Lish Speaks: 0:21

Everybody, it's your girl, lish Speaks, and I am here with another episode of I'll Just Let Myself In the podcast, where you're allowed to walk through your God-given doors without apology. We're here with a little bit of a bite-sized episode, and that's in lieu of the bites, the mini bites, you'll be taking this Thursday. As it is the week of Thanksgiving, I wanted to do an episode centered around gratitude and Thanksgiving and not so much around what I'm grateful for, although I will share some of those things. I wanted to do an episode more focused on what living a life of gratitude does for me, what living in gratitude does for me. So I'm excited. I hope that this episode blesses you, I hope that it encourages you, I hope that you're gearing up to have a great week and spend some time with loved ones. But you know what we got to do.

Lish Speaks: 1:15

First, my favorite segment called what I'm Stepping In, and today I'm stepping in a pair of Jordan 3 Animal Instincts. Listen, I love this shoe. It is one of my favorite favorite shoes, One of my favorite Jordans and I'm actually not a Jordan 3 fan, so, as I know, don't stone me but this shoe I love. It is a cheetah, lion, zebra, leopard print Got all the sorts of prints with it. It's made with black pony hair like a silkish tongue. It's just really cool, really fun sneaker. I really do love the different design elements, as you guys have seen in some of the sneakers I featured in the past, and so these came out in 2019. Didn't get my hands on them until about a year ago and I just love this shoe. It looks so good, it's so fresh, it's such a conversation starter and you know how we do here If you like them, get you some, all right.

Lish Speaks: 2:09

So back into our topic for today, which is going to be gratitude. Obviously, you know, with this time of year, you start to think of you know just the things in your life that you're thankful for, the things in your life that you're grateful for. You start to think of the things you've been through and the things that you've overcome at least I do and so I wanted to do an episode talking about how and why I live in gratitude. First of all, one of my favorite scriptures in Philippians 4, verse 6, says do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, thanksgiving, present your request to God. If you know me, if you study the Bible with me, if you've been a part of anything I've been a part of, I have set that scripture to you. I love it because I struggle with being anxious right, and I've learned over the years that living a life of gratitude is not just healthy for me spiritually, it's not just something God wants me to do Although there are many scriptures that point to the fact that it's what God wants me to do. It is something that allows me to be free from my anxiety. Right Bible says don't be anxious about anything, and that's really hard. Right, about anything. Don't be anxious about anything. There's a lot to be anxious about anything, and that's really hard. Right, about anything. Don't be anxious about anything. There's a lot to be anxious about. But then the Bible also gives us direction. It says but in everything. In some versions it says in every circumstance or in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God, another definition that I have in my life for overwhelm and if you know me, you've heard me say this a million times Overwhelm is just the symptom that you have not communicated your needs.

Lish Speaks: 3:59

When a person is overwhelmed, when a woman is overwhelmed, there's a fair chance that there is a need, that you have something that's going on, many things you're trying to take care of and you have not taken the time to either communicate at all, or at least not adequately communicate to the people around you what you need. And therein sets anxiety and overwhelm. And so I love that this scripture encourages, commands us to present our request to God, but not without thanksgiving. And why is that important? Right, like you know, sometimes when you need something, you just need to tell the person what you need. You don't have time to have all these. You know platitudes of gratitude, you know in the conversation. But I think that the reason that this scripture says this is because when we pause, even when we're in need, even when we're anxious, even when we're stressed out to give thanks, to show gratitude, it brings us back down to center.

Lish Speaks: 5:04

You know one of the things for me that I try to practice and I'll actually talk a little bit later about five practices that I do to live in a sense of gratitude. But one of the things for me is I really try to think through, and even speak through, what I'm thankful for, because it reminds me that it's not all bad. It reminds me that the world's not on my shoulders and I don't hold all the world's problems, and that I do have things indeed to be thankful for, and so that scripture really does help me. You know, one of the things I was thinking about while I was putting together this podcast and listen y'all, I got real notes on my note cards. Okay, I really do research and study and try to put things together for this podcast.

Lish Speaks: 5:50

But one of the things that I thought about as I was putting this show together was the difference between being thankful and being grateful. Now, to me, the Bible uses them interchangeably and talks about giving thanks or entering his courts with thanksgiving and praise, more than it might say the word grateful. But I went to our dear old friend, sister girl chat GPT and wanted to see what she had to say she's a she in my household what she had to say about, you know, thankfulness versus gratefulness. I thought it was interesting so I'm going to share it with you guys. So being thankful?

Lish Speaks: 6:30

According to ChatGPT, being thankful is a reaction to something specific, often short-term and tied to an external event, like receiving a gift or receiving help, while being grateful is a deeper, more sustained attitude or state of being, often rooted in internal reflection and appreciation, even in difficult circumstances. Thankfulness is situational, outward-facing and often directed at someone or something, while gratitude is more enduring and inward, involving an ongoing appreciation for life and its blessings. And I thought that was a pretty cool thing because, to be honest, when I say thank you to someone, it often is because of something that they do right. Thank you, I'm thankful that you did this, I'm thankful for this or that, but when I tell someone I'm grateful for you, it hits different right, and I'm not saying that that's some, you know, biblical thing. I think they're interchangeable, but gratitude does seem to hit a little bit different. You know, when I think about the things in my life that I'm grateful for, they often make me emotional, because the truth is they are things that I know my life would not be the same without, and it helps me to put in perspective that each day that God allows me to have breath in my body. I get to experience these things and they're a privilege because not everyone does, and so it's so important for us to think through the things that we're grateful for. Think through the things we're thankful for and really take them in.

Lish Speaks: 8:20

One of my favorite scriptures, another one of my I know I say that a lot, but I really read my Bible and I really do be having mad favorite scriptures and I also been at this a long time Like I was raised in church. I was raised reading the Bible, but I've been a Christian my full adult life and so you know you read the Bible every day. You can have a lot of favorite scriptures. So I'll be capping. These really do be my favorite scriptures. But First, thessalon 5.18 talks about giving thanks in all circumstances. And if you've been through anything in life, if you made it through COVID, you've been through some circumstances, you've been through some things. That is like, how am I going to give thanks in this? But once you learn the secret of living a life of gratitude, you really do understand how to give thanks in all circumstances.

Lish Speaks: 9:04

I was laughing the other day because I was scrolling social media and Cece Wanans was preaching. It was a clip of her preaching. I don't know how new or old it is, but it's a clip of her preaching. And you know, we got a joke in the Christian world that Cece Wanans is like super saved, like we want to be saved, like Cece, that's Jesus' big sister, right there, right. And so she was saying how you know when you stub your toe, a cuss word shouldn't come out. You know what should come out is what's inside. So she said something go wrong in her life. She just started saying thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus. And I laughed because I do stuff like that. Stuff will go wrong in my life. I'm like all right, thank you Jesus, thank you that I still have this, thank you that I still have that.

Lish Speaks: 9:46

When I lay my head down at night, I try to let the last thing I say be thank you Jesus, in a whisper, most of the time in a whisper or even in my head, because I'm thankful for the day, and I often think about this when I pray at night, when I pray in the morning. This is something that I heard years ago when I was a teenager and somebody said what if you only woke up tomorrow with the things that you thanked God for today. I think about that all the time because we just go through life and in place of gratitude we often find ourselves complaining. But there is so, so much to be grateful for in our day to day, and I think it's just really important that we take the time to show God our gratitude, acknowledge the things that we are happy about, that we are grateful for, acknowledge the things that are going well in our lives, and so those are some of the things that I've just been pondering on in this Thanksgiving season. You know, I got a couple of tips for living in gratitude. We getting right to it, y'all. I got a couple of tips for living in gratitude, and these are things that I actually do.

Lish Speaks: 10:58

So, going in line with what I was just talking about, I try to start off my day and end my day in gratitude. Right, what does that look like? So, when I wake up in the morning, I often thank God for tangible things, not just like thank you, lord, that I woke up, please be with me today, and there's nothing wrong with that If you have like a patent prayer that you say every morning. I ain't said listen, talk to your father, however you like, but I try to think of and name very specific things to thank God for about that day, about what I have planned that day, about whatever happened the day before. I want him to know that I'm paying attention. I want God to know that I'm paying attention. You know, there's nothing more special than when someone gives you a gift that has nothing to do with what you asked them for, but everything to do with what you've been mentioning or what you said that you've liked in the past, or something you wore in the past. It's like, wow, you paid attention and I don't know about you.

Lish Speaks: 11:56

But when I give someone a gift or when someone gives me a gift like that, I feel so much closer to them because I feel like they really care about me. And then when I give people gifts like that and they are thankful, it makes me want to do more things. You know, I love surprising my husband with different things and it's fun because you know, men don't really celebrate their stuff Like they don't really celebrate their birthdays, they don't really whatever. So when we got together and I was able to like make a big deal out of his birthday as a present with it, it was like the biggest thing in the world to him, even though it was very simple to me, right? But because of his reaction, because of his gratitude, every year I go bigger and bigger, um, and I don't plan on stopping. So, um, as the money increases, so will the gifts and adventures.

Lish Speaks: 12:39

But that gratitude makes me want to give him more, and it's not that I'm, you know, telling God thank you, so that he can just keep giving me more, even though that kind of works, but it really is to let him know, like I know this, I know this, that I asked you to work this thing out and you did. I know this, that I was praying about this five years ago and I stopped praying about it and now I'm living in it. I noticed that the thing you told me no to was for my good, and we're going to get into that later as well, you know. And so when I lay down at night, I often pray, thanking him for one getting me through the day, because we all know not everyone who walks out their house in the morning comes back at night. It happens every day, and so I thank God.

Lish Speaks: 13:24

I thank God for the health of my parents, for the health of my friends, for the health of my husband. I thank God for my church. I thank God for my upbringing. I just find things to thank God for. I do not close my eyes without praying. I don't play those games. You know what I mean, because if I don't wake up in the morning, I want the last thing I did was talk to the Lord, and so I try to really begin and end the day with gratitude. So that's the first tip for living a life of gratitude. My second tip for living a life of gratitude, or living a life in gratitude, is giving people their flowers. I really do give people their flowers.

Lish Speaks: 14:04

You know, if I like something about someone, if someone did something for me, if someone was extra kind to me at a season in my life where I couldn't afford to be kind back to them, I will randomly just remind them of it. I do this with my parents. I will text my mom. If I see like a meme or something about mothering and it's something that my mother did really well, I'll just tell her you did this really well when we were children. You really, this was really a strength of yours. Or if I have a memory, you know I was in the grocery store one time and saw all these Christmas decorations and all these you know Skittle flavor, candy canes and all this stuff. And my mom if you came to my house growing up you know she was the candy queen, the fun, everything right and I just text her. I think I called. I either called or I texted and I was like mom, you really made the holidays great growing up. Like I have incredible memories because you made the holidays great. You know, same thing with my dad. If I see something that reminds me of the you know some of the principles he's instilled in me, I call him and I say dad, you know, thank you for this or thank you for that.

Lish Speaks: 15:13

I will praise my parents publicly, you know, because that's one part of honoring them, but it also makes me grateful for the upbringing I had. Doesn't mean my upbringing was perfect, but some of us we get so stuck on the things that went wrong in our childhood, the things that could have been better, the things we're upset about and I'm not dismissing any trauma or anything you've been through because I got trauma on my own right or anything you've been through because I got trauma on my own right but it helps me to live in gratitude, to give the people in my life their flowers, and reminds me again that is not all bad. It also reminds me that I have people in my corner, people that love me, people that support me. Right, sometimes we can get into this and I don't know, I can just speak for myself.

Lish Speaks: 16:01

We can get into this loneliness or melancholy, or, especially if you're an entrepreneur or you are a person who is ambitious, there are times when you feel like you're just running alone, and so taking the time to say the words thank you or tell someone I'm grateful for you will remind you that people are in this with you. People have sacrificed for you, people love you, people are there for you, and if you live with someone, if you're married, if you have roommates, if you have children, this is something that you should definitely be practicing. Tell the people in your house that you are grateful for them. They need to hear it. They need to hear that you're grateful for when they did put the dishes away, for when they did load the dishwasher, for when they did vacuum.

Lish Speaks: 16:47

Not all the time do people need to hear about what they didn't do or what they're not doing right, and when you live that way, it'll place you in a perpetual state of frustration and ingratitude, because you're focusing on everything that's not happening in your life rather than taking the active posture to be grateful and show gratitude for the things that are happening. Listen, there's always going to be things that's not happening. There's always going to be things that are not going right. There's always going to be things from your past that, when you think about them, they trip you up. But the idea that you get to choose what you focus on is a magnificent thing, and when you, if you want to live a life of gratitude, you got to choose to focus on the things you have to be grateful for.

Lish Speaks: 17:32

The third thing I do to try to stay in a state of gratitude is I write out prayers and I go back and read old prayers and so I have tons of too many books, too many books, and even I got a whole Apple pen and everything so I can take notes on good notes, and I still end up using journals. It's the millennial in me. But the cool thing about that is I get to go back and read old prayers and, as I alluded to earlier, I am just as grateful for the things God said no to, as I am for the things he said yes to, I go back and read old prayers about things I wanted and I'm like, thank you God. That opportunity would have ruined me, that relationship would have ruined me, that job would have ruined me, things that I was praying and fasting for that God said and I don't believe God tells us no.

Lish Speaks: 18:26

I think God says I have something better in mind. I think God says not right now. I think God says that's not what's best for you Because, just like our earthly parents, who are healthy, when they love us and when we are in good relationship, they take no pleasure in telling us no. God does not take pleasure in telling me no. I believe that with everything in me, and so my belief is when the answer is a no, it's really a not right now, or that's not the best situation, or actually I have something better in mind. But when I look back at those prayers y'all, I am amazed by the things he said yes to. I am amazed by his timing and how he works things out so intricately and how I can look at the date that I prayed that prayer versus the date that it was answered, versus all the things that happened in between.

Lish Speaks: 19:20

It makes me so grateful that I have a God who hears me, who listens to me and who cares about the intricacies of my life. You know I've shared this before, but I went back and read a prayer after I started dating my husband and I realized that I had prayed for I had prayed to marry a guy from Brooklyn, right, that's such a stupid thing really. It's just an arbitrary whatever right. But God did it with me living in Atlanta, right, and stuff like that just makes me it's not super important, but it's important for my faith because it reminds me that God is listening to the details of my life. He's listening to those little thoughts that I have, that I'm, you know, half serious about, half not serious about, and so many things in my life. I can look around, literally right now. I can look around my apartment and see answered prayers. It's good to look at your prayers because you can remember the big things God changed, you know. I think about prayers for people's health and people's well-being and people to make it out of certain situations and for me to be reunited with people, and God has done it, and so I live in a state of gratitude because I'm able to go back and look at the things that God has done.

Lish Speaks: 20:37

The fourth thing I do is that I practice saying thank you, and this kind of goes with giving people their flowers, but on a smaller scale. This is the people that I'm not particularly close to right. This is not my mom, my dad, who I'm going to say oh, thank you for doing this. This is just people in my life, right? So if I'm in church and someone does something particularly kind, I'm not just like, oh, thanks, I make a point to say, hey, thank you for X, y and Z. This really encouraged me. If you know and I've done this with strangers, you know what I mean. If they do something, I'm like, hey, thank you so much, that was really kind. People don't do things like that nowadays.

Lish Speaks: 21:21

I I can be a little pessimistic if you haven't read that. I can be a little glass half empty sometimes, and when I say thank you, it reminds me that good things are happening to me consistently. So even sometimes, when it's just God, I get a parking spot somewhere or something cool happens to me, I'm like, thank you, god. I audibly say thank you. I know you may think that's a kooky, that ain't that serious. But when I tell you it helps, it helps me stay in gratitude.

Lish Speaks: 21:55

It's hard to be ungrateful when you're constantly saying thank you. You know, I thank my husband for opening doors for me, for bringing me juice, for washing the dishes. Whatever he does, I say thank you. I don't just take it for granted that we live in a house and we're married and I serve him and he serves me, so I don't have to say that. No, I say thank you to him several times a day. You know when he's working on editing, you know this podcast and he's watching all these videos and learning different things and buying equipment. I say thank you. When something comes in the mail that he got for this podcast or for our lives, I say thank you and gratefully. You know it's vice versa. He's the same way. But even if he wasn't, I would do that because it reminds me that there are blessings coming into my life via this man every day, that God is using him as a vessel to bless my life every day.

Lish Speaks: 22:50

If you're not saying thank you, eventually you will become ungrateful. This happens all the time, especially in marriages. People stop saying please, they stop saying thank you, they stop the pleasantries and then they look up one day and they're just really unhappy. Someone doesn't feel acknowledged. You know, usually it's both people feeling like, whatever they do, the other person is not acknowledging it. I've seen this, telling you what I know, and I really believe there's something very special to actually saying the words thank you. And so that is the fourth way that I practice gratitude in my life. I say thank you to strangers, to friends. I make sure those words come out of my mouth.

Lish Speaks: 23:36

You know, the last way, the fifth way, fifth and final way, is that I do a lot of reminiscing, and this again can kind of go into reading a prayer journal. But this is a little bit different because I'll look at old photos, I'll look at old accolades, things that I've done, things that I've accomplished, opportunities that I went for some I got, some I didn't and I just sit and reminisce. You know the old folks say, when I think of the goodness of God, right, you know, that's how I feel. I start thinking about the things that I've experienced, the things that I've experienced, the things that I've accomplished, the things that I've been through, and it really does allow me. It almost, like, brings me down right to a place of gratitude, to a place of assuredness in what God can do through me and with me. It takes me out of the hustle and the bustle and the grind and the stress and really puts me in a position of peace and gratitude for the things I've been able to experience in my life.

Lish Speaks: 24:40

You know, I'll look back on old videos of me traveling. And that's the cool thing about social media. It literally, if you've been on, most of us have been on it for at least the last decade it can. It has chronicled really the highlights, because that's mostly what we shared, but even some of the low lights of our lives losing people, losing friends, the pandemic, different things. But when I look back on videos of me in different countries, going to the continent several times in my adult life continent of Africa I look at these things and I'm like, wow, look at what you've experienced. When I look at photos of people I've been able to meet and write songs with and work with and what I'm like, wow, and it's so funny because sometimes I will look at these things I'll be like yo, that was a lifetime ago. Like that seems like a different person, like I don't even. I'm not even that person anymore, but it's cool because it lets me see how God will be with you through every stage of your life. It allows me to see that he will allow you to live different lives and do different things, and I'm a person who loves being a multi-hyphenate.

Lish Speaks: 25:50

I love, I want to be wrung out Like when I'm, when my body is in the grave. I want, I don't want there to be nothing left Right, and so I love looking back on old, old videos and pictures and even statuses. Sometimes I'll look at something I put on Twitter you know, 10 years ago, and I'm like Sometimes I look at something I put on Twitter you know 10 years ago and I'm like that's funny. What was I thinking? What was I saying? You know I tweeted the day of my first date with my husband, you know, going on a date, my first date since COVID, and now we're married. I have that forever to see where I was at that day mentally and what I was thinking.

Lish Speaks: 26:32

And the truth is it'll also, you know, like the written prayers remind you of the things that God said. You're better than that, you're above that, or I'm going to get you out of that. Sometimes you'll be looking at a picture where you were smiling, but because it's you, you know what you were actually going through. During that time I got several pictures like that and I'm like, wow, I was so unhappy, but I'm so happy now God got me through. You know that time of reminiscing really does help me to live in gratitude, and so I hope that those things help. I would love to hear from you guys what things you're doing to live in gratitude, what things you're doing to let yourself in and walk through your God-given door.

Lish Speaks: 27:07

So we put something together that I'm really excited about for our speakers, which is what I call you guys. I'm Lish Speaks and I call you my speakers. A couple of reasons for that One y'all spread the word. Y'all let people know what's going on. Y'all let people know what I'm about. Y'all let people know that they should be listening. But you also serve as the sounding board, right for what I'm doing and for what the people who will join our community do. So I call y'all my speakers, and we set up a special email for you guys, that is speakers at lishspeakscom. So we'll put that on the screen, but the email that you guys can send us letters, questions, responses to is speakers at lishspeakscom and I'm excited I'll be reading some of them on future shows. We'll be answering questions on future shows. I'll take love mail Hate mail will be deleted, but I'm so excited to be able to connect with our community in this way. I think it's going to be so much fun moving forward to have those connections with each other and I'll do some pointed questions where I'll ask you guys to write in about different stories and read some stuff on the shows. So we're really excited about the future of this podcast.

Lish Speaks: 28:19

I got some really cool announcements coming up in the next few weeks and I'm really grateful for this platform. I'm grateful that you tune in every week. I'm grateful that you tune in every week. I'm grateful that you share these clips when they show up on your social media. I'm grateful that you guys come in my DMs and you share with me what you're going through, what you feel, what you're related to, how much you loved an episode. I'm grateful that, as a young black woman, I have the opportunity to share my perspectives about what God has done in my life, and so I don't take you guys for granted. I don't take this opportunity for granted and I'm just excited to see what God is going to continue to do.

Lish Speaks: 29:03

Listen, I hope that you've enjoyed this episode thus far and I hope that, wherever you see this, whenever you see this if it's during the holiday season or beyond that you are able to implement the things that will help you live a life of gratitude. I'm your girl, liz Speaks, and this has been. I'll Just Let Myself End the podcast. Listen. You already know we are here every week, same time, same place, and we want to continue to encourage you. If you want to be a part of the community, please subscribe to everything we do and follow me on all social media. Atlas Speaks. Give us a review, tell us what you're thinking of the podcast, share it with your friends and family and hopefully it has been encouraging you. Same time, same place next week, y'all. I'll just let myself in Peace.