My little War On Grumbling - Day 1

I must like the number 40. Or maybe just scared from reading what happened to the Israelites when they grumbled. But when I heard about the 40 days of thanksgiving campaign launched by Nayomi Thomas, author of The Thankables (and wife of my favorite IHOP-KC worship leader Jaye Thomas), something inside me immediately said yessss.

All I had to do was come up with something to be thankful for every day, post it on Facebook and include the hashtag #WarOnGrumbling so others could follow along. Easy right? Ha! What a journey...


I'm a nightwatcher by nature, so I decided to come up with my reason to be thankful for at midnight for 40 consecutive nights in November and early December 2013. 

Day 1

I'm thankful that God never ever does anything on just one level. It's mind-bending seeing the multitudes of layers He can work on and that never ceases to awe me.  #WarOnGrumbling

It was intriguing that I chose to do my little war of grumbling at the start of what I thought was a bad cold, but what turned out to be a nasty viral infection that lasted almost the entire 40 days. Oh the challenge of finding something to be thankful for when my body...just...wouldn't...heal. I was quite upset and a little freaked out, if I'm being honest. 

And then I had a moment of clarity. Although my body seemed to be failing, I suddenly realized my heart was being tested. Abba was prompting me to choose Him in the middle of this adversity. 

And honestly, a viral infection?! Pfft. I have several friends with life-threatening conditions and chronic illnesses and here I was whining about a really bad cold? It was a wake-up call for sure. Eventually it lifted, which is not something they get to experience very often. 

It definitely amped up my prayer life. I prayed...and prayed fervently...and prayed continually. I also asked for prayer from anyone who was asking, and even some people who weren't. My end gain was a lot more compassion to pray for my friends and what they are dealing with.

Then, every night around midnight, I'd sit down and decide what I was most grateful for...and there was so much. And for the first time, I got to truly grasp what counting it all joy REALLY meant.