How to Give Thanks When You Don't Feel Thankful

November 26, 2025
00:00 20:01
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What do you do when everyone around you is posting grateful hearts and counting blessings, but you're just trying to get through the day?

This Thanksgiving week, if your heart feels heavy instead of thankful, this episode is for you. You're not failing spiritually, and you're not alone.

In this episode, Rachel explores what gratitude looks like in hard places—when life feels overwhelming, when chairs at your table are empty, when finances are tight, or when you're simply struggling to find words to pray.

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

  • Why gratitude isn't about manufacturing feelings, but about anchoring in truth
  • The difference between "thank you FOR this" and "thank you IN this" (and why it matters)
  • A 3-step prayer pattern for when you can't feel grateful but want to give thanks anyway
  • What Habakkuk's prayer teaches us about defiant faith in desperate circumstances
  • An answered prayer story about a broken oven and the provision that came when Rachel wasn't feeling particularly grateful

Key Takeaway: God's faithfulness doesn't depend on your emotional response. You can bring your honest, heavy heart to Him and still choose thanksgiving—not for what's happening, but for who He is in the midst of it.

Perfect for: Anyone facing their first holiday after loss, struggling with family dynamics, dealing with financial stress, or simply feeling guilty for not being more grateful this Thanksgiving.

Resources Mentioned:

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Meet Your Host
Rachel Wojo is an author, entrepreneur, public speaker, and podcaster. The ideal desperate pray-er to shed light on asking God questions, Rachel’s journey includes losing her mother to leukemia, her adult special needs daughter to a rare neurologically-degenerative disease, and her father to illness. As an entrepreneur living in Columbus, Ohio, she self-started and developed a blog to business platform over the last decade. She hosts Bible reading challenges on her popular blog, rachelwojo.com, which rallies readers of all ages to search God’s Word for solutions to life’s problems. Her biblical approach and life circumstances influence women to find strength and hope in everyday situations.

Rachel is the author of One More Step: Finding Strength When You Feel Like Giving Up. She is a public speaker and contributor to well-known faith-based publications for many companies. Mostly, Rachel is crazy in love with Matt, mom to six on earth and two in heaven.
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