Overflowing with Thankfulness by Marcie Gothard
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18. 
I used to be the glass is half empty kind of person.  Always looking for the negative in any situation and basically expecting the worse.  I think in psychology terms they call it “self-fulfilling prophecy”.  You expect a negative outcome and when something goes wrong then we say “I knew that’s what was going to happen” or “I knew that wouldn’t work”.  It’s hard to focus on the positive when it seems like bad things are happening all around you.  It takes work to get off the negative train and focus on what’s good in our lives.
How do you change your thoughts?  How do we stop allowing the devil to use negativity to bring us down?  I started by thanking God daily for little things.  It could be the stop light turning green when I’m running late for a meeting, finding a parking place near the door when it’s raining and I forgot my umbrella, the store having the brand of toothpaste I need, finding an item I thought I lost, or (when you’re living in an apartment) finding that no one is using the washer and dryer when you need to wash a shirt for work.  I’ve found that being thankful for the little things helps me focus on the positive.  I not only recognize the gift, but I also spend some time dwelling on it and I say a prayer of thanks to God.  Over time this has built and has led me to saying thanks for the positive things that are happening not only in my life, but in the lives of others.
We can allow the world to become a very dark and fearful place when we only focus on the negative in our lives.  Being truly thankful has helped me draw closer to God and redirect my focus to the hope we have in Christ Jesus.  Are you riding the negative train?  Why not try thanking God on a daily basis for the little things and see how He moves in your life?