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Hi, I'm Mandi, founder of Damn Good Thyme. I'm so glad to have you here!

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Nov25— Week Three: A Week of Thankfulness and Gratitude

Mandi
6 days ago
3 min read

Finding gratitude in every season, even the ones that felt heavy.

jump to today's scripture

Introduction

Healing is often talked about in terms of food, supplements, routines, and protocols. Those things matter. But they are not the whole story.

Chronic illness affects more than the body. It affects confidence, identity, hope, and faith. It changes how we see ourselves and how we relate to God.

For many of us, the hardest part of healing isn’t what we eat, it’s learning how to keep trusting when our bodies don’t cooperate. It’s learning how to stay hopeful when progress feels slow. It’s learning how to feel safe in a body that has scared us.

That is why these devotionals exist.

Daily Bread is a space to check in with your spirit — not just your symptoms. It is a place to remind yourself that God is near, that you are not alone in what you’re walking through, and that healing is not something you have to force.

This Week’s Focus: Thankfulness and Gratitude

This week, we’re slowing down enough to notice what we’ve rushed past. Gratitude is not a shallow mindset shift, it is a spiritual reset. It clears the fog, softens what’s hardened, and opens our eyes to the quiet, steady ways God has been caring for us all along.

Gratitude is not pretending things are perfect; it’s acknowledging that God has been present, faithful, and generous even in the spaces that still feel unfinished.

Thankfulness anchors you when your emotions shift. It grounds you when you feel overwhelmed. It realigns your spirit with truth when your circumstances feel loud. And in seasons of healing, especially when your body feels fragile or unpredictable, gratitude becomes a form of worship that gently pulls your heart back toward hope.

This week, we’re practicing a gratitude that goes deeper than good moments or good days. A gratitude that remembers. A gratitude that notices. A gratitude that breathes slowly enough to recognize: God has carried me. God is carrying me. And God will continue to carry me.

May this be a week where your spirit loosens its grip, your eyes notice what they’ve overlooked, and your heart learns again how to see the goodness of God, not just in the big things, but in every small mercy that meets you exactly where you are.

Today's Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning.

Luke 17: 11-19

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along betwee nSamria and Galilee. And as he entered a village he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests". And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."

Reflection

Lamentations is written in a season of national pain, grief, and devastation. Yet right in the middle of that suffering, Jeremiah says God’s mercies “are new every morning.” This is not optimism, it’s theology. Jeremiah is stating that God’s compassion resets daily, even when life hasn’t improved.

In Luke 17, ten lepers receive healing, but only one returns. The other nine weren’t ungrateful; they were overwhelmed. Their lives were changing quickly, and gratitude requires slowing down long enough to acknowledge what God has done.

This pattern is familiar. When you live with chronic symptoms, unpredictable health, or emotional exhaustion, it’s easy to rush past the small mercies because you’re bracing for what comes next. Gratitude forces a pause. It interrupts anxiety by asking: What did God provide today that I’m not noticing?

Gratitude in the ordinary isn’t about pretending things are easy. It’s about training your eyes to recognize that even on difficult days, God still extends mercy in small, steady ways, strength for the morning, clarity in a moment of fear, a reduction in symptoms, a conversation that helped you breathe again.

Ordinary gratitude builds spiritual stability. When you learn to notice God in the small things, your spirit becomes less controlled by the unpredictable things.