Thankful-Training

The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.  Are you thankful for the things you have and the people that God has put in your life?? 

Being thankful produces joy. 

I'm a lister.  My husband is not thankful for my lists.  He's says I probably have lists of my lists.  And, he's right.  But don't tell him...  :)  One of my "lists" is things I'm thankful for.  This particular list is the only one that never gets re-organized, or re-done.  But it does get longer almost every day.

It's hard to be grumpy or needy when you have pages and pages of things you are thankful for.  Here's what I do:

I keep a prayer journal.  Actually, it's a 3-ring binder with paper protectors and in it I have a list of my prayer requests.  When God answers a prayer, I mark it off the prayer list and write the date beside it.  Then I write that specific request in the list of "praises" or answered prayers. 

I do update my prayer list every once in a while.  When there's a single, lonely request on a page surrounded by answered request, I redo my prayer list.  But the "praise" list is the same.  It just gets longer.  Some of the things on that list are things some may consider "silly" some are HUGE, either way, they are answered prayers and they are special to me because I know that God heard my prayer and that's proof that He loves me! 

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My children do a "prayer chain".  It's not what you're probably thinking.  We make chains out of strips of construction paper.  Each strip has a single "praise" on it.  The older children have a prayer journal and when God answers one of their prayers, they scratch it off and write it on a "link" and then they add it to their chain.  The longer the chain the more requests they have had answered. 

My children love it!  This lets them see first hand that God can and will answer their prayers.  They learn to be thankful for everything God has done for them and they learn to pray...and it's fun!  It also increases their faith.  They look at all the links or answered prayers and they know that God will answer more and more.  And, me, as their mother?  I'm just happy to be a part of training them to be faithful! 

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