28: Living in Gratitude - Turning Trials into Triumph

Gratitude transforms not just our outlook but our entire lives—yet finding reasons to be thankful during difficult seasons requires intentional practice. In this heart-stirring episode, we explore how 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 offers a deceptively simple formula for Christian living: rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything.

We share powerful stories of gratitude in seemingly impossible circumstances, including Corrie ten Boom thanking God for fleas in a concentration camp barracks (which later proved to be their protection), and reflect on how our own difficult seasons often reveal themselves as disguised blessings. When Shanda experienced miscarriage and infertility struggles, they ultimately deepened her faith and developed compassion that wouldn't have existed otherwise.

The spiritual danger of a complaining spirit can't be overstated—it spreads negativity to everyone around us and undermines our witness. By contrast, genuine thankfulness becomes contagious, drawing others toward Christ as they witness peace that transcends circumstances.

We also discuss our parenting approach of teaching children three essential qualities: obedience, respect, and thankfulness. Like the one healed leper who returned to thank Jesus while nine others rushed away, we want our children to recognize God's goodness in every circumstance.

Through personal stories, biblical examples, and a thoughtful review of "The Giver" (which portrays a society that eliminated suffering but lost love and color in the process), this episode offers practical ways to cultivate gratitude that will transform your perspective even during life's most challenging seasons.

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Transcript

Episode Introduction

Shanda 0:00

What do you say to a rabbit on its birthday? What Happy birthday. That's a good one. What started as a Saturday morning coffee date turned into a podcast where we chat about things like faith, family, finances and so much more.

James 0:19

In a world that is encouraging you to live your truth and to follow your heart. We want to encourage you to live devoted to the truth.

Shanda 0:28

The Bible has a lot to say about how to live a victorious Christian life, and we want to share practical insight in how to apply those truths to your life, as we endeavor to apply them to our own lives as well.

James 0:41

If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a review and share these episodes with your friends so that you can help them live this devoted life too. Welcome to another episode of this Devoted Life Podcast. Oh my goodness, are you for real?

Shanda 0:58

Yeah, that did sound a little corny, didn't it? It probably sounded better in your head. Yes, definitely. So yeah, life's been a little crazy lately, and the reason why I'm sharing this is because probably all of you listening are in similar phases where everything is a little busy and intense and crazy. So, yeah, this morning so today's Sunday that we're actually recording this podcast, sunday that we're actually recording this podcast, and this morning we went to Sunday school, then stayed for the main service, and right after that one of my buddies texted and said hey, do you want to take the kids sledding? And we got a lot of snow this week and it's awesome sledding conditions. So I'm like, absolutely, let's go, let's do this. So took the kids sledding, I think, ate lunch in there somewhere in between, and so went sledding, had a great time, and then our kids are in Fleet Feet, which is some running slash calisthenics program.

James 1:58

Yeah, and they do track and they do cross country in the fall. So one of our daughters is very fast, like insanely fast, and so she's been telling me that she wants to get into track and so this Fleet Feet that's currently going on right now is more like a conditioning for spring track. So they are doing calisthenics and stuff. So we told our 8-year-old and our 12-year-old that they were going to do it too, because they both play sports and we're like it's just, it's just good for you, you know to get active.

James 2:26

So three of our kids are involved.

Shanda 2:27

Yeah, absolutely yeah. So, um, yeah, it literally went from uh sledding to uh just stopped home real quick to grab their stuff, went to Fleet Feet and then literally went from Fleet Feet back home, changed uh, dropped them off at Awana, and here we are.

James 2:43

So much for a day of rest.

Shanda 2:45

Yeah, exactly. So at any rate, in the midst of all of this kind of wild and craziness I just like it's I wanted to step back and just thank the Lord for this time in our life. It really is amazing and incredible and fun and amidst the chaos. It's just a special time in our lives.

James 3:06

Oh, it totally is yeah.

Shanda 3:08

So with that, honestly, about a couple months ago now, I gave a message at our church we do. It's basically called Preaching from the Pew and usually it's a few people will get up and give kind of like a little, you know, five to 10 minute devotional. And that morning a couple of people canceled actually, so I had a lot longer to speak.

James 3:34

Good thing, you were well prepared.

Shanda 3:37

You know that I can kind of ad lib and do things so yeah. So what we're going to do today and that was on thankfulness and just the power of thankfulness and things like that. So I'm going to try not to be too preachy, but this podcast is going to be basically a recreation of that. So I haven't really gone through the notes and refreshed my memory, so hopefully it all makes as good a sense as I think it did back then it was great.

Shanda 4:06

Thanks. So with that, the text of the message was 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18. So I'll start by reading that 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18 says Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So again, it'll preach.

Shanda 4:32

Yeah, and it kind of stands on its own really. I mean you could literally just stop talking right now and read that a couple more times and it literally would have. You know. Kind of like I said, just stand on its own or, at the same token, it's so deep that you could preach a series of messages on it.

Shanda 4:54

But the one thing that I wanted to extract out of it is the in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God and grace Jesus concerning you, and really how simple the Christian life is. So again, you know that passage is rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks. So it really is that simple. You know, you could just love God, keep his commandments and do these three things, and that's as simple as it really needs to be. You don't have to make it more complicated than that.

James 5:24

I know you always tell me it's not complicated, it's simple, but that doesn't mean it's not hard. So like you, said, like this passage, it is really that simple, but you could preach on it for hours, so you could also go very deep with it. And it's not as easy as it sounds. Just, you know, in everything give thanks. Yeah, that's simple to say, not so easy to do, right yeah?

Shanda 5:45

Simple, not very easy. So again, most things in life are that easy, except for Calculus 4. Calculus 4 was not simple or easy.

James 5:55

I didn't take it, so I wouldn't know.

The Simple Yet Hard Christian Life

Shanda 6:04

Yeah, no, but seriously, you know again, things really are that simple. So like, for example, if you want to lose weight, then eat fewer calories than you burn in a day and you're going to lose weight again. There's all kinds of medical things, whatever, but in general it's very simple not necessarily easy.

James 6:18

Right.

Shanda 6:18

I mean, we, we, you and I literally talk about this all the time and try to stay in shape and exercise things like that. But it's not easy you know and you know, try not to gain. There's a difference between trying not to gain and actually losing, and one is a lot harder than the other but both of them are difficult. So again, if you want to lose weight faster, then exercise and create a bigger caloric deficit so you Even harder weight faster, then exercise and create a bigger caloric deficit Even harder.

Shanda 6:46

Yes, exactly Eat less, exercise more, have that caloric deficit be greater. If you want to feel better, then stop eating sugar and highly processed foods. It's again literally that simple and I think we're going to do a podcast here soon. Really that simple and I think we're going to do a podcast here soon. I listened to a podcast about I think it was Patrick Red, david and Paul Saladino, and about you know you sent it to me.

James 7:13

I still have to listen to it.

Shanda 7:15

Yes, About some health stuff and whatnot, but really, if you eat single ingredient foods, you're going to feel better, right? So again, simple, not necessarily easy. It takes a lot of time, takes a lot of planning, takes a lot of effort. Another thing if you want to make money, have a good work ethic and provide value to people, it's pretty simple. If you want to make more money, provide more value to people with more money, simple but hard.

James 7:40

Yeah exactly.

Shanda 7:40

You got to really kind of have a lot of things aligned to make it happen. So simple, not easy. I think I've hit that home. So in that same token I wanted to several years ago. I wanted to make things simple for our kids.

Shanda 7:58

So because I felt like, you know, we just had gotten to a point where it's like, you know, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that. And you know, for a three-year-old it doesn't have to be complicated, right? So I came up with two things and I had them, repeat them. I'd like to think daily, but, you know, just several times a week I want you to be obedient and respectful, and for a couple of years at least, those were our two things. And over and over and over, be obedient and be respectful. And then I don't know, you know, one day I just, you know, must have heard something, read something, thought about something, had a devotional and I thought I need to add thankfulness to that because thankfulness is so important in our lives, it's powerful, it is so.

Shanda 8:43

With that, it was be obedient, be respectful and be thankful.

James 8:47

Yeah, if you were to ask our kids, like if someone walked up to him and were like, what are the three things your dad and mom tell you, they would be able to rattle those up. At least I would hope so. A four-year-old might be a little questionable still, right.

Teaching Children Thankfulness

Shanda 8:57

Yeah, but again, it's the whole concept of. I don't want them in the parable of the 10 lepers, where I shouldn't just assume that everyone knows these things. But so there's a parable in the Bible and it's about the 10 lepers and Jesus healed all 10. And nine of them just literally left and went on their way and were excited, and only one of them came back and thanked Jesus for healing them. And it's such a powerful message I would encourage you to read it. But I don't want our kids to be like the nine lepers. I want them to be like the one that thanked the Lord for what he did. I mean, can you imagine having that disease and that terrible I don't know just everything about it and then you literally get healed, you have a whole new lease on life, you have a whole new bright future and perspective and you can even stop and say thank you, yeah.

James 9:49

I would like to think that you and I would be the one to go back, but then I also put ourselves into the other nine's shoes and it's like their lives were just changed so drastically.

Shanda 9:58

Yeah.

James 9:58

I mean, I couldn't imagine how excited I would have been you would have been running home to family and how excited I would have been Like you would have been running home to family and like they hadn't been able to hug anybody in forever. And now here they are, cleansed, and we probably would have been like the nine, you know, but we're working towards being the one. Yes, exactly.

Shanda 10:13

Yep. So again, totally agree. But it is. Thankfulness is so powerful. Again, thousands of years later, we're talking about that parable and illustration in the Bible about thankfulness. So I really don't think we can be reminded enough in our lives to be thankful and being unthankful. So, like, the antithesis of this is, you don't really think having a complaining spirit is that dangerous? But it really is dangerous it can lead to more sins like lying pride, envy, lust, you know really, just to name a few, and it affects everyone else around you too like that negative spirit, like if I'm having a bad day, the kids inevitably have a bad day because, that just.

James 11:00

It infects everything and everyone around you if it just permeates.

Shanda 11:04

Absolutely yeah, Actually, the children of Israel you know they got delivered from the hand of Pharaoh and you know miracles of, you know just the Red Sea parting and them being able to flee, and that's after the plagues and all being released.

James 11:21

They literally saw miracles in real time and they still complain.

Shanda 11:26

Yes, all the murmuring, and then God would deliver them and take care of them, and then they're even complaining more, and it took them 40 years to go what you know, I believe, was supposed to be about an 11 day journey, and then Moses like goes away for a few days up into a mountain to talk to God and like, while he's up there, the children of Israel are creating a false idol out of gold and like worshiping it, you know. Yeah.

James 11:48

How do you go from physically seeing God in a cloud and you are standing at the base of the mountain and you can hear the rumbling? You know God is up there talking with Moses, mm-hmm. And yet you're going to be down here making a golden calf to worship, which is just it's mind boggling. But once again, I just try to put myself into their shoes and I would like to think I would not be one of them. But time and time again, we prove that we are.

Shanda 12:13

Yeah, yeah, no, it's so true. It's so easy to fall into that trap that complaining spirit, and you know I mean we last fall we had the elections and there's all this political unrest and all these things, and you hear so often that you know oh, the world has become such a terrible place and everything, and blah, blah, blah. You know, and it's like this is true, but we as Christians especially, we already know the end of the story and can live victoriously through it all.

James 12:42

Yeah, god gives us the victory over those things Like we don't have to live from a place of defeat, we can live through a place of victory because, ultimately, god has given us the victory through his son.

Shanda 12:54

Yeah, absolutely yeah no, and honestly it's almost. I mean, it's important to be thankful all the time, but especially in the times of trials and the toughness that you know I mean that's really when we're tried and it's that much more important to be thankful and to love the Lord and His commandments through it and just thank Him for the little things. You know there's so many things that we have in our lives that we can be thankful for. And again, this verse doesn't just say in all good things.

James 13:31

It definitely doesn't say in all good things and it doesn't you know, just say you know, give thanks it says in everything give thanks, so yeah, so it's funny we had a or Trina actually gave a message in her Sunday school class today. That really goes along with this, and I was thinking about that while you were talking.

Shanda 13:50

I saw you grab the Bible and I was like, uh-oh, it's about ready to come, she's got something.

James 13:54

But I had never looked at this verse this way. But 1 Peter 3.10 says For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. And I was like for him that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue. Like it's that simple what we say affects our day and it's just I don't know why, like I was equating that to thankfulness and just how you know how we talk really can affect literally everything.

James 14:28

Absolutely, you know, and so yeah, like I said, as you were talking, I just was like it's our tongue. It's our tongue, like we need to be thankful and to actually use our words and let our kids hear us praising the Lord and you know how I talk about you and to you and to our kids and you know how I talk about you, and to you and to our kids, and it really does.

James 14:47

you know, it's like a promise for you that we'll love life and see good days. You know, even on your really hard days, if you have a thankful heart and a thankful tongue, you're still going to see good you know.

Shanda 14:59

Yeah, absolutely no, I kind of along that line. I think gratefulness can be an indicator of your level of godliness. Absolutely no, I kind of along that line. I think gratefulness can be an indicator of your level of godliness.

James 15:08

Absolutely.

Shanda 15:08

And it's not just this snapshot in time. You know we can be very grateful and then, you know, fall into a complaining spirit, and so, again, I think it's something to pay attention to, to be mindful of and to be proactively working on, because, again, it's usually an indicator of your level of godliness throughout that.

James 15:29

Yeah, I can, I can see that, cause I know, you know, in times where maybe I am struggling to read my Bible or like I just kind of going through like a season of drought, usually my words will reflect that Absolutely.

Shanda 15:41

Yeah, so you know. Again, I don't think a lot of the people listening to this would ever have even heard of my mom, let alone know her. I'm sure I've brought her up numerous times on previous podcasts, but she struggled for decades literally decades with severe health issues. I mean just the level of pain was insurmountable with rheumatoid arthritis and it just got worse and worse and worse, and then the infection set in. I mean just you name it.

James 16:13

I never knew her not handicapped, because she was in a wheelchair and she was never able to stand and do things. From the moment I met you, we've been together a long time, yeah it literally started when I was two years old.

Shanda 16:26

So even myself, you know, I really don't remember her ever not having some form of ailment.

James 16:33

Now again.

Shanda 16:33

It progressed through the years. But she also in the midst of all that had an incredible positive spirit. People loved being around her. It was really special.

James 16:47

And she literally thought of it as her ministry, because I remember her telling me you know, god gave me this because now people come into my home and I can tell them about.

Shanda 16:54

Him? Yeah, people are bringing them to me. Or God is bringing people to me?

The Power of Gratitude During Trials

James 16:59

Yeah, she's like God's bringing them to me, so I don't even have to go out anywhere, I just get to talk with them. She's like God's bringing them to me, so I don't even have to go out anywhere, I just get to, you know, talk with them. She's like, and I have a captive audience for an entire hour while they're changing my wound like bandages and giving me a new IV and stuff, and it's just like I don't know that I could have that level of you know thankfulness and gratitude for the disability that God gave her.

Shanda 17:20

Oh it was incredible and you know so once again, level of godliness, how it affects people around us. You know, I mean she would have been the prime example or person that people would be like ugh, like I just can't go be around Ann anymore because everything she says and this and she could be so, such a downer and negative, but she wasn't. She was literally. She would.

Shanda 17:42

People would go and be with her and then walk away more energized oh, totally and you know, I mean just because of the person that she was so um, so intentional, so positive, so thankful, uh, for everything in her life she truly was thankful for every day. Um, you know in that, like with her, you know throughout that and her spirit. Her favorite song was it Is Well With my Soul, and that is a special and powerful thing. Again, I don't want to assume that people know who are listening to this.

James 18:13

Can you give us a little bit of a synopsis of what was going on?

Shanda 18:15

Yeah, so Horatio Spafford wrote the song it Is Well With my Soul and again, I wish that I had a list of things here that he went through. But literally, you know, his child was, he lost, his child, he lost, I think, his business burnt down, you know lost kind of every material possession and then his wife and daughters got lost at sea in a shipwreck and he literally wrote the song right after that devastating event, like it would have been the final straw for anyone to, you know, go through. And he wrote the song it Is Well With my Soul.

James 18:58

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think he wrote that on the ship as they passed by the spot where his daughter and his or where his children and his wife drowned and like the captain kind of called him over and was like we're near the spot and he penned those words Like it makes me just want to tear up thinking about that, yeah.

Shanda 19:14

Yeah, honestly, it's incomprehensible. And for him to be able to, you know, just have that godly perspective and know that, you know his hope was in the Lord and then literally be positive and thankful throughout that, he was living from a place of victory, not from defeat. Yeah, yeah yeah, it was so special and again, we could unpack that so much more. But yeah, that was my mom's favorite song and yeah, if I go into it more I'll start crying myself.

James 19:47

That song holds a special place in my heart as well because I know after we miscarried our third baby. I remember very distinctly walking and taking the kids to a park and just singing that song while they just ran around and played.

Shanda 20:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, really special. Yeah, there are things in life that you know will go on for decades and hopefully the legacy that we can leave, and whether it's for our children, for the people around us, maybe even someone listening to this right now on this podcast. You know, it's just a special gift that we've been given so many positive things in our life and even in the midst of trial and struggle, you can be thankful and you can make an impact on others. It truly is contagious have people remember you for being positive rather than for being a downer or for the things that are de-energizing to them. So just a little encouragement. It's not a I don't know, I'm not trying to come down on think of, especially if we have Christ in our hearts and know our eternal security is in the Lord.

James 21:11

I mean, that's something that it's the most important part, absolutely, and I think I had told you. You might even have it written down. There's a poem by William Wordsworth that talks about stray gifts, and you know just God leaves these stray gifts in our path throughout the day, if we have eyes to see them. I don't know if you have it or not.

Corrie Ten Boom's Flea Lesson

Shanda 21:29

Yeah, I do I actually have an excerpt of that. So what Shanda's talking about is an excerpt from a poem, stray Gifts by William Wordsworth. And so that little excerpt says they dance not for me, yet mine is their glee. Thus pleasure is spread through the earth in stray gifts, to be claimed by whoever shall find. Thus a rich, loving kindness, redundantly kind, moves all nature, gladness and mirth. So again, just really, you know, just be thankful for that, and there's literally so many things that happen on a daily basis that we can be thankful for. Be thankful for your next breath, for your last breath, for you know something that's coming up, whether it's later today or weeks from now.

James 22:18

The sunshine outside after a long winter. You know of no sun in Michigan.

Shanda 22:23

Yeah, Then comes the morning.

James 22:25

Yeah, then comes the morning, yeah.

Shanda 22:25

Yeah, so um another, um. You know just multitude of examples that uh, we could glean about thankfulness comes from Corrie Ten Boom.

James 22:35

I love Corrie Ten Boom yeah.

Shanda 22:36

Um so, but just one of those. Um, I'm going to read a little excerpt here, uh, from that as well, and it's just a great illustration of things that we can be thankful for. So Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsy spent months in the German concentration camps, which were horrific, flea-ridden, death-dealing places. Both women were afraid, but Betsy came to Corrie one day with an idea that might help them. She quoted a passage from 1 Thessalonians in everything give thanks Sound familiar. So Corrie quickly replied that she could not give thanks for the fleas. Betsy reminded her that she could give thanks that the two of them were together, as most families had been split apart.

Shanda 23:21

Corrie said she could give thanks for that, but not the fleas. Then Betsy noted that somehow the guards had not checked her luggage and therefore her Bible had not been confiscated. Corey agreed she could be thankful for that but not for the fleas. She could not, she said, under any circumstance give thanks for the pestilential fleas. But eventually Corey learned that the only reason she and her sister had not been assaulted by the guards was because their captors were so repulsed by the fleas that they could not enter the girls' barracks, and would not. Years later Corrie Ten Boom reflected that this is how she was taught to give thanks for all things, because you just never know.

James 24:08

So good Isn't it though? Yeah.

Shanda 24:09

Yeah, I mean think of just the situation that they were in. Yeah, it's amazing.

James 24:13

How often do we go through hard trials and we don't realize that they're actually mercies from God? You know like there's things that we go through where we're just like I don't know why you're having me do this. God, I can't see it. And I was just talking to someone recently because I mentioned the miscarriage and our infertility and stuff that we struggled with, and I was like I would still go through those all over again. And the reason that I would go through them again is because of the growth that God gave me through that I gained compassion for those who were struggling with something similar.

James 24:46

I grew closer to the Lord, I grew closer to you and just. It was a time of deepening my faith, and so I'm, you know, I mean I'm on the other side of it now. When I was going through it, it was a lot harder but, hindsight's always 20-20. And it's just like okay, god, I can see a glimpse of the why you know why you brought me through this. And you know it's so that I can praise him now because of it.

Shanda 25:07

Yeah, it takes sympathy to empathy.

James 25:10

Exactly.

Shanda 25:10

It allows you to minister to people when otherwise you would have never been able to. It also, you know, is just something you know. We never know when we may be in the middle of a miracle.

James 25:24

Oh, totally.

Shanda 25:25

And I mean it seems so dire, so tough right now when you're in the middle of something, but then to be able to look back on that and it's really. It may turn out to be a miracle in your life. It's pretty powerful.

James 25:38

That is really good.

Shanda 25:39

Yeah. So again, this was a message that I shared, so I had an application at the end of the message. So the application was to think. I'm encouraging you to think what are you thankful for today? That is something that I think we should do every day. You know what's one thing that I'm thankful for, what's 10 things that I'm thankful for. Also, I encourage you to thank the Lord each day for at least one thing, preferably more. You should be thankful in the good times and the tough.

Shanda 26:06

Again it's important, to almost most important, to be thankful in the tough times, and I also encourage you to share your thankful heart with others, because gratitude can be contagious.

James 26:17

I mean.

Shanda 26:18

it's something again that you know not only can impact someone but leave a legacy.

James 26:22

It's really important in our life and gratitude is not about ignoring the difficulties but rather trusting god through them I'm just laughing because all I can think of is the patch, the pirate episode, where they're like, oh no, he's catching it and they're like what he's like the gratitude attitude and yes exactly.

Shanda 26:39

I love it that's awesome yeah, so again, rejoice, pray and be thankful it's really about as simple as I can put it, that is so good.

James 26:49

I guess we'll move on from that to because we're trying to do in every episode, just something that we're reading or listening to or just like a podcast that we're learning from, and I think that this could tie into what you're talking about here. So I finished the book the Giver. Okay, I never read it before, but it sounded pretty mind-bending.

James 27:09

Yeah, it really had me thinking there for a while. Our son will be reading it in the upcoming years for school, and so I try to pre-read most of the stuff that he's going to be reading for school, and so I thought, well, I'll get a head start. I don't think he's not reading it this year, but I thought this will be something worthwhile to read.

Book Review: The Giver

James 27:27

So, I'm going to try not to give a lot away in this book, but it definitely was a little mind bending. So basically, there's like this society that is very calculated. Where they have these set of rules, there's certain things that they have to do. Where they have these set of rules, there's certain things that they have to do. So it's about a boy and he has a family, and I'm going to say, quote unquote, family, because this society only allows 50 children to be born every year. There are birth mothers. These children, at a certain age, get given to parents and this is like gifted to these parents. These parents are married but it's very platonic. They're only allowed to have two children. They get a boy and they get a girl, and so like if someone offends someone, you have to apologize immediately, or that there's like a reprimand. They have like these loudspeakers that will call out not specific people, but you kind of know who they're talking about.

Shanda 28:23

It'd be like someone's.

James 28:24

you know, pigtails are always untied. Make sure your pigtails are tied, and they're always like oh well, that's Annie over there you know, or whatever. Um, so it's just kind of like a weird society and you're kind of like, okay, I'm not really sure you know how this is going to go. Um, but the children kind of move up in stages. Like each new grade they all move up together.

James 28:44

So like if you were born in a certain year, you are considered year one year two year three and at a certain age I can't remember what age it is, but they're given their future role, their future job and it's, I think it's like 13 or something like that. It's like at age eight, they got a new bike. Like that was like a big thing for all eight year olds to get a bike. So at 13, they're given their new job and so, like one of the friends, she gets to go and work with the elderly and that in and of itself is very odd. So there's like this whole releasing ceremony for the elderly and they call it a releasing. As you read it, you're like they're basically murdering these people and like, at a certain age, you're like you're no longer valuable to society and you're gone, but there's this big ceremony where everyone cheers and like, sends them off, whatever.

James 29:31

But it gets more and more sinister, kind of, as you're reading it. There's they're only allowed 50 children to be born. If twins are born, only the strongest gets to survive and the other one gets released. And yeah, there's like a whole thing. So one boy gets chosen to become the receiver and he gets together with a man who now becomes the giver. He was the previous receiver and he's now the giver, but this man held all of the memories of the world because they were too heavy for society to hold. And the reason that they do it is because they don't want anyone to feel pain.

James 30:05

And the reason that they do it is because they don't want anyone to feel pain and so they've just removed any level of like feeling from the society. And so this giver is starting to give memories to this boy and, for instance, like he learned what snow was for the first time, he learned what sunshine was because he'd never experienced sunshine. Because they realize, if they leave you in this bubble and they remove the sun, they can, you know, make sure that the ground or the crops are growing. And he never had seen color, because if there's no sunshine, there's no color.

James 30:34

And so he's learning what these things are, as the giver is giving them to him and one of them he comes back and he's like what was that? And he was like that was love. He had experienced a Christmas with a family and he was like I could, he's like I don't know what I'm like experiencing right now, and he's like that was love. And so then he starts getting some like painful memories too. But you know, as you were talking about thankfulness and I was thinking about just the memories that this boy was receiving, he didn't know what love was until he experienced pain and then he experienced love. And it's just like we can be thankful for the hard times and the good times. We can be thankful for the emotions.

James 31:14

We can be thankful for snow, we can be, thankful for sunshine, like they're just all the things that this boy never got to experience because his life had been devoid of it. He now was experiencing it for the first time. I'm not going to give away the end of the book, but no spoiler alert.

Shanda 31:30

Yeah, no spoiler alert for the end of the book, because I kind of gave away a lot with talking about it, but I definitely like recommend this.

James 31:37

I would not say give it to like someone less than probably 13, 14 years old, because there's like one little part in it, but yeah it just. It was kind of mind bending as you're reading it and the author did a really good job of like keeping you engaged, like I think. I got through the book in like a day and a half or something like that.

James 31:53

But, yeah, it just like made me think of just all the little things that I could be thankful for that you kind of just take for granted, like being able to see color, even you know, it's just there's. There's so much that we can thank the Lord for that we don't even take the time to think about, because they're just so like huh, like it's just natural.

Shanda 32:11

You know, yeah, and and even in a book like that, where it is fiction and it's, you know, just kind of one of those things, um, there are people that have literally lived their entire life, that have never seen color, because they were born blind, and you know the people who were born without hearing and they're deaf, you know just, there are always people that are worse off than you. And again, I get it, you know, I'm, believe me, I'm far from perfect you know, for not giving thankfulness and things like that, you know.

Closing Thoughts on Gratitude

Shanda 32:44

but at the same token, if we just expand our mind a little bit, think about how good we have it. I mean it makes such a big difference. And as a parent it's kind of funny, because sometimes I'll look at our children and I'll think, man, you're a little ingrate. Do you realize how good you have it?

James 33:05

And then you're like wait, god probably thinks that about me. Like man, you're a little ingrate, you know, do you realize how good you have it? And then you're like wait, god probably thinks that about me. Like man, you little ingrate, exactly.

Shanda 33:10

Yeah, and it's just so easy to fall in this complaining spirit and selfish mindset and things like that. So again, we all struggle with it, we all deal with it. But you know, here's your encouragement to really just make you know, make that paradigm shift in your mind and be thankful because it truly is so powerful. And you know, and when you take that spin, sometimes you kind of just have to force it, Right you? Know it doesn't come naturally or whatever, but it's worth forcing.

James 33:40

No habit is easy to start, you know, and even just the habit of our words and the attitude of thankfulness.

Shanda 33:47

Yeah, yeah, yep, yep, and you know whether it's, you know, in our marriage. You know it's like. You know we can commiserate together sometimes, but it's like if you just don't get out of that you know rut, or you know you can start. You know thinking selfishly and you know feeling some animosity or unthankfulness about your spouse. You know and you know feeling some animosity or unthankfulness about your spouse. You know and you know that left unchecked.

James 34:11

will you know? Can you know, ruin a marriage? Yeah, I mean it's not saying to like, have like a Pollyanna attitude all the time, because we do have to talk about hard things and we do share our feelings and stuff when you know, we're. We're feeling upset about something. You know it's not saying just to like blow everything off and just oh always be thankful. It's not that, because that's not healthy either. No, you can't suppress it, no, there is like an overall attitude, though, that if we really work towards that, we can we can, you know, have that victory.

Shanda 34:36

Yeah, yeah, it's the mindset you approach it with. And again, like you said, you've got to take care of things and deal with tough things, but if you but if you approach it with the right mindset, you can not only get through it but thrive as you get through it. So yeah, pretty good.

James 34:50

Yeah, no, that's great. I think we'll end there, yeah sounds good, unless you have something else to add.

James 34:54

All right. Well, until next time, we want to encourage you to seek God, love your spouse, hug your kids and stay devoted. Thank you for tuning in to this Devoted Life podcast with James and Shanda. We appreciate your support in sharing biblical, uplifting truths with the world. If you found value in this episode, please leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us to improve the show and we'd love to hear from you. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. To learn more about how to live a life devoted to God and family, head over to thisdevotedlifecom. You can also follow me, shanda, on Instagram at devoted underscore motherhood. Thank you again for listening and we look forward to seeing you next time on this Devoted Life podcast.