God has a way of teaching us in the most unexpected of ways.
By many measures, John Kralik should have been on top of the world. A graduate of the prestigious University of Michigan Law School, he was living in the sun-soaked hills around Los Angeles, running his own small law firm.
Instead, he found his life at a terrifying low: that law firm was hemorrhaging money; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose his young daughter; he was living in a hot, cramped apartment; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and a lifelong dream of being an idealistic, principled lawyer who becomes a respected judge all seemed to be fading into oblivion.
On a dreary New Year’s Day, he sought solitude hiking in the hills above Pasadena. Weighed down by the seeming hopelessness of his life, he heard a Voice.
“Until you learn to be grateful for the things you have,” It said, “you will not receive the things you want.”
That voice led John on a journey of writing a thank-you note every day for a year. As he learned to live a life of gratitude, things began to change. Many aspects of his life improved, but something more important happened: John himself changed.
He wrote a book about that experience “365 Thank Yous” (reprinted as “A Simple Act of Gratitude”). The book has continued to touch lives around the world for the past 15 years, including that of a woman in New Jersey who was inspired to pen 10,000 thank you notes of her own.
John writes, “While before I could not find anything for which to be thankful, my life now is like a wedding, or a wild kids’ birthday party, where the gifts and kindnesses are flowing so fast one needs to work hard just to keep up.”
Click here to learn more about John: https://johnjkralik.com/
Original air date: July 17, 2025.
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