This Thanksgiving, dig deep and find what you're thankful for

When I first learned of this month's topic of "Thankfulness" for the Facebook group blog I contribute to, I thought, "well, yeah, that makes sense because it's the month of November." But that thought was quickly replaced by another thought that said for the believer, though, every month, no actually every day should be a day of thankfulness.

I agreed with the Holy Spirit as He brought to mind the Scripture that says, "In everything give thanks for it is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Around the world, millions of tables on Thanksgiving Day will be filled with families who will do a round robin of sharing one by one the things for which they are grateful; and I'm sure my family will be included. It is a tradition that is so very common no matter what your spiritual beliefs are, but how many of us can testify that we are truly thankful in everything? Those are some strong words, right?

As I play the tape back of my own life over the last year, I find that there are so many things for which I could complain about and be unthankful for; groceries cost too much, jobs pay too little, children don't always do what you've taught them to do, relationships experience tension, businesses don't always do what you envisioned them to do, supervisors get on your last nerve, and the clothes you could fit last year this time got shrunk by the dry cleaner and now you can't fit them anymore right? LOL. Well, a big one for me is that after suddenly losing my father last year, my dear, sweet mother transitioned to join him in their Heavenly home a couple of months ago. Since that fateful day in August, nothing in my life has felt quite the same. Life without her has left one of the biggest holes in my heart that I've ever experienced.

However, because of the Holy Spirit assisting me, I've been able to continue spending my life in gratitude in spite of the literal ache in my heart that accompanies me most days now. And how is that possible? It's because He reminds me to focus on all of the things I was blessed to have as her daughter for 50 years, instead of what I've lost by not having her here with me on the earth in the coming years. I can be thankful that her physical struggles and the emotional struggles of living without her best friend of over 60 years are over now. I can be thankful that she gets to kiss the face of this Jesus that she loved so much as she rejoices around His throne in her new pain-free body. I can be thankful for those who have engulfed my family in love and sincerely mourn with us as we mourn.

As I type this devotional, I can be thankful that I am blessed to be wrapped up in the bath robe that she wore every single day and feel close to her. I can sit in the same recliner that she spent so much time in every day reading God's Word, watching TBN while praying for me and everyone else that she loved so much. I can be thankful for that, and I can be thankful for the honor of carrying on her legacy as I embrace her mantle with grace, as she'd expect me to. I'm thankful because at a time when my life could be swallowed up in depression and anger with God, because other people still have their mother to sit at the Thanksgiving table with them and I don't, that the Jesus in me instead lifts me up and replaces the resentment I could be feeling with joy and a grateful heart for the magnitude of woman He gave to me; one who taught me to live out the meaning of Thanksgiving every single day.

Therefore my question to you is what are you intentionally thankful for? What is it in your life that the enemy has used to fool you into thinking that you don't have anything to be thankful for? I challenge you to dig deep within, fall to your knees in retrospect and reflection and change all of that. I challenge you to not just think about what did happen, but to think about all the things that could have happened and didn't. What did God protect you from that you didn't even know about?

Be intentional about thanking God for reasons big and small, because in the grand scheme of things, He really didn't promise us that there wouldn't be rainy days in our lives, but the beautiful part is that He did in fact promise to be with us always! Through all the fiery furnaces and storms of life, He's right here in the thick of it with us. So, thank you Lord for the comfort of knowing that the one who has the power to speak to the storm lives inside of us and that you will either command the storm to cease or send somebody with an umbrella. Either way I'm good because to quote my late Daddy Rutley Fox Sr., "God is good, and He's good all the time ... He's even good right now ... Now tell God thank you!"

KATRINA FOX-BEARD

Dalzell