Transform Your Life with an Attitude of Gratitude

Someone once said that we're supposed to be thankful for everything that takes place in our life. Is that even possible? Could that even be true? Well, today I want to share with you something that is so unbelievable and so incredible that many years ago I learned how to see the possibilities of something taking place in my life and then me learning to be thankful for it.

Welcome to becoming wiser with Dr. Robert A. Rohm, author and world renowned public speaker, as he shares stories involving his experiences and lessons learned in a good, spirited, positive and fun way. Here's Dr. Robert A. Rohm.

Hey, I'm Dr. Robert Rohm. In today's podcast, I want to share with you what I consider to be one of, if probably not the most important thing I've ever learned in my life when it comes to seeing just how everything in life plays out. In other words, there are situations that all of us have gone through and we did not necessarily like them at the time. But later on, after we matured a little bit or had a better perspective, we looked back at everything and we realized, wow, what I thought was such a terrible situation in my life really did try to be a good thing. I remember years ago, Garth Brooks wrote a song, talked about how I thank God for unanswered prayer. And in the song, it's a very humorous prayer. He talks about how he's growing up, he was in love with some girl, and then he saw her many, many years later at a high school reunion and he realized, after all, she wasn't such the great beauty and wonderful wife that he thought she would be. Well, we laugh at that. And humorous. And not to be unkind to anybody, but all of us, whether it's been in business or in relationships or buying products or clothes, I mean, gosh, I can still remember back in the 70s where we were buying leisure suits with bell bottom pants. I hope nobody can find a picture of me dressed out in something like that today. So what I want to share with you, this is Thanksgiving. This is the week we celebrate here in the United States, Thanksgiving. And I wanted to share with you a concept which has helped me over and over again. And Ray, basically, it's this. There is always something for which you can be thankful.

I want you to think about it. Stop what you're doing, give me undivided attention, just for a few minutes. Thanksgiving this week is in the United States, and I realize that these podcasts go out throughout the whole world. So if you're living in another country, just enjoy the celebration with us on this Thursday, recognizing this Thanksgiving Day, and I realize sometimes it's celebrated in other countries in different manners as well. Regardless of where you live and how you celebrate it, Thanksgiving is a great time to remember how we should be thankful and grateful for everything that we have in life. I've often been reminded that success in life has everything to do with an attitude of gratitude. When a person has a good attitude and grateful heart, it seems like doors of opportunity suddenly open up for them that would not have opened otherwise. It's almost like the law of Attraction. People are attracted to people who are grateful. Not many people who are bitter and ungrateful have prospered very much in their lifetime years ago I want to share this with you a story I heard of an Englishman by the name of Matthew Henry. He was a preacher and a well known Bible teacher who lived from 1662 to 1714. His Exposition of the Old and New Testament is a commentary that's still widely in print to this very day. He was known for his practical application combined with a well sustained flow of the English language and English literature. Perhaps that is what has made his commentary one of the best works of its kind that, as I mentioned, is still in use today. Well, here's the story. One day Matthew Henry was riding his horse through the woods and he was on his way to a church meeting where he was going to be the guest speaker. Suddenly, a mass bandit ran out of the woods with a gun in his hand and demanded that Matthew Henry get off his horse. Mr. Henry obeyed the robber for he knew it was a dangerous situation and even though he tried to talk to the man about God and spiritual matters, the bandit would hear none of it. He quickly took all of Matthew Henry's money and ran back into the woods. It all happened so quickly that Matthew Henry hardly had time to realize what had happened. Although he was now penniless, he got back on his horse and continued on his journey to the church where he was to speak that night.

His mind took him to the thought that we're supposed to give thanks in everything that happens to us. He asked God, how am I supposed to be thankful for being robbed? As he continued on his way, the answer came to him. That night when he was preaching, he told the story to the audience about what had happened to him earlier that same day. He concluded the message by sharing the reason he could be thankful for what had happened to him and listen carefully because this is where it really gets good. Remember, he was not necessarily thankful that he got robbed, but he was thankful that he was able to be grateful in the situation by looking for ways to be thankful. Keep listening. Matthew Henry said. First, I'm thankful I have never been robbed before. Second, I'm thankful that he took my money and not my life.

Third, I'm thankful he did not take more. He could have taken my horse and my clothes as well. Next, I'm thankful that what I had stolen from me really did not amount to very much. Then he said, I'm grateful that what I lost in time could all be replaced. Then he concluded his message by saying, most importantly, I am thankful that I was the one robbed and not the robber.

Goodness gracious. When I first heard that story back in the 70s, I sat there and I prayed silently. God help me to become a person like that who not necessarily is glad that bad things happen, but can learn to look for the silver lining. They can learn to look for and be grateful for other things that were triggered by the thing that happened. Isn't that a fantastic attitude of thankfulness and gratitude? I remember when I heard this story, I thought to myself, again, I want to be that kind of person. Not that I want to be put my. Put myself in harm's way or constantly have bad things happen to me, but I want to be the kind of person who looks at the good, the pure, and the positive things in life that happens to me in such a way that I can believe that my life is going through circumstances and situations that matter and are not just a string of meaningless, random events that haphazardly happened to me. I think I would have lived in a constant state of disappointment over these last 30 or 40 years if I just felt like that my life was meaningless and nothing really mattered and everything was just as sheer coincidence that happened to happen to me because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You see, when you change your mind and you begin to look at things differently, you get out of that constant state of depression. You start living with an attitude of hopefulness and gratefulness and gratitude. And life has a great way of teaching us that what it wants me to know, I will know and I will eventually learn if I will just pay attention. Now, let me just wind this up by saying, if I will learn to look for the good, the pure and the positive in things that happen in life, and if I can develop to have a thankful, grateful heart, you know what's going to happen? I will find them. I will find things that I can see that I otherwise would have overlooked with just a bitter, hateful, mean spirit. Well, why that happened to me, that's not fair. I don't know why a situation like that would come my way. I didn't plan on that happening. Listen, friend, if you want to live your life that way, be my guest, but I promise you it will lead around in circles and go nowhere. But if you could start to look for things and say, is there something I'm missing here? Is there something I can look for that would help me to be a better person? Is there something I can look for that would give me more insight into life or how to be a better person or how to do this better next time. All of those things come into play when we start having an attitude of gratitude if we do that. I promise you, if you live with a grateful heart and you learn to be thankful for things, you will be just like Matthew Henry did so long ago. Again, it's the attitude of gratitude that carries the day. I hope. During this time of Thanksgiving, let me encourage you to look at even the most difficult, heartbreaking, gut wrenching situations that you may be facing right now and look for ways that you can be grateful for what has taken place in your life. During our darkest moments. They are still good to be found. I'm 74 years old. I can look back and I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart, there's some of the darkest, most difficult, gut wrenching relationship breaking, financially losing moments of my life have helped me and given me direction and given me insight that I otherwise would have missed if I not have had my eyes open and we're looking for them.

Lastly, I want to say I'm in a place right now. I think you'll find this fun because I love these podcasts. They are real, they're alive, and they are practical. I got in a place this afternoon right now where I could be alone, where I could record this podcast. I don't know if you can hear it or not, but it is pouring down rain all around me in my on top of my vehicle. I hope that it's not interrupting your listening to this, but that loud noise you hear in the background is a downpour of rain. Now isn't it funny how things happen and I could be sitting here with oh brother, I can't believe that happened. That's going to ruin the podcast. Now I've got to stop and do it all over again. Hey, I'm grateful for the rain. It hasn't rained in several weeks. We got, we needed some rain. So even though it's a little bit of a distraction, a little bit of noise in the background. This is what I'm talking about. Maybe it's happening for a reason. Maybe it's happening so I can show you. Even though I tried to isolate myself and get alone and be in a place where I could be undistracted with no outside noise, it still didn't happen. And you know what? That's not going to ruin my day. I think you've got a smile on your face right now saying, wow, I see what he's talking about. Learn to look for the good, the pure, the positive. Learn to look for an attitude of gratitude. Learn to look for things in such a way that is, even though they didn't work out exactly like you thought they would. That's okay. We're all human. We all live in the same world. Someone once said, if things go wrong, don't go with them. I love quotes like that. Winston Churchill said it better than anyone else. He said, if you're going through hell, keep going. Just keep going to get to the other side. I love the fact that life is great if we learn to look at it in a positive manner. One last thought. A few years ago, I was in Israel and our God, his name was Moshe. Moshe was a great Israeli God. He was a soldier and he had retired from the military. And one day he was sharing with us about the horrors of the Holocaust. We had been to the Holocaust museum there in Israel, and it's truly touching when you stop and realize 6 million people were murdered, all because of an insane man running the German army. Hitler at the time. But Moshe, at the end of it, he said something I'll never forget. He said, the Holocaust was a horrible, terrible thing, yet out of it came the nation of Israel. And we sat there for a second, we said, what do you mean? He said, without the Holocaust, we would never have had a homeland. We would never have a nation for our people. Where you see, The World War II ended around 1945, and Israel had not had a homeland in almost 2,000 years. But out of that, people waking up to the fact we need a homeland for our people. In May of 1948, three short years later, Israel became a nation and still continues to be one of the most powerful nations in the world today. He said with an attitude of gratitude, the Holocaust was horrible, but without it, we never would have had a homeland and nation for our people. That's what I'm talking about in this podcast. I cannot completely control what happens to me, but I can always control how I respond to those things. Well, I don't know about you, but I've discovered that having a thankful heart really is the basis for everything good that happens in my life and it continues to open doors of opportunity that I would never have imagined. So I want to encourage you to have a happy, thankful, grateful heart this Thanksgiving and watch how it opens doors of opportunity for you as well. People are attracted to those of us who are encouraging and positive. People are attracted because everyone needs hope. Why not be that person that can look for the good, the pure and the positive? Have a word of encouragement, a word of gratitude, a word of thankfulness on your lips to other people for how much they mean to you in your life. In other circumstances. Let people know how much you appreciate them and how much you care about them. Have a thankful heart. Hope you have a Great Thanksgiving. I'm Dr. Robert Rohm. I look forward to our next time together until the end. May God bless you. Thank you so much. Bye Bye. For more information about this podcast, please visit www.becomingwiserpodcast.com.