Thanksgiving
By Shauna Leis
“In that day you will say: ‘Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.’”
Isaiah 12:4-6
How thankful are you this holiday season? Have you lost the joy that you once knew or have you always struggled with what you could possibly be thankful for? So many times we get bogged down in the hassles of our day to day lives and we lose sight of the fact that we have so very much to be thankful for. Or part of it may be the fact that we have forgotten God is the author of our joy and responsible for all that we have, including the good times and the bad!
One of my favorite movies is Bing Crosby’s, “White Christmas”. A great scene from the movie is where Bing and Rosemary Clooney are sitting around a fire and Rosemary is having trouble sleeping because so many things are weighing heavily on her mind. To help her feel better, Bing begins singing, “Just Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep.” The words sound so simple, but have such a powerful meaning. “When you’re worried and you can’t sleep, just count your blessings, instead of sheep. And you’ll fall asleep, counting your blessings.” Have you tried to count your blessings instead of sheep when you are worried and cannot sleep?
God is with us when things are very, very good. And God is with us when things are very, very bad. For several months, I struggled with being thankful for much of anything. Things at work were difficult, life with my husband and children were an effort each and every hour, extended family relationships were strained, vacation plans had fallen apart, and I really thought that I was at the end of my rope. I cried out to God, “Why won’t you fix everything that is going on around me? I have lost all of my joy!” Precious friend, that Sunday, while in Sunday School, we were studying the book of Ephesians and words that I had read so many times before, jumped off the pages at me like sunshine breaking through the clouds. “…always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20.
Wow! Did you read that verse, give thanks in EVERYTHING. He did not say just to give thanks when things were going great and I felt so very blessed. He said to give Him thanks in EVERYTHING. Let me tell you that the next morning, I fell with my face down to the floor during my prayer time and confessed that I had not been thankful for all my circumstances. And I began to list them one by one, while the rest of my household was sleeping, and tell God that I was so thankful for all of His blessings – even the ones that I could not yet understand because they felt so awful at that moment.
Can I tell you that very day things began to change! Do I think that miraculously everyone else on the planet started treating me differently? No! I think that miraculously God changed my heart to be thankful to Him no matter what was going on around me. My joy was no longer dependent on my circumstances, but rather on the Almighty God, who loves me and “has a plan and a purpose for me” Jeremiah 29:11.
Pray with me: Almighty God and Father. We come to You with a spirit and attitude of Thanksgiving. No matter what our circumstances might be, we thank You that You are God and You are in control of everything. We cannot understand the eternal nature of the things that are going on in our lives at the moment they are happening. But we trust that You have the eternal tapestry of our lives woven with the grace and love of Your fingers.
You have so many plans for us that we cannot understand, but we love You so much and will trust You with our very lives, to lead us in the paths that You want us to go. Thank You, God, for all of our blessings! We pray all of this in the precious name of Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen!