- I read,
when I knew we were going to be studying on gratitude,
I just thought,
I want to know about the science of gratitude.
And I was kind of surprised,
that the Templeton Foundation,
did a study on the science of gratitude.
So these are physicists, psychologists,
and this has been proven,
I thought this was so cool.
People with higher gratitude levels,
show more activity in the hypothalamus,
which leads to improved sleep,
less physical discomfort,
and lower stress and anxiety.
Again this is not a Christian study,
people who practice gratitude
are less vulnerable to depression,
either mild or clinical.
Gratitude in the workplace,
increases both productivity and happiness,
and finally,
I thought this was so interesting,
gratitude was the number one contributor
when they did studies,
regarding resilience,
following the terrorist attacks
on September 11th, in America.
- Wow.
- Gratitude.
When they studied the survivors
and those who had lost loved ones,
in September 11th,
gratitude was what they said
was the single most thing
that led to their resilience.
- To make it through. - Being able to continue.
- I mean that is like you say, this is science.
That is God's word,
what gratitude does for us
and you know, the survivors of this attack, wow.
- Well you think about it,
so we have a death in the family
but for someone to instantly say,
"Look what we got to experience."
Instead of, look at what we've lost
and we say,
"Look how faithful God was to put them in our life."
- And it's funny you said it,
'cause it brings me to
when I lost my second eldest brother, Ronald.
- Yeah.
- And we were all, my whole family,
it's a big family,
we were all gathered around,
and he took his last breath
and my father's hands went up like that.
- Wow.
- And I'll never forget that.
And he went right into worship
and he said those same words,
"Lord, we're so grateful
that we had Ronald for the time that we had him."
I just looked down,
I was like, what are you operating,
(laughter)
but it's true.
- Yeah.
In your darkest times,
when we go right into worship
and being thankful,
it gives you strength to go on.
- David did it.
When his baby died at eight days old,
he mourned and he prayed,
and then once the baby was with the Lord,
I'll worship.
I love that.
Boy, to be a person like that
with the heart that is so immediate, grateful.
- Immediate, right.
- I remember there was a hard season
we went through a few years ago,
that for years we've been praying like,
Lord fully set us free from this,
Lord fully set us free.
And over years, healing had taken place,
and over years, we got closer to a place of closure,
but it was just years.
And finally, there was a season coming ahead,
and we were praying so fervently,
Lord set us free, from what this season feels like.
And I went to this event,
with a bunch of our friends,
and I remember like Lord I'm going to break through,
I know I'm gonna get a breakthrough,
this is it,
and one of the people during our season,
one of their best friends,
came and sat next to me,
and then somebody else
from another hard season,
came and sat right next to me.
They didn't know we were all
gonna be sat next to each other,
and I was sitting there
and I thought I was gonna have a breakthrough.
- (laughter) Instead of a breakdown.
- In the moment I realized,
one of our good friends came onto the stage
and she led worship and I thought the Lord is,
I asked for a breakthrough,
and the Lord is saying
I need you to worship me in the middle of this.
- Right, right.
- You're gonna worship me in the middle of this
and you might not get closure,
and you may not get the conversations you want,
but you're gonna worship me in the middle of it
and your response gets to be worship.
And as I worshiped the Lord
and stood there,
and talked to all these people,
it wasn't like anyone was gonna give me the closure
I was demanding from other people,
I had to choose to worship in the middle of this.
And that started to set me free
and it was a couple years later,
where I, for the first time ever,
thanked God for that season.
And I wrote it down and said,
"God, thank you for that hard season,
thank you for the lessons,
thank you for the woman you've made me through it,
for the man you've made my husband through it,
thank you for those seasons,
I say thank you."
And it was in that moment,
where I felt closure,
no one else was able to give it to me.
- Wow.
- I had to worship Him through it,
and then I had to say thank you to Him for it,
and that was ultimately what brought healing,
not just happiness,
but like deep healing and joy,
where I can speak of it and not cry too much,
but truly it was closure.
No one else was gonna give it to me,
I had to give God praise and gratitude.
- That's good.
- And I think it's good also
that reminds me,
to remember,
is that this world is hard.
- Yeah.
- This world is really, really hard.
But I love in Hebrews, it says,
"Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken,
and thus let us offer to God
acceptable worship with reverence and awe,
for our God is a consuming fire."
- Hi everybody,
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