A Grateful Heart Is the Gateway to Greatness
From all of us at The Inspiration Co.—a massive, heartfelt THANK YOU.
To the thousands of you who wake up with us every morning, open these posts, whisper the mantras, leave comments that make us cry happy tears, share the blog with a friend who needed it exactly that day, tag #InspirationNation on your wrist-stack photos, and live out the mission in your families, workplaces, and communities—thank you.
You are the heartbeat of everything we do!!
Because you read, engage, and choose gratitude even on the hard days, we get to keep showing up with fresh words every single morning. Because you wear the bracelets, gift them, and let them spark conversations, we truly are changing the world—one positive thought, one courageous act of kindness, one grateful heart, and one wrist at a time.
This Thanksgiving, we are especially grateful for YOU—our Inspiration Nation family. You are living proof that small, faithful steps create massive ripples. Today we celebrate you just as much as the turkey and pie.
Thanksgiving isn’t a day; it’s a decision.
A decision that turns scarcity into abundance, brokenness into breakthrough, and ordinary moments into extraordinary momentum.
Jesus showed us the power of that decision:
A Sermon: The One Who Came Back & The Widow Who Gave Everything(Luke 17:11-19 + Mark 12:41-44)
Picture the scene.
Ten men, ravaged by leprosy, stand at a distance—outcasts, untouchable, hopeless. They see Jesus and lift their voices together: “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
He doesn’t touch them. He doesn’t pray over them. He simply says, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
And as they turn to obey, the miracle happens. Scales fall. Skin becomes new. Ten men are physically healed in the space of a few steps.
Yet only one—when he sees he is healed—turns back.
He doesn’t just whisper thanks. The Bible says he came back praising God “with a loud voice,” threw himself at Jesus’ feet, and thanked Him. A Samaritan. The racial and religious outsider. The least likely to return.
Jesus’ response is stunning:
“Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”
Then He looks at the one at His feet and says, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
In Greek: sozo — saved you, healed you, made you whole in every possible way.
The other nine got a healing of the body.
The one who returned got a healing of the soul.
Fast-forward to the temple courts in Jerusalem.
Rich men stride in with heavy bags of gold, making sure everyone hears the clink of their generosity.
Then a poor widow slips quietly to the offering box. She drops in two tiny copper coins—worth less than a penny.
Jesus watches. He calls His disciples over and says something that still shocks us 2,000 years later:
“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave from their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Two stories. Two tiny acts.
One loud thank-you. One almost-silent gift.
Both move the heart of God more than all the noise and abundance around them.
Why?
Because radical gratitude and radical generosity are the same posture: open hands and an open heart that say, “Everything I have came from You, and everything I have is Yours.”
The nine lepers were grateful, probably. They just weren’t grateful enough to interrupt their plans, fall on their faces, and give God the glory out loud.
The rich givers were generous, probably. They just weren’t generous enough to feel it, to trust God with tomorrow, to give until it changed them.
But the one who came back and the widow who gave everything?
They crossed the line from polite gratitude into radical gratitude.
And that is the line where miracles multiply, where wholeness is released, where scarcity flips into abundance, and where ordinary lives step into greatness.
So here are the questions only you can answer today:
- Which healing, which blessing, which second chance have you received… and never properly returned to say thank you for?
- What are the “two tiny coins” in your pocket right now—your time, your words, your last ounce of energy, your vulnerable story—that feel too small to matter?
- What would happen if, this Thanksgiving, you became the one who comes back and the widow who gives all?
He is waiting for the one who will fall at His feet with a loud thank-you and open hands with whatever is left.
That is the moment everything changes.
Christian Faith Points
- Radical gratitude is worship (the leper fell at Jesus’ feet).
- Radical gratitude is faith in action (the widow gave when she had nothing left).
- Radical gratitude is the doorway God uses to release wholeness, favor, and next-level purpose.
- Sarah Thompson – Atlanta Nurse After Hurricane Helene (USA)
October 2024 was supposed to be Sarah’s 40th birthday month. Instead, Hurricane Helene dumped four feet of water through her small house in the Atlanta suburbs. She lost literally everything—furniture, family photos, even the birthday cake in the freezer.
Standing ankle-deep in mud, she said out loud, “God, I don’t understand, but thank You that we’re alive.” That single sentence became her lifeline. Every morning she wrote three things she still had: breath, nursing license, church family. Within 72 hours she borrowed a friend’s beat-up SUV, filled it with donated supplies, and started driving street-to-street offering free medical care.
A local news clip went viral. Donations poured in—$180,000 in cash, medical supplies, a brand-new mobile clinic van. Today “Sarah’s Mobile Mercy Clinic” runs three days a week and has treated over 1,200 patients.
Sarah wears a simple silver cuff engraved “Grateful Heart” every shift. When patients ask how she keeps smiling, she says, “I thanked God when I had nothing left… and He gave me everything that actually matters.” -
Esther Wanjiku – Kenyan Widow and the Last Bag of Maize (Kenya)
Esther is a 52-year-old grandmother raising six grandchildren in rural Kiambu County. Back-to-back droughts in 2025 left her with exactly one 90-kg bag of maize—barely two weeks of food.
One November evening her neighbor Mary knocked, tears streaming: her own five children hadn’t eaten in three days. Esther stared at her grandchildren, stared at the sack, and felt the widow’s mite story burn in her chest. She dragged the entire bag across the yard and handed it over.
That night she gathered her grandkids, thanked God out loud for the privilege of giving, and they went to bed hungry but peaceful. Five days later three trucks rolled up at sunrise—pastors, business owners, strangers who saw Mary’s Facebook post—unloading fifty 90-kg bags, beans, oil, and full school fees for all six kids through 2026.
Esther stood in the mountain of food, raised both hands, and shouted “Asante Mungu!” She used her first market earnings to buy a beaded “Eucharisteo” bracelet. Every bead reminds her: “When I gave my last, God gave me a future.” - Mike Rodriguez – Texas Single Dad and the Unexpected Layoff (USA)
Mike is a 44-year-old single dad of two teenage daughters in San Antonio. Three days before Thanksgiving 2024 he got the layoff text.
Instead of panic, he opened a notebook and wrote “Thank You, God, for…” and forced himself to list ten things. Every day he added three more. He thanked God for the layoff that let him drive his girls to school for the first time in years.
Exactly thirty days later—three job offers landed, all better than the last. One was his dream: coaching single dads through career transitions.
Mike now starts every session with gratitude. He wears a black leather wrap engraved inside with “Thankful & Thriving.” His daughters tease him about being “the gratitude guy,” but they love that it’s the reason their future is brighter than ever.
- Today — Write 10 things you’re grateful for (include one hard thing).
- This Weekend — Tell one person “thank you” you’ve never properly thanked.
- Through December — Wear or gift a gratitude bracelet (GRATEFUL10 still live!). Every glance = one quick thank-you to God.
Spiritual → 3-minute breath prayer: inhale “Thank You,” exhale the situation.
Physical → Gratitude walk: name one blessing per step.
Emotional → End each day with “3 Good Things.”
Prayer
Father, turn our ordinary thank-yous into radical worship. Take our two coins, our leftover strength, our broken seasons, and multiply them for Your glory. Make us the one who comes back, the widow who gives all, the grateful hearts that open the door to greatness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Mantra: “A grateful heart is the gateway to greatness.”
Verses Referenced
Luke 17:11-19 • Mark 12:41-44 • 1 Thess 5:18 • Col 3:15-17 • Phil 4:6-7
Call to Action
Drop your gratitude story below or tag #ThanksgivingThursday and #InspirationNation!
