{"id":1575,"date":"2015-02-28T21:44:21","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T21:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2015-02-22T21:50:38","modified_gmt":"2015-02-22T21:50:38","slug":"a-praying-spirit-thank-you-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/a-praying-spirit-thank-you-god.html","title":{"rendered":"A Praying Spirit: Thank You, God!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of dexchao\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What if all of your prayers today were of thanksgiving and appreciation? What if, instead of a laundry list of petitions or a few moments spent in distracted longing for relief, wealth, power, or just simple human understanding, you focused instead on all of the gifts you have been given and all of the bounty placed in the world by God?<\/p>\n

We don’t live in a very thank-filled world. Oh, yes, we have plenty of outlets to express our thanks to people for gifts or thoughtfulness. Those cards can prompt a smile or, even, a tear, when given from the heart. But often, that’s where our gratitude rests. That’s where our appreciation ends – and we move on to the next thank-giving moment.<\/p>\n

Today, however, I challenge us all to put aside everything else except gratitude in God. Gratitude for His power and might. Gratitude for our lives and world. Gratitude for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Gratitude for our ability to pray, worship, and live in faith.<\/p>\n

I have a feeling that if we sweep away our stilted gratitude with abundant thanks and appreciation, we will feel different. Uplifted. Cleansed. And clear-eyed enough to see even more things about which we can lift up a loud, hearty, “Thank you, God!”<\/p>\n

Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if all of your prayers today were of thanksgiving and appreciation? What if, instead of a laundry list of petitions or a few moments spent in distracted longing for relief, wealth, power, or just simple human understanding, you focused instead on all of the gifts you have been given and all of the bounty…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1272,3,360,43,1047,578,1245,1236,95,1247,1246],"tags":[1558,1554,1555,1559,1556,1557],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-praying-spirit-prayer-2","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-good","category-goodness","category-positive","category-prayer-2","category-prayers","category-rising-above-tragedy","category-uplifting","tag-a-heart-of-thankfulness","tag-giving-thanks-to-god","tag-thank-you-god","tag-thankful-for-faith","tag-thankful-for-life","tag-things-to-be-thankful-for"],"yoast_head":"\nA Praying Spirit: Thank You, God! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/02\/a-praying-spirit-thank-you-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Praying Spirit: Thank You, God! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What if all of your prayers today were of thanksgiving and appreciation? 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1576,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}