9 Ways to Make Giving Thanks to the Lord a Habit

How often do you get stuck in the rut of complaining about everything, discontentment, or ingratitude? I hate to say it, but I find myself in this rut a little too much. The weight of military life constantly sheds light to the discontent in my sinful heart. When I rebelliously persist in this rut, my heart focuses on everything negative and nothing good. I choose to ask “why me, why now, why here, why this?” instead of giving thankful recognition to the One in control.

But how do we get out of this rut, this pit of ingratitude? How do you and I choose to give thanks to God when our hearts lure us to dwell in discontentment?

In such a small but drastically life changing way… give thanks to the Lord.

I’ve heard a couple different statistics saying how long it takes before a habit is formed. Some say 30 days, some say 6 weeks, and some say at least 3 months. Though the time it takes to form a habit may look different for each of us, the one commonality between these statistics is that it takes time, daily repetition, and endurance. Sisters, we need to make giving thanks to the Lord a habit! But where to start…

9 Ways to Make Giving Thanks to the Lord a Habit

Keep a daily thanksgiving journal. Hosanna Revival has some beautiful and affordable journals.
Carve out time everyday to pray thanksgivings to the Lord.
Memorize a new verse each week about giving thanks (click here for me free list “Give Thanks” Verses to Memorize under the Bible Study Resources section).
Create accountability with someone to verbally say what you and he/she is thankful for. Your spouse or your best friend would be great go-to’s for this.
Make it a dinner time ritual for everyone to say one thing they’re thankful for that day.
Do a study on what it means to give thanks to the Lord.
Do a Bible word study on “thanksgiving” (click here for my free Bible Word Study Worksheet under the Bible Study Resources section).
For every request you make to the Lord, give Him thanks for one thing.
Hang pretty reminders to give thanks to the Lord around the house.

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Make today the day you choose to start giving thanks instead of complaining or groaning. Give thanks to the Lord daily, implementing these ideas above into your own life to push out the bitterness or discontent. It’s amazing how something so simple as giving thanks to the Lord forges a lasting impact on your heart and relationship with God. Please use the resources above to help you make giving thanks to the Lord a habit! They’re free to use:)