The old practice of “counting our blessings” is an effective modern treatment for what’s ailing the mind. Giving thanks is essential to mental health.

In her book It’s My Turn, Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, told of awaking in the early morning, about three o’clock, in another country. She was exhausted, but the name of someone she loved flashed into her mind like an electric shock. She wrote:

So I lay there and prayed for the one who was trying hard to run away from God. When it is dark and the imagination runs wild, there are fears that only a mother can understand.

Suddenly the Lord said to me, Quit studying the problems and start studying the promises. Now God has never spoken to me audibly, but there is no mistaking when He speaks. So I turned on the light, got out my Bible, and the first verse that came to me was Philippians 4:6. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

Ruth read and pondered that verse as though seeing it for the first time. “Suddenly,” she wrote:

I realized the missing ingredient in my prayers had been “with thanksgiving.” So I put down my Bible and spent time worshipping Him for who He is and what He is. This covers more territory than any one mortal can comprehend. Even contemplating what little we do know dissolves doubts, reinforces faith, and restores joy. I began to thank God for giving me this one I loved so dearly in the first place. I even thanked Him for the difficult spots which taught me so much.

And you know what happened? It was as if suddenly someone turned on the lights in my mind and heart, and the little fears and worries which, like mice and cockroaches, had been nibbling away in the darkness, suddenly scuttled for cover.

Robert J. Morgan, Worry Less, Live More: God’s Prescription for a Better Life (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2017).

We have just released a new Bible study on based on Robert Morgan's book, Worry Less, Live More

These lessons are available on Amazon, as well as a part of my Good Questions Have Groups Talking Subscription Service. Like Netflix for Bible Lessons, one low subscription gives you access to all our lessons--thousands of them. For a medium-sized church, lessons are as little as $10 per teacher per year.

Sessions include:

The Practice of Rejoicing

The Practice of Gentleness

The Practice of Nearness

The Practice of Prayer

The Practice of Thanksgiving

The Practice of Thinking

The Practice of Discipleship

The Practice of Peace