With Thanksgiving next week, preparations are underway to prepare for this special holiday. There’s so much that goes into Thanksgiving, making it a special holiday for everybody to enjoy. You’ve got to buy the right size turkey and remember to thaw it on time, peel the potatoes for mashed potatoes, bake the pie, thaw the dinner rolls, cut up the bread for stuffing, set the table, and more. We prepare all week to make Thursday the perfect day.
In the midst of the craziness, we try to spend a few extra minutes being thankful. God has so richly blessed us in so many ways, and this is the perfect time to spend some extra time thanking him.
No Time to be Thankful
What usually happens though, is we simply run out of time. The week passes by in the blink of an eye. We miss our chance to spend some extra time in gratitude. We promise ourselves that next year it will be different.
This year, carve out a time each morning in your morning time routine to spend just a few extra minutes in gratitude to God. Use these prayer prompts and verses below to make it easy this next week!
Thanksgiving Meditations for each day next week
Just using these simple prompts each day can transform your week this next week into a true week of Thanksgiving.
For More Encouragement
For more on this topic, check out my post Don’t Cancel Thanksgiving Just Yet. If you need help getting into the habit of writing down something you are thankful for each day, check out my Faithfully Stepping Journals. These journals have a section each day for gratitude.
Have you ever wanted to quit on something, but you didn’t? You pushed through and were rewarded when you did?
We were walking this week as a family on some trails. We’re past the peak of fall, and there’s not much color left. We’d been walking down this one path for a while and just not seeing anything worth seeing. Honestly, I was about ready to tell the kids to head back when all of a sudden, we turned a corner and this beautiful scene opened up before our eyes. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. We almost missed it. If we hadn’t kept going, we would have missed it completely.
One Thing’s For Sure
What do you have in your life right now that you want to give up on? What’s just not working? What are you ready to say enough to? You’ve tried and tried, and it’s just not working. You’re exhausted from trying so hard. You’re ready to be done. You feel overlooked, underappreciated, undervalued. Everybody else is making it work, but you just can’t! What are you so close to giving up on?
Here’s the next question: What will happen if you quit? One of my favorite quotes about not giving up comes from Steve Harvey.
“Everybody has a turn-back moment. You have a moment where you can go forward or you can give up. … [But] if you give up, the guarantee is it will never happen. … The only way the possibility remains that it can happen is if you never give up, no matter what.”
Steve Harvey
If you quit now, you can know for sure that you will never know what would have happened if you hung in there, if you waited it out.
So I’m coming alongside you today saying, “Don’t quit. Not yet. Hold on just a little bit longer. Keep at it just a little longer.” What might be on the other side if you just don’t quit?
Exercise to Try
Here’s a great exercise to try. Write down what could happen if you don’t quit. Now write down what will for sure happen if you do decide to walk away? Now compare the two lists. Which one could you live with? Which one could change your life? Why?
The writer of the book of Hebrews understood a little something about wanting to give up, about growing weary and losing heart.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:3
The writer tells us to consider Jesus. Why? So that you won’t grow weary and lose heart. How does that work?
When we stop and consider or think about Jesus and all that he went through for us, it helps us to remember what’s really important.
Turning our Focus to Jesus
Why does that work? Why does focusing on Jesus help us to keep going? That’s because focusing on Jesus does four things for us.
Focusing on Jesus…
Gets the focus off of ourselves.
Makes our problems not seem as big.
Reminds us what’s important and what’s at stake.
Reminds us that Jesus knows and understands.
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
Hebrews 4:15
So if you’re feeling tired today, if you feel like you just want to quit, like you can’t do this anymore…turn your focus to Jesus. Consider what he did for you. He gave everything for you, so that you could in turn live for him. Remember his amazing gift of love and let that challenge and encourage you to serve him today and not give up.
He knows what you’re going through, and he will get you through. Only God knows what’s on the other side if you don’t quit! But you’ll never know if you choose to give it all up.
The other day, Matt and I went for a walk early in the morning. I eagerly anticipated the sunrise; sunrise is the best part of the day! The closer we got to sunrise, the more I realized it was just not going to happen. It was too cloudy and overcast. A depressed sort of feeling came over me; I’d really been looking forward to the sunrise. I looked at my phone to see the weather for the day. Not only was there no sunrise, but there wasn’t going to be any sun all day long.
As I walked, I looked up at the sky. I knew the sun was up there; it had risen as it does every single day. Yet, I couldn’t see it or feel it because it was behind the clouds.
Knowing but Not Seeing
It made me think about our relationship with God and how it’s similar to a cloudy day. We know God is there, but we can’t see him or feel him. So it feels like he’s not there. When we’re going through a difficult time or a hard season, it feels like God is nowhere near us. Yet, those facts aren’t based on reality. The reality is that Jesus is right beside us. He promised to never leave us or forsake us. He’s kept that promise to his children for hundreds of years, and he’s not going to go back on his word now.
Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,
“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
Hebrews 13:5 NLT
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 NLT
Our Reality isn’t Based on Feelings
We have to remember in difficult seasons that what we feel is simply that—feelings. We can’t base our reality on our feelings. If we did, we would make a lot of really bad decisions. Instead, we have to base our reality on what we know to be true.
Here’s a few facts that we know to be true:
God is good.
He loves me.
He is for me.
God will never leave me.
God watches over and protects me.
Just like we know that the sun still shines even when it’s behind the clouds and we can’t see it; we know that God hasn’t left us, even when we can’t see him. So base your reality today on what you know to be true, not on what you feel.
