Hey guys,
It is the year 2020! Whoa! When I was a teenager, I never thought I would see this year. Thankfully, I am blessed with getting to start it. I hope this year has started well with you all and I pray that last year was full of blessings also.
This year has been going smoothly…so far. However, last year was full of surprises and ups and downs. I was off the blog for quite a few months because my family and I suffered a significant loss last year. I was taking time to regroup and reflect, and now I think its time to get back to some sort of routine. Despite the tragedy that we dealt with, I have realized that I am still tremendously blessed.
Therefore, I wanted to share some encouraging words with the rest of you guys. Last year, I started the year off with a “one word” to focus on, which was diligence. This year I would like to do the same thing, but this time I have chosen gratitude.
Let me tell you why!
My one word for 2020: Gratitude
You may be wondering why I had chosen a word that is typically picked for people that were given a great blessing when I just stated I lost a lot last year. You may think a more fitting word would be perseverance or faith so that I can grow stronger. Maybe even courageous would fit better for 2020. Well, I went through many words, including the few I named, but my heart and mind brought me back to gratitude over and over again.
The truth is, even though I have suffered, just for a brief moment, I still have so many blessings to be thankful for. I am sure it’s the same for you; we can always find something even if it’s tiny to be grateful for. Let me count my blessings that I DID NOT LOSE, here, right now. Hopefully, you might find something on my list that you can be thankful for too!
My blessings
- I am alive
- I am healthy
- My husband is alive and well
- I still have other loved ones
- I have a safe and comfortable home
- An abundance of food to eat and water to drink
Obviously, I have so many other blessings I could list, but I will leave that for a different blog post. The idea is that I still have life, I still have necessities, so despite whatever negative thing that is happening or happened, there is still hope and the ability to move forward.
So, to help me focus on gratitude, I have collected a few resources that I think will be helpful. I will share them with you in case you’d like to try them out too.
Gratitude resources
1. One Word Bible Study
For those that are unfamiliar with choosing one word to focus on for the year, here is a book that will help you out…I revisited it to get me refreshed in the idea.
Also, here is my blog post from last year with me talking about my word diligence for the year.
I made a blog post on how to create your own bible study and even made a one-word study for the word courage. Please check those out if you would like to join me in picking a word to focus on.
2. A Gratitude Journal
There are so many of these I just decided to pick two to start me off. You never know, I might fill them up and get to try others. Here are a few that I was looking at:
- Good Days Start With Gratitude: This is a year-long devotional that guides you into writing what you are thankful for each week.
- Grateful: A Journal for Counting Your blessings: Similar to the first one, it prompts you to record your blessings daily.
- Prayer Journal for Women: Another year-long journal that comes with scriptures, devotionals, and areas to record your thoughts.
3. Books on Gratitude
I wanted to read some books that would help me see different perspectives on being grateful. Most of these books help you look at the bigger picture of life and reminds you that you are truly blessed and not alone in your struggles. I will like to read more books on gratitude this year, but I’ll share the ones I’ll start with.
- Growing in Gratitude
- Practicing Gratitude: How Knowing God Leads to Biblical Thankfulness
- Contentment: A Godly Woman’s Adornment: Contentment is a synonym of thankfulness.
- Thankfulness: Even When It Hurts: This one seems interesting, and I am hoping to get some much-needed guidance and encouragement from this book.
4. Gratitude Decorations
These are supposed to help you remember what your one word is for the year. If you surround yourself with things that symbolize the word, you’ll more than likely start to live it.
Something like this wall art is just an idea of what I am referring to for my one word.
You can be creative and buy some wooden letters from the craft store that spells out the word, or even paint or draw your word on canvas.
Final Thoughts
This year is a blessing to all of us, and I wanted to focus on being thankful for it. I hope I have inspired you all to do the same. If you picked your own one word for 2020, please let me know in the comments below.
Until next time,
yasmin rose xoxo
