Have you ever noticed how often Thanksgiving is linked with Praise?

 

All the way through the book of Psalms you will find these two running hand in hand, but you know what else Thanks is linked too? Peace. I have appreciated for a long time that both praise and thanksgiving are powerful, but this revelation of the peace connection just takes it to a whole new level.

 

 

 

 

I grew up and met Jesus while attending, with my family, an Anglican Church, which produced a rich heritage of scripture exposure.

 

The entire worship service is a compilation of responsive readings, prayers, hymns, all of which have immense amounts of scripture woven in and through as well as five specific, readings from each section of the Bible: The Pentateuch, Psalms, Prophets, Gospel and Epistles.  Every single section!  20 years of Sundays has a way of planting it into the heart deeper than you might think. So, I’m not exactly sure when it was that I first heard and interacted with this scripture, but at the time I was pretty sure Paul was nuts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Be thankful in all circumstances,

for this is God’s will

for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:18)

 

 

Yeah, go ahead, take a minute and let that land…

 

 

“IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES…”

 

 

 

Let’s be really honest here, thankfulness is easy at Christmas time, or birthdays, or when someone just does something nice without any reason—that makes sense and usually you want to respond with thanks, it’s how we’ve been taught. But, in all circumstances, is that really possible?  As a new believer I wondered if it was possible, but there was something that made me want to find out.  I believe that was God’s invitation for intimacy.  This sacred truth was placed before my eyes and heart with a dare—taste and see!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so it began…The Thanksgiving Project.

 

I dabbled and dipped my toes, giving it the very best shot I had.  I honestly don’t remember how things went in the beginning, but I do remember that somewhere along the way I stepped up the challenge and began thanking God when things got tough.  I especially remember thanking him when I was sick, not because I was sick, but usually because I wasn’t as sick as I could be.  That was always my outlook—it could be worse and so I’m thankful it’s not.

 

 

A couple of years into marriage, Ryan and I welcomed Joshua to the family.

Along with incubating a child, my body also began to have system failures.  Though the pregnancy felt easy and smooth, it produced gall stones and my gall-bladder quit working like it should. By the time I discovered I was pregnant with Alethea I had started dealing with symptoms of what we would later learn was Crohn’s Disease.  The first four years of mother-hood was complicated with some really challenging health issues. It wasn’t until Alethea was two that we finally learned what was wrong with me.

 

I struggled in that season because I felt an immense amount of pressure.  I was in my mid-twenties, serving as pastoral staff with Ryan, running my own teaching studio, taking on motherhood and sick—really sick.  I began systematically stepping out of ministry leadership and cutting back my commitments until the only thing I was doing outside of the home was leading worship and teaching piano, and even in that I was seeking the direction of the LORD in whether I should step out of one of those as well.  In the end he took us in a completely different direction which set me in a place of complete rest for more than a year, but that’s another story for another day.

 

 

 

 

This was a hard season for me.

I lamented a lot because there were things I wanted to do, dreams and desires of my heart that felt shipwrecked forever. Yet God was faithful.  He quietly reminded me to just trust and give thanks. So I did.  When I was sick, I thanked him that I wasn’t as sick as I imagined I could be.  Or I gave thanks for privacy to deal with my sickness.  I gave thanks for the grace offered one night at band practice when I was so sick I had to have two of my vocalists drive me home…one in my car and the other in hers the take the other one back. I was thankful for grace when I’d have to have one of teens come and sit with the kids while I lay incapacitated on the couch while Ryan fulfilled his commitments and obligations.  I gave thanks for his provision for me in this season in the various forms it took.  And it really did make a difference.  I look back and I give thanks for that whole season because of the incredible opportunity to learn the art and grace of thanksgiving which produced and very sweet intimacy with the LORD.  I’m really thankful for that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love the faithfulness of God.  He invites us to plumb the depths of his word and delights to help us in discovery.  I used to fear he’d become weary and annoyed at my inability to conform, but he doesn’t. He is really patient.

 

God whispered in my ear,

“Why don’t you thank me in all circumstances and see what happens.”

 

So I took him up on it and he showed up with his power and faithfulness every time. Every time I give thanks and acknowledge something he has done for me and in me my faith meter increases.  Developing the discipline of giving thanks is a choice, but it always gets supersized by the Holy Spirit. When I trust the LORD, it allows the Holy Spirit to produce an attitude of gratitude in me so that I actually find myself looking for things to be thankful for.

 

 

 

Here’s the thing…

Thanksgiving is a powerful weapon of warfare because it immediately shifts the environment of my heart.  To be thankful to God for what he has done in the middle of hard circumstances requires an intentional change of focus.  Praise is about acknowledging who God is and declaring it over the circumstance, while thanksgiving remembers what God has already done, which gives us faith to stand firm.

 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. 

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

Then you will experience God’s peace, 

which exceeds anything we can understand. 

His peace will guard your hearts and minds

as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Phil. 4:6-7

 

I LOVE this verse! 

 

The first four words invite us into deeper intimacy with God.  It’s an invitation to truth, which is the place of surrender. Paul tells us to go ahead and tell the LORD what we need and thank him for what he’s done—then peace will come.

 

 

 

 

In our humanness we can easily become entangled in the disappointment of our lack, which breeds an attitude of entitlement. We need to be able to address our need, so Paul gives us a beautiful way to do that while avoiding the entitlement trap.  It’s simple: acknowledge the need, trust God by giving it over to Him, then shift all attention to his power and grace acknowledging what he’s done.  How miraculous is that?  Seriously, how amazing is God that He would provide us with such a powerful way to come through the hard places?

 

Thanksgiving is all about alignment.

 

Praise helps me get my attention on who He is which is powerful all on its own, but when partnered with thanksgiving it empowers my faith to believe Him because I remember how he has already proven faithfulness. Thanking God for what he has done propels me into the places of breakthrough.

 

 

 

 

 

“Be thankful in all circumstances…” has become a sacred invitation.

I’ve learned to do it in little things like finding a steal of deal at the market or an easy parking spot on the street,

so that in the hard things it is instinctual.

 

These days we find ourselves wielding our weapon of Thanks–a lot. Cancer has come upon our home with an assignment to steal, kill, and destroy, but God is bigger than that.  We have turned to God in praise and prayer, acknowledging the need.  We ask for healing and we trust God to lead us through. We thank him by remembering and declaring, in the midst of really hard stuff, the good things he has already done.

 

I’m not gonna lie, this is a hard road to walk, but thanksgiving is a powerful force that leaves the enemy speechless…and I like that—a lot.

 

So what do you think?  Want to touch it? Go ahead, pick it up and give it a whirl. Does it feel heavy? Does it feel awkward?  That’s okay, it often feels strange but push through because after weird comes awesome.  Are you tired? That’s okay to, because all you have to do it pick it up, tired as your hands may be, fix your grip and wait for it…He will not disappoint.