3 Creative Ways to Keep a Grateful Heart

Practicing gratitude has carried me through many hard nights and is a form of spiritual warfare. In this wilderness season I have been in, the Lord has taught me multiple ways of battling in spiritual warfare against the tactics of the enemy. These include praying, worshiping, rebuking, speaking scripture, and gratitude. 

Philippians 4:6-7 – “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

When I take the time to reflect on the day or the week, it helps me to be intentional to see where God showed up. Often, the big gestures stand out to us, but God is also in the details and the small things and we may miss it if we aren’t paying attention. Like when someone holds the door for you or gives you a compliment. Or when you suddenly notice and appreciate the colors of the flowers on the tree. That’s God showing up through others and through nature. He is all around us.

And maybe there are days where it’s hard to see where there was any good. We can find gratitude in the Lord Himself and for who He is. And if not that, then in the hope of better days to come – because they will come.

Sometimes the situation changes and sometimes it doesn’t, but we can always ask God to help switch our perspective to find joy in the things and people around us. This takes our focus off of the fear, the anxious thoughts, the questions and the unknown, and helps us stay present and to fix our eyes on things above and brings peace (Philippians 4:8-9).

Below are 3 creative examples I have used to help me keep a grateful heart.

1. Daily Gratitude Cards

• In 2024, God placed it on my heart to be intentional each day to write down something that brought me joy. I bought notecards and a notecard box, so before bed each night, I would be intentional to reflect on the day and try to find one thing to be grateful for and add the card to my box. 
• Over time, I had a collection of gratitudes that on the hard days, I would go back and read that would bring encouragement and remind me of God’s faithfulness.

2. Scrapbook of Memories

• I bought an Instax mini printer which allows you to print any picture from your phone into a polaroid. I also bought a scrapbook, pens, and a small basket to hold everything that I would leave in my car. So for special moments or occasions or memories that would happen and I needed a moment to reflect, I would drive to a peaceful place and take the time to print the picture out, add it to a page in the book and write out a description of this memory and why it was special. 
• I have built a collection of beautiful moments that I can go back to for encouragement and this has become a fun outlet for me.

3. Prayers

• In my night time prayers, I would start with gratitude to God for who He is and then try to be intentional to reflect on my day or what’s around me and find things I could thank God for. And sometimes this would turn into me realizing how blessed I really am and how much I’d taken for granted. Just because God wasn’t showing up where I felt I needed Him the most, there were so many other blessings around me. For example…

• The blessing that my whole family are believers. Not everyone has that gift and they have been a great support system and even though they aren’t perfect, they try to understand and help me and that in itself is such a special gift. We aren’t debating and fighting about whether Jesus is real, we are supporting and uplifting and pushing each other into purpose and towards God.
• The blessing of hot water and clean water. Many people in other countries do not have this luxury and I get to enjoy a warm shower for as long as I want and easy access to clean water.
• The blessing of my own room. Some families have to share a room with siblings or a whole family. I have a space to myself.
• The blessing of having a phone, a car, clothes, the freedom to worship God freely in my country, direct access to even speak to God (a blessing and gift Jesus died for us to have), etc.

I would have missed out on these blessings because I’ve taken these things for granted and as expectations in my life. But in reality, these are privileges and blessings that not everyone has. What a gift to rejoice in and praise God for.