Thanksgiving Prayer

Father, my prayer this Thanksgiving season, is for those for whom Thanksgiving is not a time of thanks giving. I lift up those for whom this is a very difficult time of the year - and only going to get worse with the next “holiday”... Oh, many of us joke about our families, but in reality, they’re pretty tame; but not everyone can say that.

I’m not even talking about those in war torn countries, or famine ravaged countries, or parts of the world where natural disasters have destroyed their ways of life - but those right around us, Lord, who are hurting.

Perhaps it’s a lack of food, or lack of job, or lack of love, but the void in their hearts and homes is “crater-sized.” And that, my God, brings an emptiness to the pit of my stomach, and a heaviness to my soul, and I lift them up to You.

Your Word, God, tells us that there is no temptation, no sorrow, no hurt, which our Saviour has not experienced, and so, You know, don’t You… You know “first-hand.”

As I lift them up, the faces I “see”, the one’s I’ve heard about, and the ones I just imagine, I ask, Lord, comfort their hearts. And more than that Lord, show me what I must do. How can I be serve these people? How can I bring the love and comfort of the Living Christ into another’s heart and home?

I love Your Word, Lord. I love to study it, I love to teach it. But today, Father, take me from the “Scribe's cloak” to the “Servant’s shoes” - and tell me where to walk.

In Jesus’ Name - Amen