Thanksgiving and Trust

When we give to God all that we have, we will find ourselves filled with thanksgiving and trust that all things work for good for those that love and serve the Lord. Romans 8:28 – of course, this is a paraphrase of the scripture in the Holy Bible, but nonetheless, it is a scripture that speaks to my heart.

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Thanksgiving and Faith 

 

Years ago I began keeping a prayer journal, but this one had a twist. Instead of a prayer request journal that I’ve had for many years, this one contained something different. In my prayer journal, I would petition God and put my laundry list of needs down many of them heartfelt and many of them answered prayer However when I began this other journal it was at a time that was actually a very low point in my life and I realized that I was focusing on what I considered the insurmountable problems in my life. Instead, when I prayed I felt a strong sense that I needed to be thankful.

Why did I need to be thankful? Because I had nothing or I thought I had nothing to be thankful for. So many things were going wrong in my life and they were disrupting my trust in prayer. What were these things? They were a mix, some included health issues with members of my family, financial issues, and of course many things breaking down that were costly within our home. So many issues in such a short amount of time and I felt they were all insurmountable. What happens when you feel like you are in the “debts of despair” to borrow a phrase of one of my favorite movies, Anne of Green Gables. Well, when you feel like that you can be sure that it does not come from God.

So, it is time to pray and change the way you pray — at least that is what I did, and truly it helped me to praise God with heartfelt thanksgiving and trust came right alongside this decision. One of the first times of awareness of what I should be thankful for was on my way to Mass one morning. I remember driving in my car on one exceptionally beautiful day and marveling at the beauty of the sky. Living in Southwest Florida we have flatlands and a big sky. And I realized at that point in time that some of the most beautiful things that I should be thankful for were free!

Do you think that only money or security in someone or something can bring you the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7)? No. That is not how it works. While we need finances to get along in this world, financial security is NOT what we need to be happy. I know some very wealthy people who are some of the most miserable people in the world. We’ve heard the saying that money does not buy happiness. However, if you don’t have money that is a very hard concept to buy into. No pun intended!

So fast forward why should we be thankful? Why should there be praise and worship on our lips, because we have been made to love and to serve the Lord and if you’re not a Christian this is such a foreign concept. We think in our humanness that we should love and serve our families our friends and even our fellow man, but for many, an obscure God that very rarely answers our prayers even when the prayers are sincere and heartfelt seems like a far off concept. But it’s not.

So many things are happening in our world today and I believe that many of these things are a result of mankind turning our backs on God. Many self-sufficient people feel they don’t need a Lord because they can rely on hard work, or their jobs, or their family. We truly are creatures of comfort, and anything that is outside of our comfort zone is something we dislike. Extremely dislike. What is outside of your comfort zone when it comes to faith?  Is it standing up for your faith? Is it wearing a cross or some other type of Christian jewelry? Is it a pro-life sticker on your car or license plate?

You won’t know which direction to take if you are not … do you know what I am going to say? It has something to do with spending time with God… that is right! It is time to spend a few minutes with God, in prayer, and in quiet. Many of us do not have that sense of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Recently I heard a talk from a charismatic Catholic priest who also added that he was a conservative and then he jokingly said, “wrap your mind around that one.” He talked about how he was astounded that at one time the charismatic renewal was everywhere and people had a renewed sense of faith. And he wondered about where this infilling of the Holy Spirit was now, and how so many of us were drifting and appeared lost. We have lost our sense of the holiness of God and that connection to God. God requires nothing of us other than being open to his will. Being the wonderful father that He is, He wants what is best for each one of us. We are reminded that God will provide for all of our needs in Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”

Are you not much more valuable than the birds, the Word of God asks? So what do you have to be thankful for? Has the enemy robbed you of your peace of mind? Do you have a sense of hopelessness? Well, today is the last day of any of that.

Today is the first day of a renewed sense that God is in control. Today is the day to make a choice of good over evil. Today is the day to decide to find something to thank God for each and every day, multiple times a day how about that for a novel idea? We can begin our days with praise and Thanksgiving or we can begin days with heaviness which will you choose? The choice is really yours. We are given free will we are given choices:

1. You have the choice to be sad to be despondent and to focus on everything in your life that is falling apart. Once we do that even for a brief second time our minds to be taken over by doubts and insecurities. Remember God is in the now for us God is in the present. When we worry about things in the future when we worry about things that we cannot control when we worry about things that are insurmountable in our own minds we are setting ourselves up for failure.

2. The second choice is to choose to praise God in thanksgiving we lift up our voices. If you sing, sing your favorite hymn or praise and worship song–what will it be? What do you have to be thankful for? The air that you breathe, the fact that you have food to eat today, shelter, and people, like me who pray for you and with you each and every week during these broadcasts!

God, I give you my will. Please give me your will. Thy kingdom comes thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The ending of that prayer is the Lord’s prayer that Jesus gave us when he was asked, how we should pray. If we give our Lord the will we have we are going to be in union with him and then, what happens? Miracles!

Which will you choose today? The choice is up to you. Let today be the last day of feeling despondent and the first day of praise and thanksgiving and what will come next? That’s right trust in the Lord.

Let’s pray:

Oh Lord, I praise you and I thank you and in praise and thanksgiving, I ask you to give me an infilling of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Before you rose into heaven you said you would not leave us alone, but send us your Spirit. I ask for this in a deeper way today. Please fill my heart with the joy and love that only comes from you. Allow this to overflow into everything that I do. I ask You to help me with all that I have to do in my every day, the details Lord but allow me to see the big picture.  I am not too proud to pray, to be aware of all the things I should thank You for and I ask that you show me the things that I should be thankful for in my life. Help me to begin each day with the words of praise and worship on my lips and I ask this in Jesus’ Name. I also offer up prayers and petitions for those in my life, but Lord I need prayer for myself as well. There are many injustices in this world my God and I have no control over these things so I give them up to you. And I praise you and I thank you for all that is good and holy, and I pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen!