I see Him in the sheen of my older daughter’s blonde curls. I see Him in the sweet cooing sounds of my newborn nursing. I see Him in the giggling moments as my husband plays with his little girl. I see Him in the meals that dear friends lovingly delivered to my door as we settle into being a family of four instead of three. I see Him in the heart-to-heart talks that my husband and I have after both girls are asleep for the night. These are just a fraction of the ways I have seen My Heavenly Father lately in the many gifts He’s given me.

I think a key component of having a joyful heart is learning to recognize God’s presence in the everyday moments of life – learning to see the ordinary things as extraordinary gifts.

Actively choosing to see Him in your ordinary, everyday moments will help protect your heart and mind from sin. Instead of focusing inward, on selfishness, bitterness, negativity, pride…and so on…you are bringing Romans 12:2 to life:

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2

Recognizing His presence in your daily life breeds a heart of contentment, joyfulness, and gratitude. It colors your view of the world and life with a tapestry of colors and beauty. It can turn the bleak into breathtaking, the tarnished into shimmering, and the broken into whole. It can help you see the good in the painful moments. It can heal the brokenhearted.

“¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.“ – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18