A Prayer of Thanksgiving
“Lord, I am thankful for You! I appreciate Your blessings. Keep me in Your care and let the abundance of Your love be reflected in my life.”
A great prayer of thanksgiving such as this is on the lips of many. We are blessed with good jobs, homes, cars, health, family, etc. But is this a prayer uttered by those who are suffering? For them, offering thanksgiving to the Lord is understandably difficult. Being thankful in such circumstances is a sacrifice. Thanking God in the face of adversity forfeits pride, seems submissive, and might even sound naive. But it’s really not.
To See God’s Blessings
Therein lies the age old question: Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Is true thankfulness experienced because of received blessings, or are blessings revealed when authentic thankfulness is offered?
For those living in a state of loss, lack, or distress, blessings may seem few and far between. But our earthly state has little correlation to our Spiritual status. God given blessings are not necessarily reflected in how one’s life appears. As Christians, we live by grace, not law. We can’t earn blessings and our circumstances aren’t reflective of punishment. Therefore, the sacrifice of offering thanksgiving, an act of faith, is met with abundance, a wealth which only God can reveal.
A Christmas Lived in Lack
It was merely a branch, a large one at that, a discard given to me by someone who was selling Christmas trees on their front lawn. I settled its cut stem between heavy rocks at the bottom of a bucket and added water. With a colorful blanket draped about the base, the staging was presentable. A cardboard star wrapped in tin foil laid daintily against the tallest upright twigs to proclaim the magnificence of God’s power in the universe. A borrowed, small nativity, missing figures and bearing chipped paint, set next to the cloth-covered bucket placed atop a lowboy dresser. My children were going to be excited to see what we had!
As a young mother, this was the first Christmastime I was in need. However, in the midst of all of the difficulty I was enduring, God was with me and let His presence be known constantly. I was blessed and truly thankful!
The Sacrifice of Offering Thanksgiving
I know what it is to suffer, but I also know what it is to experience the presence of God during the suffering. It is this connection that I want to point you to, because strength, wisdom, and peace are traits of God and those, coming from Him, are what will bring you true joy and thankfulness.
The sacrifice of offering thanksgiving in the face of animosity, poverty, or disease is powerful. And it is a sacrifice to give thanks when nothing seems positive. It is a sacrifice to thank the Lord when there appears to be nothing of this earth to thank Him for.
See Through God’s Eyes
Thanking God while facing calamity is difficult and nearly humanly impossible to give sincerely. But the sacrifice of offering thanksgiving to God when you are hurting is worthwhile. He is the only One Who can open your eyes to see the blessings He’s brought all around you, even in the midst of trying times.
We believers in Christ who are born again by the Spirit live eternally in God’s Kingdom. Our life is not limited, and neither are God’s blessings. How we see things during this earthly journey can be changed by the Lord Who is able to reveal all that He gives. I pray your eyes are opened so that you can see through God’s eyes and recognize the beauty of what He has for you.
God’s peace,
Rebecca
To read a short story highlighting being thankful when in lack, click to read The Lost Valuable – A Short Story.