How To Live In Daily Gratitude As A Single Mom

As you know, November is coming; and for many of us, it’s the coined month for gratitude and thankfulness. I believe we all have our hearts set on living with gratitude in our daily lives but as single moms, we could be placed in unfavorable circumstance that distract us from our goal. But I am encouraging you today to keep striving to live in daily gratitude.

Why is daily gratitude hard at times?

I am no gratitude guru, but I have had my fair share of victories with gratitude as well as falling short when it comes to my mouth and heart.

I know the importance of being grateful and what it does to a life’s perspective. But I also know the results of when we abandon gratitude all together.

I believe the one thing that makes gratitude hard for a lot of us, is the constant pain and evil we see around us. For some of us it’s hard to remain positive and hopeful in our own strength when everything we encounter is negative and destructive. And when life isn’t going the way we would like, we pout and grumbling, not allowing gratitude to get settled in our hearts and mind.

Who should be grateful and thankful?

This is a no brainer for most of us, but sometimes you have to get back to the basics. God has called everything to gratitude and thankfulness. Even the flowers, the animals, and if we leave it up to Marie Kondo, every inanimate object in your home as well. 

If you are living, breathing, and existing, you should be thanking and showing gratitude to your creator, your support, and those you come across. We should all be operating in a state of daily gratitude, which will feed not only our soul but the souls of people we express gratitude for.

What’s the difference between gratitude and thankfulness?

There is a unique distinction between the two but I will allow Webster and Cambridge Dictionary supply that for you:

Gratitude: An emotion of the heart, excited by a favor or benefit received; a sentiment of kindness or good will towards a benefactor. A virtue of the highest excellence, as it implies a feeling and generous heart, and a proper sense of duty.

Thankfulness: the feeling of being happy or grateful because of something.

I wanted to focus on gratitude for this month because it has more to do transformative changes with who you show up as a being and in the heart rather than just mere flutters in a moment.

The Gratitude Blog explains it best:

In practice, what differentiates them both is this:

1. Gratefulness is independent, deep, and long-term
2. Thankfulness is dependent, surface-level, and short-lived

I do not want to be referred to as dependent, surface level, or short! Thankfulness is based on an event whereas gratitude is based on a state of being.

How can living a life of daily gratitude change your life?

As a single mom, it’s so easy for us to become frustrated, lose hope, and want to give up. Gratitude breaks up the pressure, heaviness,  and lightens the mental load by fixing your mind on the positive, how God is working in your life despite everything, and what blessing our here now. It definitely takes submission from your mind will and emotions but it’s possible. That is why God asks us to fix our minds on:

…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is admirable, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Phillipians 4:8-9

and to:

demolish every argument and every pretension that sets itself against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

all so we can rejoice and:

give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

and experience His goodness in our lives:

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

 

Benefits of living in daily gratitude:

• experience Joy – understanding that despite circumstance, I still have much to rejoice about.
• invite Peace – turn your mind from chaos to focusing on the beauty of life.
• walk in Gentleness – help you become less aggressive and embrace the gracefulness and flow of life.
• extend Mercy – make you realize your perfect imperfections which allows you space to be open to understanding others.
• operate in Love– share your heart with others, show up for others, appreciate them for who they are.
• ease with Generosity – remind you of the God who has provided all your needs in abundance and each resources didn’t have to come your way. So as you are blessed, you become a blessing to others.
• have more Patience- learn to extend more grace and release control because you realize you are not in control.
• instill Kindness – change the way you interact with those that have helped you and blessed you.
• master self-control -submit your fleshly desires to complain and live in dissatisfaction to gratitude; understanding you have everything you need.
• promote Faithfulness – encourage consistency and commitment within you.

Looks familiar? Yes, daily gratitude helps you embody and operate in the fruit of the Spirit! Learn more about those in Galatians 5.

Where are there resources to support your attitude of continuous gratitude?

There’s tons of different resources, blog post, articles, church sermons, and other tools out there to help you better cultivate a practice and lifestyle of daily gratitude. Below I share my favorites with you:

• Gratitude Journal or make your own journal (Here’s a great option from the Christian Journal Co. — https://christianjournal.co/products/daily-prayer-gratitude-journal)
• Presently App 
• Sermon: watch here
• Printables: check out Big Life Journal (Family Activities) or Coffee with Starla 
• Gratitude Meditations: Like this one.

However,

I took the liberty of creating a Gratitude Bundle for you to kick start your gratitude month. Click Here To Purchase.

If you are on the email list, you have access to the gratitude scripture list and calendar for free in the freebie vault on the website with password. So if you are not on the email list, join here within the banner or use the side bar sign up form to get access.

How do I live in daily gratitude as a single mom?

There’s no specific science to gratitude but I always encourage the Made New community to curate their gratitude daily intentions in away that works for them and help them grow. However there are key components that are necessary to keep a continuous lifestyle of gratitude.

1. Start each day with thanking God and acknowledge His goodness in your life and in this world.
2. If you find yourself complaining or being negative, add “and that’s the way I like it” to the end of it. This is something my First Lady, Pastor Erica Moore shared with us when she shares about gratitude and working on our heart posture. It gets me everytime as I am quick to point out what’s wrong.
3. It may be difficult sometimes as single moms, choose to share something that you are grateful for in places that burn you out or burden you; whether that is work, parenting, family, etc.
4. End each night by sharing 3-5 things you were grateful for that happened within that day. This is where Presently App came in for me as it provided reminders to support me on my gratitude and thankfulness journey. And it keeps track of your consistency, pictured below. 

One thing about operating in gratitude is that it takes care of the entitlement attitude that we all have become accustom to that has been impacting us personally, relationally, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. 

As single moms, we can often develop the ‘woah is me’ attitude and feel that everyone should be helping us and doing for us, even God. But we’re really not entitled to any of it.

Gratitude reminds of all that people are doing in our lives and how fortunate we are to be moving forward in a blessed life that society usually writes off as a liability. God gets the glory!

One More Daily Gratitude Support

Here’s a supportive article by one my favorite authors to help support you with you Gratitude Habit Building: Simple Daily Habit To Add More Gratitude To Your Life

What am I thankful for as a christian single mom and as a blogger?

Honestly, I am just grateful to God for creating me and choosing me for such an assignment as this. To get on the internet that has been contaminated by the world’s ways and share Him with women just like me and you.

I am grateful for a place to lay my head, to create, and to raise up a godly child. And thankful for the resources to pay for it all.

I am grateful for the many challenges I have as I raise my daughter with Christ because as she grow, I am growing up too.

Each time I thank God, I am reminded of wisdom given, teachings by experience, and the ability to gain understanding in order to help or comfort someone else in the same circumstances.

And lastly, I am grateful for down time, I am grateful for the food I had to eat today, and the gas in my car to get me from the many different stores today in search for uniform pants. (It’s getting cold in Arizona…75 degrees) Why don’t they sell uniforms year around in stores? At least for the unprepared mamas. LOL

All in all, 

I hope you’ve found this post helpful! Share what you are grateful for in the comments and be sure to download your Gratitude Bundle at the Made 2 Encourage Shop with 2 bonus worksheets.

Need support with gratitude?

You can also join the Women Seeking Confidence Facebook group for a community of women headed in the same direction as you in regards to growing in relationships:

Chyna Nicole

Chyna is a Faith Blogger and Speaker at Made New Mama, where she uplifts and empowers single women and moms to stop hiding behind challenges and start living confidently in their relationships through faith. Check out resources here: https://www.madenewmama.com/store/

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