Seek and Ye Shall Find

 Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to strategize ways of dealing with stress. It's something we all deal with, especially caregivers. I'm walking and exercising more, which helps the body get rid of stress and it helps improve sleep to some degree. But I've also been working on training my thoughts. I've been working on purposefully finding things to be thankful for. At first, it was a bit difficult because let's face it, caregiving is hard work. 

This morning, I was plugging Chris into a nebulizer for a breathing treatment as he had an asthma attack yesterday afternoon after we'd been out for a little bit. As I was doing his treatment and his tube feeding, I didn't even really think about it; this "thought" just rolled up out of me. I thought, thank you, Lord, for carrying us through the long night. My own thankfulness surprised me! Lol. I realized at that moment that it's getting easier and easier to be thankful, even for the little stuff.

Jesus said seek, and ye shall find. Obviously, if He said it, then it's true. But it's also true on many levels. If we seek Him - we'll find Him. If we seek rejection- we'll find rejection. If we seek truth - we'll find truth. And if we seek things to be thankful for - we'll find things to be thankful for. When I started the quest of determining to grow thankfulness, I didn't realize what would happen. I knew it would help my overall attitude, and changing my perspective has certainly done that. And for that - I'm thankful. (Haha - see what I did there?) - smile.

My point is, I think, that when we truly start looking (seeking) for things to be thankful for - even in the difficulties of caregiving, we'll find so many ways He walks into our daily lives to support and help us. Being thankful may not change our circumstances, but it changes us.

Today, I will continue to seek things to thank Him for. As I go about my day, I'll look for all the hidden blessings that I may have missed by complaining so much. (I know I'm the only one who does that.) I'll shift my focus from my problems to my provider, from my hurts to my healer, from my needs to my nurturer. Man, He really is everything for us, isn't He? For that, I will be thankful. Will you join me?

I have two bookstores of devotionals, Bible study guides, poetry, and more! You can get my downloadable eBooks (some are free!) from Dove's Fire Ministries Bookstore. A few of them are also available in print or for Kindle on Amazon!