in you, or the promise of eternal life? That things will be made right one day and that there is light amidst the brokenness of the present.

When our feet shake beneath us as fear and worry send tremors into our life, we find stable footing by planting our hope in God’s promises. Fight back the fear of what could be with the rock-solid hope of what you know to be true. In your anxiety, give thanks. In your fear, rejoice in Him. When worried by things below, worship the One above and over it all.