{"id":1926,"date":"2021-11-22T15:35:14","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T15:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=1926"},"modified":"2021-11-22T15:35:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T15:35:14","slug":"gratitude-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2021\/11\/gratitude-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gratitude seems to be almost art these days. It seems everyone &#8211; well most of us &#8211; expect things.<\/p>\n<p>But this is a week where we are given time to reflect and enjoy gratitude &#8211; or we should.<\/p>\n<p>What does gratitude mean? The dictionary says it is <em>a quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.<\/em> That isn&#8217;t much help. But the definition of &#8220;grateful&#8221; does help: <em>warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We should be grateful down to our toes! We have been shown so much kindness by God. To begin with how &#8217;bout the air we breathe, eyesight that lets us see the beauty around us, ears that hear the sound of laughter, feet that take us where we want to go, a brain that works, blood that flows through our veins&#8230;you get the idea.<\/p>\n<p>Then there is God&#8217;s love for us. His grace and His mercy. His protection every day. His Word, the Bible, which is absolutely true. It contains wisdom and is useful for teaching, correction and instruction in right living. Then there is prayer &#8211; the ability to talk to God knowing He hears our every prayer. If you need wisdom, God promises He will give it to you, liberally, when you ask.<\/p>\n<p>For the one who has put their trust in Christ there is salvation. Full and free. Which takes away our sin by forgiveness and releases us from guilt and shame. Hallelujah!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For Thyself, best gift divine,<br \/>\nTo our race so freely given,<br \/>\nFor that great, great love of Thine,<br \/>\nPeace on earth and joy in heaven,<br \/>\nLord of all, to Thee we raise<br \/>\nThis our hymn of grateful raise.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gratitude seems to be almost art these days. It seems everyone &#8211; well most of us &#8211; expect things. But this is a week where we are given time to reflect and enjoy gratitude &#8211; or we should. What does gratitude mean? The dictionary says it is a quality or feeling of being grateful or&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[400,13,404,12,114],"class_list":["post-1926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-forgiveness","tag-grateful","tag-gratitude","tag-thankful","tag-thanksgiving"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gratitude - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/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\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2021\/11\/gratitude-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gratitude - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gratitude seems to be almost art these days. It seems everyone &#8211; well most of us &#8211; expect things. But this is a week where we are given time to reflect and enjoy gratitude &#8211; or we should. What does gratitude mean? 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It seems everyone &#8211; well most of us &#8211; expect things. But this is a week where we are given time to reflect and enjoy gratitude &#8211; or we should. What does gratitude mean? 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No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 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