thanksgiving

Tonight is Thanksgiving Eve, and I’ve been thinking about all that God has done in the past year. This year, more than any other year in my whole life, has been full of hugely defining moments and situations. I’ve been thinking about where I was a year ago… I had just returned from an international mission trip, I had quit my job because God had asked me to, and I had absolutely no clue what was next. It was like stepping off the cliff into an abyss, and falling in a terrifying free fall into the unknown below.

God then called me to walk away from a lot of things, some of which I knew weren’t the greatest things for my life, and others that I thought were pretty good things. Each step hurt, and each step required the faith to trust God with where he was leading me, because despite my most impressive tantrums, God wouldn’t cave and tell me where we were going. I certainly have not lived out this year with perfect faith. I’ve struggled. I’ve doubted. I’ve had my fair share of meltdowns. But God has remained faithful despite all of it and I am sitting here tonight in a miracle land. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in my life right now is anything that I could have pulled together myself. God shows up every day and he is doing amazing things. It is really cool.

We were talking about this last night at my bible study…. about all the things in all of our lives that we are thankful for… about all the ways that God is calling us to follow him…about all of the ways he is teaching us and helping us grow. It is good and it is right to call attention to these things. Paul tells us in his letter to the Thessalonians to give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus (I Thessalonians 5:18). As we were talking, one of the women said something that is still echoing in my mind. “We should thank God for the things he has done, and for the things that he has not done.” 

Thanking God not just for what he is doing, but also for what he is not doing. Thanking him for the things he allows, and the things he does not allow. For the times he says yes, and the times he says no. For the paths he has called us to walk, and the paths he has called us away from walking. For the relationships that work out, and for the ones that do not. For the friends who stay, and for the ones who walk away. For the job I have, and for the many jobs I did not get. For the multitude of blessings he has given me, and for the multitude of blessings he has not given to me. That calls for a huge change in perspective. I need to say thank you for all the things he didn’t allow to work out, even if they were good things that I really wanted, because they ultimately were not his highest and his best for me. That is the heart of thankfulness Paul was talking about. That is the heart of thankfulness that God desires from us, not just on Thanksgiving, but every single day.