I love the simplicity of this design and, because Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I decided to color it with warm rich autumn colors… and I’m glad I did! I love how it turned out. I’ll list the colors I used at the bottom of this post just in case you want to play with this or a similar color palette yourself!
As I was coloring this, I couldn’t help but think about how grateful I am for all God has done in my life, and it made me want to share a little God story with you that will hopefully encourage your heart and maybe even change your life like it did mine.
Especially not for my husband…
So… the very first Bible study I was ever involved in focused on prayer… which was the best introduction to the Lord I could have ever hoped for. The study was written primarily for women and in the section on thanksgiving, the author suggested that we give thanks daily for our husbands. Now I was a brand new believer and not used to giving thanks for much of anything… especially not for my husband… and especially during that rocky season of our marriage! However… I wanted so much to please the Lord that I went home that day, knelt by my bed, and asked God to show me what about my husband I could be thankful for.
Positives of the negatives…
At first all I could think of is what I called the “positives of the negatives.” You know… things like… “Thank You, Lord, that Michael doesn’t do this and he doesn’t do that.” After a few days my prayers began to change. “Thank You, Lord, that my husband mows the grass and cuts the firewood… and thank You that he gets up every morning and goes to work… even when he doesn’t feel like it.” And then… “Thank You, Lord, for my husband’s adventurous spirit!” Because even though sometimes I rebelled against him, our family has experienced some amazingly great adventures because of him!
The blessings of a grateful heart…
As the days and weeks went on, I began to see more things to give thanks for and an amazing thing began to happen. I actually became thankful for my husband… and my attitude toward him began to change! And then… after a few more weeks, an even more amazing thing happened… his attitude toward me began to change.
Within about six months from the time I began to give thanks for my husband and I did so purely out of obedience… despite my circumstances and emotions… we began to see the salvation of the Lord in our marriage. Now it would be another eighteen years before Michael accepted Christ for himself, but that attitude of gratitude laid a foundation of faith that gave me continued hope in the waiting!
Searching out hearts…
God wants to cultivate a grateful heart within each of us because it brings Him honor and glory and it brings us blessing. He wants us to search our hearts for anywhere we find ourselves stuck in a place of grumbling and complaining… and begin to give thanks… even if it starts with the positives of the negatives. God has recently shown me a particular area of my own life where he wants me to rediscover the joy of a grateful heart… to give thanks out of obedience and watch what He wants to do in the midst of it. And I’m encouraged… and I hope you are too… because I know from my own experience,, that whenever we give thanks in the midst of a challenging situation or relationship… at the very least… our attitude changes, the joy of the Lord comes in and fills our heart, and who knows… we might even get to see Him do a miracle in the midst of it!! xoxo
“He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”
Psalm 50:23
Resources I used for coloring the above design…
The design is from my Simple Blessings Coloring Book which you can find the printable version here or the print version here.
The pencils I use are PrismaColor Premier Colored Pencils and this set of 72 should be sufficient for all your coloring needs.
The colors I used were:
Yellows: PC916 Canary Yellow… PC1012 Jasmine… PC942 Yellow Ochre… and PC1034 Goldenrod
Oranges: PC1033 Mineral Orange… PC918 Orange… and PC1032 Pumpkin Orange
Reds: PC923 Scarlet Lake… and PC944 Terre Cotta
Greens: PC989 Chartreuse… PC1005 Limepeel… and PC1097 Moss Green
Thank you for the reminder of being thankful, especially for my husband!
Thank you for sharing this, Karla! Have you ever read “1000 Gifts” by Ann Voskamp? Thankfulness is transformative!
Dear Karla, Thank You So Very Much for sharing your Love of God and this experience of your life!! What a Gift and Blessing You are!! I Know that God wanted me to read this Today!! Thank You!!! Wendy