Day Sixty-five

Thanksgiving--Part One

Honestly, I don't know how it began to be a habit.  I don't know what led my husband and I to consistently keep doing it; I suppose it was the Holy Spirit doing the guiding.  It began in the midst of last year as we experienced four deaths within our family in a matter of five months.  Just weeks later, it carried us through the shcok of my husband's job loss.  What is 'it', you ask?  It is the simple act of thanksgiving.  Day by day, trial  after trial, we chose to think upon all we had to be thankful for and then vocally thanked him for it.  I say 'chose', because we didn't always feel like being thankful.  Sometimes I wanted to wallow in self-pity.  Sometimes I wanted to sit in anger and stew about the circumstances.  Sometimes I just wanted to check out and not deal with it.  Instead of allowing our minds to go and sit in these places, though, we chose to find all for which we could be thankful.  Then, a funny thing began to happen.  As we walked forth in obedience, choosing to thank Him in our adverse circumstances, He began to transform our hearts.  Stone by stone, the hard wall in my heart came down.  Down came stones of bitterness, down came stones of self-pity, down came stones of entitlement.  A wall that had erected itself over many years came crashing down in a matter of a few months.  A river of liberation flowed in its place, one of life-giving peace and joy.  Phil. 4:6-7 says: 'Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything in prayer and supplication , with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.'  Sure, I had read these verses a thousand times, even memorized them!  Yet, only when I began putting the 'thanksgiving part' of these verses into practice did I begin to experience this truth.  You see, voicing our thanksgiving to our Savior must precede experiencing His all-surpassing peace.  It must.

Recently, a friend gave me the book 'One Thousand Gifts' by Ann Voskamp.  I about fell out when I started reading it, for it is about this very thing!  My spirit felt a kindred connection at once.  It was like putting 'icing on the cake' of my thanksgiving journey.  Ann takes you on her transforming journey of thankfulness and explores in depth what the scriptures have to say on the subject.  It's about learning to give thanks for that which is hard.  She suggests keeping a journal--a love dare of sorts--of things you are thankful for.  Dear Sister, keeping a thankful journal has been life changing for me.  May I suggest you try it?

O Heavenly Father,


We are filled with gratitude and thanksgiving that You, in Your sovereign will, have chosen to bring the last and final Deeper Still event to Louisville.  Oh, praise You, Abba Father!  Thank you for giving women in our city an opportunity to spend a weekend with Your life-changing Holy Spirit!  Thank you for the women You  are going to hand-pick to come to this event.  Let them praise the name of You, Lord, for Your name alone is exalted: Your splendor is above the earth and the heavens (Psalm 149:13).  May we 'be still and know that you are God' on June 10-11, may You be exalted among the nations...(Psalm 46:10) and in our city.  Give the women at this event a 'new song' to sing in the assembly of the saints.  May there be a fresh anointing upon them and a change that's everlasting so that Your grace will reach more and more people, causing thanksgiving to overflow to Your glory.  Please show me the transforming power of thanksgiving in my own life, Lord.  I pray that I would always give thanks to You, my Father for everytthing (both good and bad!), in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! 


In Jesus' name I pray,
Amen