Bridget A. Thomas
Every day is a gift!
Grateful for the Goodness of God
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. – Psalm 34:8
When starting this 100 days of gratitude someone asked me about the items that I write down on my gratitude list. They can vary, but mainly I try to focus on good things that happened during my day. This is why I often write items on my list in the evening. I try to look back at my day and see what good things occurred.
It’s like a scavenger hunt. God sprinkles so many blessings in our day. But how many do we notice and how many do we miss? I fear that we miss a lot of those good things, simply because we are not looking for them.
Did God wake you up this morning? Did God get you to work safely? Did God help you complete a project you have been working on? Did God paint a beautiful sunrise? Did God give you eyes to see and ears to hear? Did you feel God’s peace when you prayed? Did God send a friend your way with a kind word? Did a stranger pay for your coffee? Did God remind you of an errand you needed to run? Did you stumble across a Bible verse that spoke to you today?
There are tons of blessings throughout our day that display the goodness of God. Some are big, and some are small. But they are there.
One day my husband told his son that he would change his oil in his car for him. Normally his son would’ve driven his car to our house. But on this particular occasion, my husband picked up his son’s car. However, the car was low on gas. It was so low that my husband didn’t want to turn the AC on, so he drove with the windows down. Because the windows were down, my husband could hear that the tires didn’t sound right. When he got to the gas station, he looked at the tires and confirmed they were in bad shape. Many people might chalk this up to coincidence. But I call this the goodness of God. All of these events happened just right.
In Psalm 34:8 we are reminded to taste and see that the Lord is good. Have you ever eaten something, but you didn’t really taste it? Your mind was elsewhere, so you weren’t necessarily paying attention to the taste of the food. When I read this verse I picture someone who is more like a connoisseur. They take the time to taste the different flavors and ingredients in their food or drink. They savor each bite or sip. And similarly we too should savor the goodness of God.
Today as you proceed through your day, look around for the goodness of God. You will be amazed at all of the blessings that appear.
But you also have to be open to the right perspective. One person might get annoyed that the sunrise is so bright. Meanwhile the person standing next to them might pull out their phone to take a picture. Let us be the latter, always looking for the goodness around us.
For further insight, I wanted to share a post written by Gail Johnson called Great Things. I love how Gail mentions “celebrating the goodness of God.” Such a beautiful thought! And isn’t that what gratitude is all about?
I also wanted to share one more thing. I absolutely love this song “Goodness of God” by Jenn Johnson. Some days I will just listen to this song over and over on my commute. Enjoy!
© 2021 Bridget A. Thomas
Bridget A. Thomas 
God woke me up and got me to the job I’m thankful for and home again. Lots of little blessings along the way, including this post.
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Amen! God is always looking out for us! Thanks for sharing some of the wonderful things from your day. And I am honored to know that this post was encouraging. Blessings, friend! 💕
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What a great reminder to look for ALL God’s blessings throughout the day! Honestly, I’m sure I miss a ton of them, especially on days when I’m stressed out or just having a bad day. I love Gail’s post, too. Thanks for sharing that with us!
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Michelle, I understand completely! I was just praying similar words, telling God how I miss out on so much of Him in my day. But as long as our hearts are making the effort to seek Him, He will be there. Thank you for stopping by, friend! I hope you are doing ok. Hugs 🤗💜
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Writing things on our gratitude list is like a scavenger hunt- I like that. A couple of days ago, did not have the best of days, I wanted to make sure that I write my gratitude list because I did not want to go to bed with all that went wrong front and centre in my thoughts. As I wrote I was led to pray and just be thankful that even on the so called bad days there are so many blessings that we take for granted. And it lightened my heart.
Love that story- that coincidence that many might like to call – it is divine intervention.
Oh, let us indeed purposely look for the goodness of God every single day.
Loved this. A very encouraging message.
Blessings my friend 💙🤗🌺
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Manu, I know exactly what you mean. Some days are not pretty and I don’t always feel like writing on my gratitude list either. I love that you still tried to find good in your day. And Being led to pray is a beautiful way to connect with God, especially considering the struggles you faced that day. I admit some items on my gratitude list are prayers. If there is something weighing on my heart, I might write out a short prayer about it and hand it over to the Lord. In the end, I find gratitude knowing that I can hand my problems over to Him.
I am so glad this post was encouraging, my friend. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, too. I always love hearing from you. Abundant blessings to you! ♥️
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Beautiful post and song, Bridget. I haven’t heard that one before. I do need to look more closely and harder for those bright spots in the day. With the darker wet days here things can feel a bit grey. It’s too easy to focus on the negatives. Thanks for sharing. I hope you find so many things to be grateful for on your daily scavenger hunts. Blessings my friend. ❤
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Tina, I know what you mean. It definitely is easier to focus on the negative. It shouldn’t be, but somehow it is. And yes we are now moving into the season of less sunshine, which doesn’t help our vitamin D. But we can still choose each day to look for the good things around us. I am glad you enjoyed the song! Thank you for the sweet words. I hope you also find many things to be grateful for! Blessings to you too, my friend and wannabe neighbor! 😁♥️
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God’s goodness always follows us. When we take time regularly to think about how good He is, it changes our lives. Writing down the blessings is always a big help in being grateful.
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I love how you put that – God’s goodness always follows us! It reminds me of Psalm 23. Surely goodness and mercy shall me all the days of my life. I agree, we need to make these thoughts consistent and write down that goodness. Then it will feel more tangible and open our eyes in a new way. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Dawn!
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Maybe I’ve mentioned this here before, but I started a record of God’s faithfulness in our family back in 1983, and a “Celebration of Small Things” journal in 2017. It’s not only a joy in the moment to write down the evidence of God’s watchful care and blessing, but to look back and see the long record of God’s involvement is delightfully encouraging. Anyone who begins to document such events will be glad they did so!
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That’s wonderful to hear. Thank you for sharing that. I agree, documenting God’s goodness brings us joy and comfort. ✝️
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