“Do you want to do a 30 day gratitude challenge?”

The question was asked by one of my best friends. Near the end of October, she proposed that for the next 30 days leading up to Thanksgiving we would write down and share one thing that we were grateful for each day.

As I️ started writing this post, I️ realized that I️ never really asked my friend what motivated her to start this challenge. So I️ asked. She said:

“I was reading a Facebook post about gratitude and it inspired me so much! I felt led to express my gratitude to the Lord more because I know gratitude leads to contentment. And that’s what I desire for my life, to be content in every season of my life like Paul was (Philippians 4:11-13). I knew this would benefit me so much. Then, I felt I had to share this challenge with my close friends and family! And they were all so excited and on board to join me.”

Today marks day 23 of our challenge. I️ have to say, focusing on gratitude for the last 23 days has been both challenging and rewarding. Some days gratitude has come easily. Other days, it has been more difficult to find something to be grateful for simply because it’s so easy to let negative situations detract from the good that actually exists.

I have to be honest, some days I had to choose to express gratitude for situations that weren’t ideal. However, in making the choice to be thankful, the Lord revealed how much He has been working. Through this challenge he is helping me to see the positive side of each situation and building patient and contentment in me.

The same is true for my friend. She told me that in the beginning this challenge was so easy to do because she could clearly identify some tangible things in her life to be grateful for, such as the Lord blessing her with a job she loves and a new, reliable car. However, after she expressed gratitude for the obvious/tangible things it became more challenging to come up with other things to be grateful for.

My friend prayed for a fresh perspective and that the Lord would show her other things she had to be grateful for. Like me, God revealed that she also needed to be grateful for things she wasn’t so happy about in her life or things she wished were different. For example, my friend truly desires to be married one day, but the Lord has shown her that she needs to be grateful for her season of singleness.

In all, we have both found our journey to 30 days of gratitude to be such a blessing. It has challenged us to appreciate all aspects of our lives, the tangible, the intangible, the good, and the not so good.

We have 7 days left in this challenge and we would like to extend an invitation for you to join us in expressing gratitude. We all have things in our lives to be thankful for. As we prepare for Thanksgiving Day, let’s not allow this time to slip by without being thankful for all that we have.

So will you join us? Will you take the next 7 days to reflect on your life and express gratitude? If so, follow the 3 simple rules below to participate.

Rules of the challenge:

1. Follow me on Instagram @_ssullivan_

2. Starting tomorrow (11/17), look for and like my gratitude post each day

3. Comment on the post with one thing you are grateful for

I hope this challenge will shift your perspective like it has for me and my friend. We look forward to sharing in this time of thanksgiving with you!

“in every situation [no matter what the circumstance] be thankful…”

1 Thessalonians 5:18