March 15, 2026
Gratitude
There are seasons of life that feel full.
Moments when blessings are obvious.
When joy feels natural.
When gratitude seems to come easily.
And then there are seasons when gratitude feels harder to reach.
When life feels heavy.
When circumstances don’t make sense.
When your heart quietly asks questions you don’t yet have answers for.
If you have ever walked through a season like that, you know how difficult it can be to feel grateful in the middle of it.
In this week’s episode of Honey For Your Heart, I’m sharing reflections on the discipline of gratitude and why it has become one of the most transformational spiritual practices in my life.
During my sister Beth’s cancer journey, gratitude became something more than a pleasant response to good days.
It became an anchor.
Even in the hardest moments, Beth continued to practice gratitude with remarkable intentionality.
Near the end of her life, when she was on hospice and often too weak to stay awake for long, she would ask us to read to her from Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts.
My sister and I would sit beside her and read while she rested with her eyes closed.
Sometimes I wasn’t sure if she was awake or asleep.
But every now and then, as a line about gratitude was read aloud, a small smile would cross her face or she would raise her eyebrows in agreement.
Even in those final days, gratitude was still shaping her heart.
That experience reminded me of something powerful.
Gratitude is not just a response to good circumstances.
It is a discipline that changes the way we see everything.
Scripture actually commands us to give thanks in all circumstances—not because every situation is easy or pleasant, but because gratitude redirects our attention.
It reminds us that God is still present.
Still providing.
Still working in ways we may not yet understand.
And sometimes gratitude does something even deeper.
It reveals our hearts.
In one difficult season when my store hit a cash crunch, I remember catching a thought that surprised me:
“I was faithful. I did what I believed God asked me to do. And this is what happened?”
That moment revealed something deeper beneath the stress.
Pride.
Expectation.
A subtle sense that God owed me a particular outcome.
Gratitude has a way of gently exposing those places—not to shame us, but to refine us.
Ann Voskamp writes:
“When I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow in me.”
Over time I began practicing a simple rhythm.
Each night I would look back over the previous 24 hours and thank God for specific moments from the day.
At first the list included obvious blessings:
Family
Health
Provision
But slowly the practice began to deepen.
Instead of only thanking God for the easy moments, I started including the difficult ones too.
Moments of tension.
Moments of frustration.
Moments that revealed something about my heart.
Instead of asking only why, I began asking:
“Lord, what are You teaching me here?”
And over time, something began to shift.
Gratitude started to move beyond a daily practice and became more of a posture.
Instead of waiting until the end of the day, I began thanking God in the moment—both in the good and in the hard.
Not because I understood everything.
But because I was learning to trust that He was still present in every part of the story.
If you are walking through a difficult season right now, I want you to know something important:
Gratitude does not require you to pretend that life is easy.
It simply invites you to look for the quiet ways God may already be near.
And sometimes, even the smallest moment of gratitude can begin to reshape the atmosphere of our hearts.
You can listen to The Discipline of Gratitude episode here:
Or watch the full video episode on YouTube here:
Companion Resources for This Episode
Each episode this season includes additional resources designed to help you reflect more deeply throughout the week.
Companion Resources for “The Discipline of Gratitude”:
• Fill-in-the-blank listening guide
• 7-day companion Scripture reflection guide
• Full episode study guide
• Small group discussion guide
My hope is that these resources create space for you to slow down, sit with Scripture, and notice where God might be meeting you in your own story this week.
Let’s Stay Connected
If you aren’t already following along, I would love to connect with you on Instagram where I share encouragement, reflections, and clips from each episode.
Follow along here:
@honey_for_your_heart
You can also now watch full video episodes of the podcast on YouTube:
Wherever you find yourself this week—grateful, weary, searching, or somewhere in between—I hope this conversation reminds you of something important:
Even in the hard moments, God is still present.
And sometimes the simple act of giving thanks can begin to open our eyes to the quiet ways He has been working all along.
I’m so grateful we get to walk this journey together.
Bryson
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