I’m a list maker by trade. I even make a list after I complete tasks so I can cross them off my list and feel a sense of accomplishment. But sometimes, the lists keep me from having a rejoicing heart.
One morning, I decided to list everything wrong in my life. Everything that needed a corrected course. The list included complex items such as lawyers’ fees, a pending lawsuit, problems with our adult children who hadn’t found their specific walk with the Lord, and my husband, who lay in bed with Covid. With the big things out of the way, I moved on to the mundane items of laundry, yard work, and self-improvement.
I pondered on this list for a short time, then crumpled it up and threw it into the trash with a laugh. I hadn’t felt the sting of all the life around me, and I fully understood why. But my heart rejoiced regardless.
The psalmist does not say he rejoiced only in good times but always because he trusted the Lord with his heart. I, too, trust the Lord will resolve my husband’s health, the legal matters, and everything else on my worldly list.
Today, I am not making a list of woes but rather keeping a happy heart in a gratitude diary that fixes my mind on God, not this world’s problems.
What makes your heart rejoice? Try keeping a gratitude journal until you are convinced Christ is the source of your heart’s rejoicing.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Lori Layne is a caregiver for her ninety-three-year-old father. She is married and has six adult children and eleven grandchildren. She lives in West Michigan with her husband, Tim, and German Shepherd, Shadow. She loves to express herself and the grace of God in her writing. Lori is a writer, pilot, missionary, cancer survivor, and best of all, a child of God.