Gratitude with a Side of Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

The Thanksgiving holiday is as good a time as any to offer a year-end thanks to God. What has He accomplished in our hearts this year? What prayers can I offer for the next year and beyond? What prayers have been answered? Time to take a thorough inventory and offer Him thanksgiving and praise.

Psalm 100:1-5

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

Serve the Lord with gladness!

    Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!

    It is he who made us, and we are his;

    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

    and his courts with praise!

    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;

    his steadfast love endures forever,

    and his faithfulness to all generations.

Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; 

Make known His deeds among the peoples! ... 1 Chron 16:8

Oh, Lord, how good and faithful you've been! My Peter's OCD and tic disorder have been mostly absent for months. Why they returned last week, I don't know, but I give thanks for the reprieve for most of the year. Bless this boy, Father. I ask that you heal his handicaps, but I also ask that his life bring glory to your  Holy name. If his handicaps will bring you more glory, I offer him to you as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and I just ask that you protect his heart. May his heart stay pure and lovely. May it beat strongly for you, despite what may come.

stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at evening ... 1 Chron 23:30 

Oh, Lord, how we thank you for 54 hours of weekly work for my husband. Many enter the holidays this year with lost jobs and lost hope. Thank you for providing work and thank you that my husband is a blessing where you've planted him. Thank you for a day and a half off per week for family.

Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all. “Now therefore, our God, We thank You And praise Your glorious name ..” ... 1 Chron 29:12-13 

Dear Lord, thank you for this lovely young lady, my Mary. I praise you for her! Thank you for her determination, her dedication, her familial love, her nurturing heart. She is stubborn, Lord, and I must lift her up to you, asking that you protect her from herself. May she be a holy young lady, chasing after the things of God all the days of her life. May she possess a gentle, quiet spirit that blesses her family and brings glory to you.

... indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying:“For He is good, For His mercy endures forever,” that the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud ... 2 Chron 5:13 

Dear Lord, what a treasure my husband is. I thank you for his dedication to family. He gives so much all the time Lord, and I praise you for his steadfast, long-suffering heart. Even though children aren't easy for him, he never shirks any responsibility for their care or discipleship. His long obedience in the same direction is a wonder to me, and I know You are responsible for the miracle his parenting is. He did not have a loving father, but you have overcome that in his heart, Lord. Behold my great God, who eclipses our pain with his perfect love. Hallelujah!

And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid ... Ezra 3:11 

Dear Lord, the last four years have been anything but easy, but behold, we are still one. One family unit clinging to your promises and to your Grace. Thank you for the overhaul of our foundation. We are stronger, wiser, more faithful to you and more in love with You. Where there is hardship there should also be thanksgiving, for hardship means a remodeling of the heart is at hand. Hallelujah!

That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works ... Psalm 26:7 

Dear Father, I dearly love this family you have so graciously given. I praise you for the gifts you have given me in each one of them. Help me to give generously of myself and to make the most of every minute with them. Help me point the way to You each and every day. May my dedication to them be my thanksgiving to you.

To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever ... Psalm 30:12

Dear Father, thank you for neighborhood children and for the challenge they've been for us. Thank you for nudging us to give of our time and our resources and thank you for protecting my own children from the world. May they shine for you and may our imperfect efforts to share Christ's love have lasting impact in each neighbor's heart. Thank you for the ministry opportunity and that church elders are praying about how to involve our church in our efforts in this community. Give us all guidance and strength and wisdom.

Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High ... Psalm 50:14 

Oh, Lord, thank you for the friendship between my two daughters. You are a gracious and loving God, giving us many good gifts. My sons, while very different, are learning what a treasure they have in each other.  Thank you for your work in their hearts.

So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, will give You thanks forever; We will show forth Your praise to all generations ... Psalm 79:13

 Dear Lord, thank you for my marriage. It is not perfect but it is peaceful and loving, long-suffering and forgiving. The more our marriage endures, the more beautiful it becomes. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Every Christian marriage gets its beauty and exquisiteness from you. Oh, Father, you have been so faithful and I love you!

Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! ... Psalm 107:8

Oh, Lord, how good and faithful you've been! A great deal of Beth's arthritis pain and discomfort went away after May of this year. She isn't in remission or out of the woods, but You have heard our prayers about her pain. Hallelujah! Thank you for the blessing Beth is to us all. She brings a smile to all our faces every day. She livens up our lives and her very presence among us is a Grace. I praise you for the wondrous gift each child is. May Beth grow in knowledge of you and may she dedicate her life to bringing you glory.

I praise you for the piano for Paul. Thank you for his dedication and for his love of music. I pray that he will bless many with any skill you bestow upon him. I pray that you will divinely provide lessons for him, in a way that brings glory to You. Because you have given him so much, Lord, he struggles with pride. May he lift every skill, every task that comes easy, up to you and give you thanks for it. May he internalize this truth: that all good things come from you and not from ourselves. May he shine for you and may his life be all about you.

Dear Father, a special thank you for my online friends. They bless me so, and without them, I shudder to think how lonely I'd be. Friends are hard to come by, especially when it's only after my children are asleep that I have any time to offer. Thank you for late-night and early-morning connections with all these ladies whose hearts beat with yours. What a treasure a friend is! I praise you for friendship, Father.