There are times when I sit down to write, pretty sure of the direction I am going. Verses are picked out, sometimes notes have been made and then – God interrupts my plans. That is pretty much where I find myself today. It’s Thanksgiving week and if I’m honest I’m not feeling very thankful this year.

It’s been a rough couple of months for our family. It was just two months ago when my mom hadn’t been feeling well, went to the doctor, had some tests and was diagnosed with liver cancer. Since that time she’s had numerous tests and has been in and out of the hospital twice and now is in a rehab center trying to regain enough strength to get the needed treatment. Needless to say our family is emotionally exhausted. So writing about being thankful was NOT even on my radar until about 30 minutes ago. That’s when God interrupted my plans and whispered “Hey, why don’t you write about being thankful? After all, it is Thanksgiving week.” 

After the initial, “But I don’t want to God”, my mind drifted towards people and things I am thankful for. The truth is, I do have quite a bit to be thankful for, even this year. Psalms 136 begins with “Give thanks to the LORD, His faithful love endures forever.” and then continues to expound on reasons for that thankfulness and unfailing love. It occurs to me that unthankfulness is a tool of the enemy. As long as we are miserable, he wins and will keep doing what he can to keep us trapped in the pit of unthankfulness. But God! So with a little (okay, a lot) help from the Holy Spirit my mind began to shift to thankfulness. 

Knowing God tops my list of reasons to be thankful. Our family is not walking this journey alone. God is and has been with us every step of the way. God blessed us with a mom that took us to church and introduced us to Jesus at an early age. My siblings and all of our children now know Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. We have hope, even in the darkest of times. More tangibly, we are thankful for friends, neighbors and church communities that reach out on a regular basis to check on us and our mom. Each time we get mom’s mail it is full of cards and there is rarely a day that goes by when she doesn’t have at least one visitor.  

Prayer is another reason to be thankful. Psalms 40:1-2 says “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he turned to me and heard my cry for help. He brought me up from a desolate pit,out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.” While I readily admit prayer is not always my first “go to” response. God is faithful to hear us when we call to him. 

Families may not always jump to the front of our minds when listing reasons to be thankful. Families can be messy and hard, but at the end of the day family is family and I am extremely grateful for mine. This next part is hard to admit, but until this crisis hit us we had drifted apart. Rarely talking, seeing each other or texting. But now we talk or text almost daily. It has reminded me of the importance of my family and how much I’ve missed the connection with my siblings. 

Matthew 6:25-33 talks about worry and how it doesn’t really help anything. But then Jesus tells us what to do instead in verse 33. He says “But seek God and His kingdom first”. I’ll be honest enough to say seeking God first isn’t always easy. Heck, there are days when going to God is way down my list. But because He is so faithful, He will always meet us exactly where we are. As I’ve continued to think about things to be thankful for, many more things came to mind like: During one of my mom’s hospital stays everyday I ran into someone from our church who just happened to be one of her caregivers. Then there are the group texts which literally make me laugh out loud, a thank you card from one of my high school students, flowers and coffee from friends, co-workers who are quickly becoming friends, incredibly understanding bosses that want me to put my mom first. These are just a few of the things that come to mind tonight, I know there are many, many more. 

Tomorrow as we celebrate Thanksgiving. I’d like to encourage you to start your day by seeking God and then giving yourself some time and space to listen. As for our family, we will gather together and celebrate as well. This journey we are traveling is likely to continue for some time. With good days and really hard days. But we will not walk alone. We will walk it together with God leading the way. “Give thanks to the LORD, His faithful love endures forever”.

Happy Thanksgiving!