This past year has been a real doozie for our family.  We have buried too many loved ones and walked through the valley of the shadow of death with yet others who miraculously are still with us, but whose lives are drastically changed.

Paul writes in I Thessalonians 5:18,  “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

We live in a fallen world, so our lives are going to include trials and trauma. The problem with having a holiday to celebrate being grateful is that it often comes during difficult times when we struggle to feel thankful.  Some people are asking, “How can I be thankful now?”  How do we celebrate and enter into a season of sincere thanksgiving when our heart is broken and overwhelmed?

This is exactly when we must look to God’s Word and grasp the hope in God’s promises.  Paul also says this about being thankful in Philippians 4:6-7

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Do you see the promises God makes to those whose hearts are thankful?  As His beloved children, God promises to stay with us, even closer than our very breath, giving us peace in chaotic circumstances, comforting us in our grief, and providing wisdom to make good decisions in scary and complicated situations.

But why does God instruct me to give thanks even in my most painful and terrifying times?

First, God is worthy of our praise, not just because He does good stuff, but because of Who He Is.  Just being God qualifies Him to receive our praise and thanksgiving.  Thankfulness grows out of humility, recognizing that all we are and have are gifts from God: our existence, the universe we live in, every good thing we enjoy, and the gift of Jesus and our salvation.  When we recognize that these are gifts and not something we are entitled to, the natural response is gratitude.

But God also wants us to cultivate a thankful heart for our own benefit.  Living with a thankful heart in all circumstances heals our wounds and refines our character to more closely mirror the character of Jesus.

A heart posture of gratitude and thanksgiving creates an atmosphere that is not compatible with bitterness, fear, anxiety, and a thousand other negative feelings and attitudes that emotionally imprison us and make us physically ill. 

Counting our blessings is good for us, body, soul and spirit. It reminds us not only of what we have, but also of what God has done for us in our own past.  These reminders release the stranglehold of negative feelings and attitudes in our heart and opens our heart and eyes to see and receive both the big and small blessings that God gives us day by day.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger to a friend.”  – Melody Beattie

When we cultivate a heart posture of gratitude and thanksgiving in all circumstances, we can better see and understand our life through God’s eyes.

A young couple in our family has been going through a long journey of “trial by fire”.  The husband had a cancerous tumor for several years that doctors did not want to remove because of its location, but they did assure him that it was dead and no threat to grow or spread.  However, its presence in his body has caused life threatening situations lately that nearly cost him his life.  In his wife’s words, she should be a widow by now.  But God intervened and saved his life.  Sadly, the physical consequence of the last urgent medical situation required that his entire leg be removed.

This remarkable couple has chosen to be thankful.  They are celebrating the fact that he is alive.  Their lives will never be the same as before,  bringing new challenges physically, emotionally, and financially, but they are moving forward with hearts of thanksgiving.

They started a tradition a few years ago opening up their home on Thanksgiving Day to the people around them who don’t have family or a place to enjoy the holiday meal and fellowship.  Even though that life-changing surgery was just a couple of weeks ago, he’s already home and they posted this message on social network:

“This Thanksgiving our cup runneth over. We have so much to be thankful for and we’d love to have you at our table giving thanks.  Please message [us] if you’d like to stop by for food, good company and jamming!”  (They are both musicians. This is a photo of their family earlier this year.)

My heart was overwhelmed when I read their message.  I poured out thanksgiving to God for His intervention and their open hearts, minds, and spirits to receive the eternal blessings that God has for them.  Such beauty leaves me in awe of God’s goodness and the beauty of His beloved children.

Like love, thankfulness is more than an emotion.  A thankful heart is an acknowledgement that LIFE is a Gift and it is good, and because life is good, all the things that give us temporary agony are overshadowed by the overwhelming reality that God is good and therefore as His creation and beloved sons and daughters, our lives are worthy of being cherished and celebrated, regardless of whatever trial we are going through or circumstances of our life, or what we have lost.  And for this we are thankful.

God desires for us to cultivate and nurture a lifestyle of thanksgiving.  As we deepen our relationship with Jesus, thankfulness will become as natural as breathing and become a lens through which we see ourselves and our world.  Thanksgiving is found in both joyous celebrations and times of grieving.  A friend of mine who lost her son years ago told me that it troubled her when people would remind her of things she had to be thankful for even though her son died, assuming her sadness meant she was not grateful.  What they did not understand was that focusing on all the tiny things and big things for which she was grateful is what got her through each day.  Thanksgiving and Grief can live side by side.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”  -Psalm 102:2-3

Remembering our own history with God and everything good He has done in our life builds our faith and gives us hope for our future.  We can trust God’s promises because He is faithful and His faithfulness nurtures gratefulness in us.

Psalm 107:1 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  – Lamentations 3:22-23

God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises, lavishing His love on us, bathing us in His mercy, and gifting us with His presence is all the reason we need to be thankful, even though He gives us so much more!

Since my grandson’s death earlier this year, the old hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” has ministered to my heart in a special way.  Give it a listen and let your heart take in the hope that His faithfulness gives us in every circumstance of life.  And be thankful.