This article is part of the resource materials packet for Day 7 of the Good Success Thanksgiving Challenge. If you have not yet completed the assignment for Day 6, click here to read the resource materials and catch up.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I’m so thankful for you and grateful you are here. I’m thankful you participated in the Good Success Thanksgiving Challenge, and, most of all, I’m grateful for today’s challenge. Today’s challenge should be the easiest of all, because today we thank God.
In 1621, when the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving, Edward Winslow wrote to a friend back in England and described the event. He wrote:
Our corn did prove well, God be praised. We had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good….Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors…
Winslow went on to describe the Thanksgiving feast that we all have learned about since childhood, but the important part of his message was the preface to the entire description: “God be praised.”
Ultimately, Thanksgiving was created as a remembrance to God, our creator, out of gratitude for His keeping the Pilgrims alive through a winter that by rights should probably have wiped them out. And without the Pilgrims surviving that winter, our lives would probably be very, very different today.
Thanking God in Every Circumstance
I know for some people reading this, thanking God will be easy. Maybe God blessed you this year. Maybe he granted some of your heart’s dearest desires or blessed your business or healed a loved one. However, I know that best-case scenario is not the case for everyone. Maybe you have been having trouble “reaching” God this year. Maybe you feel like He is far away. Maybe you even have turned your back on him. My challenge to you, today, is to simply reach out. Say “Thank you,” no matter how the words stick in your throat. Thank Him for everything you can think of, and if you struggle to think of something, then thank Him for your salvation because no matter what else, He sent his Son for you. I promise, He will hear you.
The Final Challenge
As a final note on this challenge, I would like to suggest every reader spend some serious time thinking about how you will thank God today. If it’s easy to spit out a list of things to thank Him for, take a few minutes or even half an hour or longer to just really explain to God, in detail, how much you love and appreciate everything He has done for you. Take a walk and talk with Him as you do. Whether this is the easiest day for you or the hardest, I encourage you to take this challenge to heart, thank God for your blessings, and enjoy this wonderful Thanksgiving Day in the light of your Creator.
Are you playing catch-up? We’re thankful you’re here! Click HERE to go to Day 6 of the Good Success Thanksgiving Challenge. Happy Thanksgiving!
