Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

We think of Thanksgiving as a time to give thanks for our blessings, but sometimes the holidays don’t bring to mind thoughts of abundance. They instead remind us of loss and want.

The empty chair that just a year ago was filled. That familiar laugh that will no longer be heard. The bills that wait to be paid. The doctor’s appointment that looms like a shadow.

Give thanks in all circumstances.

With every painful reminder of your reality, give thanks. Thank God for the memories you have. Thank God that nothing comes to you apart from His permission, and that He will never leave or forsake you – no matter what.

Thank God for the little things – the beauty of a fallen leaf or a snowflake or a gray-blue sky, the comfort of your bed at night, or the hot cup of coffee in your hand in the morning, the love that He pours out to you through the people He has put in your life.

Thank God for the nourishment you receive from His word, for the counsel of the Holy Spirit, for your redemption by the blood of Jesus, for the perfect love of your heavenly Father.

Thank God in loneliness that you are not truly alone. Thank God in busyness that in serving others, you can serve Him. Thank God in sleeplessness that He is there to hear and to care and to minister to your spirit in those long, dark hours. Thank God in your plenty, and thank God in your want.

 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. – Philippians 4:11-12

Thank God for the ability to see, touch, smell, taste and hear. Thank God for the ability to feel, think, reason, learn and create. Thank God for life and breath – that He alone is the author of life, and that He alone has defeated the sting of death.

Thank God for His grace and mercy. Thank God for His wisdom and power. Thank God for all you have seen, and thank God for all you have yet to see.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. – James 1:17

Thank God in your mourning, and thank God in your joy. Thank God in your strength, and thank God in your weakness, because then you will truly be strong.

Give thanks in all circumstances.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. – Colossians 3:15

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, my friends.