To Be Thankful
This time of year, we are saturated with the theme of being thankful. It is everywhere. From the decorations at Walmart to the type of pie Grandma makes for supper next week, we are buzzing about here and there with the heightened sense of gratitude. Recently, I even saw a house lit up the other night with all orange artificial candles glowing in each and every window. Turkeys are being plucked as we speak. The truth is, being thankful does make you feel good inside.
My wife is especially good at this. She is keyed in to sensing when we need a dose of thankfulness. If someone walks around the house with their head down, seems grumpy, or is plain out in a bad mood, we will hear it from her. “Name three things you are thankful for.” If we refuse to respond, we hear it again. “I’m serious! Right now. Say three things you are thankful for.” Most of the time, the first thing spoken out of our mouths is stated in what seems to be a continued grumpy tone. The second tends to be sarcastic. But by the third thing mentioned, the mind is now actually starting to turn wheels, and some level of thought is put into the equation. Usually, the third thing is somewhat heartfelt, and true enough, one will come around, and start to feel better. I’m not sure of the psychological reasoning why, but just talking about what you are thankful for changes the heart and mind; I guarantee that if you dwell on thankfulness your mood and perspective will be different. Where your focus is, your mindset will soon follow.
I would like to be honest and transparent with my audience today. I don’t open the window blinds and share things like this often, nor do I boast about things. But, in the spirit and mood of thanksgiving I figure I need to demonstrate what I’m preaching and show a real-life example of how good our God is; I figure someone out there in a similar boat might need to read this.
Have you ever prayed forever about something and didn’t see any answers?
Over the last few years, life in the Carr house is not always easy. I suppose it would be expected, as we know that the Christian life was never promised to be stress free. The Lord told us that in the world we would have troubles, but not to worry, because he has overcome the world (John 16:33 paraphrase). We try to take hold of that mentality best we can.
Ever since my accident, life is continually changing. To say that we are all still trying to figure out how to live with a traumatic brain injury is an understatement. There are stressors on everyone that nobody had anticipated. I don’t need to go into the details, but we are all adjusting in one way or another.
Besides that, just like every other family we have things that try to steal our joy. We are a blended family, one that each member has his or her own set of unique carry-along baggage brought into it. As other blended families, we are continually learning what works and what doesn’t. A blended family has its own set of victories and defeats. We live each day and learn how to blend and mold together as a household. It is a unique experience. One that does require much energy and input, but one that I’m grateful for.
There are countless other struggles that you all are experiencing too. I don’t need to get into the details of how hard the world is that we live in. But one thing that I want to open up and share is the request that we have had as a couple that the Lord would soon provide for our needs financially.
When someone gets laid off, loses a job, or for some other reason is in a financial bind, no doubt stress will follow that event. It has been over two years since I got hurt, and though our living is not lavish, we still needed to have some money coming in sooner or later. The stress of not providing the way I wanted to for my family was starting to get to me. I’ve never been a man minded with money. It’s just something that isn’t important to me. I always told the Lord that I don’t want to be rich or poor, just taken care of. I’ve never taken a job due strictly to its pay, or never worried about how much money I needed in life. I just roll with what God is doing with me. Maybe I sound silly, but it’s something that’s just not on my radar.
After being hurt for two years. . . I became aware that I needed to update my radar in one way or another, and soon.
Anyhow, I’m sharing this story because of one simple principle.
Luke 18:1-8
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
There might be something in your life that you have been praying for. . . maybe even for years. It might not be financially related, that is just what my prayer was. Yours could be different, yet no less important. Is there something that you have asked God to provide yet are still waiting for? Is there something that genuinely is not something asked for in vain glory or the hunt of the next big excitement, but something real, something needed? Is it a real-life need that was cut out from under you? Were you someone who was laid off? Did you lose your job? Are you unhealthy and asking the Lord for a healing? Have you been praying for something for someone else by chance? Maybe petitioning the Lord for a family member’s salvation?
Keep praying!
Just in the nick of time, when I was getting weary of wondering if my prayer would be answered or not, God showed up in a big way. He provided what we needed, and more so. To say that God knows me better than I know myself is a reasoning beyond comprehension, but one to be completely true. No. I didn’t worry. I never worry about money. I took my need to the Lord and asked him to provide. Was I stressed? Yes, it was stressing me out as I wondered when or how things would come through. I was stressed in the non-tangibles. I didn’t care about money, but I did care that I wouldn’t be able to provide for my family. That was a much bigger concern. It wasn’t the lack of a physical dollar in my hand that bothered me. It was the inability to carry on the day-to-day financial requirements of my household without feeling the stress on each side. Isn’t that what Dad is supposed to be and do? I was worried that my family wouldn’t have the good things in life that I figured they needed. In my situation, there really wasn’t anything I could do about it but pray. It wasn’t like I could go out and get another job. It wasn’t like book sales were pouring money in. I was pretty much in a pray-and-wait situation. I just kept praying.
And God showed up to provide.
This year, Thanksgiving will have a different meaning for me. Though life was changed- some might say even for the better- with each change God is right there beside me. When he leads me and expects me to walk the paths that he has laid out for me, he doesn’t ask or require that I figure out all the details first. He holds my hand, converses with me, and shows me how good he is no matter where or what we are walking through together. The days we are not walking a pleasant stroll but out on the water in a rough and turbulent sea, he is right there in the same boat with me. Do you think that God doesn’t know what you and I need? He created us for Pete’s sake! He knows exactly what we need. The problem is, we lose persistence, become disheartened in waiting, and lose faith that an answer will ever come.
This year, I am humbled and thankful that God has enabled me to continue doing what he has called me to do and has met my needs while doing it.
If it happened to me, it could happen to you.
Today, my call to action is simple. If you have been blessed with something like what I’m talking about, something where your needs were met or blessed with, please, be thankful. Tell the Lord how thankful you are that he is such a good God. Bless him with the acknowledgment that you are aware of how reliant you are on his hands. If you are still waiting for your answer, I want to speak life into you. Keep asking. Keep petitioning. Keep praying. Be that persistent person who gets down on your knees at bedtime. Be the soul that doesn’t worry, but in faith calls your heavenly father on the phone and asks that your needs be met. Trust me, God enjoys meeting your needs. His timetable might be different than yours and his creative display of power might be painted in a different color than you expected, but you are never beyond his thoughts. He will answer the persistent and humble prayer. He did it for me. I’m just an ordinary man, one made out of the same bone and flesh that you are designed with as well. He can and will do it for you too.
To be thankful, is the blessing God gets from us in return.
Let’s be thankful this year. I promise it’s the best way to be.
By Chuck Carr