So much has been given to us
Let’s not forget that this Thanksgiving. Here are some good words from Rebecca St. James…
Our day to day lives can easily get too complex. Too busy. Too full. Too complicated. Every now and then we need to get off the train of activity, slow down and pause to think about all the amazing blessings God brings into our lives every day. It’s easy to coast through life until we have a reality check and see just how much we have been given. These moments of realization, of gratitude, are my most intense times of worship. Times when I’m really thanking God and deeply praising Him.
I wrote a song –Thank You—which I recorded with TobyMac on my If I Had One Chance To Tell You Something album. After I wrote the song I was out riding my bike weeks later and the lyrics really began to personally minister to me.
Something I know is amiss in my soul.
My eyes are on me.
This should not be.
I’ll praise you from the center of my fire.Even while we were still working on the album, this lyric stayed with me—it was a continual reminder to praise God and thank Him form the center of the challenges in my life. To find God’s blessings even in what feels like a valley. I love that challenge. It’s something we all need to be reminded of continually.
We tend to get in trouble when we spend too much time with our eyes focused on ourselves, rather than dwelling on the things that most please God. You might be going through the “center of the fire” right now, or you may feel as though you are on top of the world. Either way, we are admonished to give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Being thankful to God should help motivate us to want to live lives of purity before Him. It is because of all that He has done for us that we want to please Him with our attitudes, words, and actions.
Psalm 136 is a great Psalm to meditate on when the theme for the day is thanksgiving. In these twenty-six verses the psalmist itemizes all the good things God has done for which he is grateful: God’s goodness, His sovereignty over all, His great wonders, His creation of Heaven and earth, the sun and the moon, His deliverance of His people from Egypt, His victories in the Promised Land, and the freedom He offers to His people. He realizes that God’s people are to be in a continual attitude of thanksgiving.
When was the last time you listed on a piece of paper all the things for which you are thankful? Think of the huge blessings in your life as well as the little ones, the ones you often take for granted (like clean drinking water and shelter), as well as the ones you thank God for everyday. Write them all down. Then place the list inside your Bible. The next time you are going through the “center of the fire,” pull the list out and give thanks to God again for your circumstances.
In fact, my friends—as we celebrate Thanksgiving this week—let’s take the challenge to celebrate with our own individual unique and wonderful “thanksgiving lists” of all the things we are personally grateful to God for!
Thanksgiving blessings!
Rebecca
