If you have stumbled upon this post then you are looking to be intentional about gratitude. Gratitude worksheets are great because they help you think outside the box. 

When you sit down to a blank page in your gratitude journal, chances are you can only think of the same five things to be grateful for.  What I’d like to do is teach you to look deeper, past the obvious.

When we look deeper past the obvious, we are then challenged to be thankful for the inconveniences, the less desirable challenges in our lives, and the more difficult people we are forced to live beside.

This is where true gratitude takes hold of our hearts.  Not in the obvious, not in the pleasant, but in the ordinary, in the pain and heartbreak, and in the monotony of the everyday life.

Gratitude Journal Printables

Journaling your gratitude in a pretty notebook is great, but what if you get “writers’ block”?  What if life is simply difficult and you need a little encouragement to look beyond the mountain in your path?  This is where gratitude worksheets really shine.  

Some will help you focus on scripture and why we have so many spiritual reasons to be thankful.  Others will simply encourage you to search your heart a bit.

These gratitude worksheets for adults will help you do a little bit of both! There are 20 Bible verses to read and meditate on plus journaling pages. Click the image to learn more!

Gratitude journal printables can be as simple as having a list of prompts or having a gratitude worksheet. Another great gratitude journal printable is Bible verses cards such as these lovely ones by Busy Blessed Women.

What Are Some Gratitude Activities?

I recently read “The Hiding Place” the story of Corrie Ten Boom.  If you haven’t read it before, I highly recommend it!  

Anyway, she tells of a time in which she and her sister were brought to a concentration camp.  They were put in a flea-infested barracks with thousands of other women.  They were starving, freezing, and physically exhausted.  

Corrie sees the fleas and exclaims, “How are we supposed to live here?”.  Her sister, Betsie replies, “the Bible tells us in everything give thanks”.  

Corrie looks around wondering what on earth she could possibly be thankful for and her sister reminds her that the scripture says “in everything” not “in the good things”.  This was an eye opener for me!

As the story unfolds you see God working in their lives in an amazing way.  He could work in their lives because they saw their situation not as a reason to sit down and give up, but as a way to bring God’s light and love to a very dark world.

While I could list a dozen gratitude activities for you to try, I’d rather challenge you to find reasons to be thankful in the areas of your life that are difficult or painful.

You know at night when the house is quiet and you are supposed to be sleeping and yet your mind is awake?  What about those moments when you are up to your elbows in diapers and toddler messes?  Maybe finances are your struggle and you don’t know how you are going to pay your rent?  

These are all opportunities to praise God for His love and grace.  These are the moments you should be lifting up prayers of thanks because He has given you something greater than your circumstances.

Look beyond your circumstances, begin listing the blessings, and I promise you, your circumstances will be forever changed because you do not view them in the same light.

How Can I Practice Gratitude Daily?

How can I practice gratitude daily?  

Gratitude seems to come more naturally to some than to others.  Whether you have a glass half full kind of mindset or dark clouds seem to follow you around, gratitude is a habit we need to develop.  I have found these practices to be helpful:

• Live in the moment  I have found that when I’m focused on the moment, what I’m doing right now, who is with me, and what is going on around me that I can see the good more easily.  When I’m focused on my to-do list or my anxiety over tomorrow, it is more difficult to be thankful for the present.  When learning to be present in the moment you can focus on being thankful for the relationships you have, the beauty of nature around you etc. etc.
• Write something you are thankful for each day  Whether you do this in the morning or at the end of the day, a moment of reflection will help you focus on the goodness in your life.  Jot it down in a notebook and years from now you will look back and see the beauty your life truly holds.
• Teach gratitude to your children  I confess that I have grown right along with my children and they have taught me far more than I have taught them.  When I hear them complain about dinner or make a negative remark about doing their chores, it causes me to pause and think about my own words and attitude.  If you are prompting your children to be thankful for everything you do for them, perhaps it will help you see the people in your life you can be thankful for too.
• Study Bible verses about gratitude  The scriptures fully encourage us to be grateful and to give thanks.  I will include several of my favorite verses at the end of the post.
• Find joy in the ordinary Often we get focused on the big blessings that we miss the every day ones. The tiny things we have to be thankful for in the boring, ordinary, hum drum of every day.
• Stay focused on things above One of satan’s ways of stealing your gratitude is to keep you focused on the negative in the world and in your life. God is in control. Focus on God and thankfulness will come.

Gratitude Worksheets for Kids

I love gratitude worksheets for kids! In this age of entitlement, instant gratification, and comparison, it is important to teach our young people to look around them and find the blessings they have.

My son, Micah, leans more toward complaining about his life than he does toward being thankful.  My first attempt to teach him gratitude was to sit down with him and make a list of all the things he was thankful for.  

He could never get past thankful for the nice day or thankful that Dad was home from work.  He really could not see the blessings all around him.  

This goes back to my point that we need to train our minds to see the things we have to be thankful for.  Gratitude is a habit that is grown.

Micah inspired me to create this gratitude journal for kids.  It helps them think outside the box, to see the good in their everyday.  It is intended for kids kindergarten through third grade but use your own discretion.  The pictures to color are a bit large and more attractive to younger kids than upper elementary. Click the image to check it out!

For more great activities to teach your kids gratitude, check out “Encourage a Grateful Heart with these Gratitude Activities for Kids”.

I also have a gratitude journal that is perfect for upper elementary aged kids. It contains 28 prompts on 7 printable pages in which the kids can journal directly on. A few graphics make this journal a little more entertaining and the prompts lend themselves to more journaling and thoughtful answers. Click image below to check it out!

Bible Verses about Thankfulness

I would like to end this post with a few Bible verses mostly because I feel that there is always one thing to be thankful for and that is our Lord! He has promised to never leave us, He has promised to love us and save us from our sins. The first two verses are my favorites. They are my go to verses when things are really rough.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:37-39)

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you. (Isaiah 43:1-2)

 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,  in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

Gratitude worksheets can go a long way in helping you change your mindset and attitude and see the goodness of God in all situations.

What do you like about gratitude worksheets? What tactics have you found help you have a grateful heart? Share them in the comments below!