Giving Thanks

Recently, I woke early in the morning with a bad dream. I dreamt that a good friend who works with us was no longer going to do so and had given her notice. I was so sad! When I woke it took me a little while to snap out of it. Then I remembered a quote my son had recently read to me. It said, “What if you only had today what you thanked God for yesterday?” I realized that I had not thanked God for this friend, nor had I told this friend how thankful I am for her recently. 

As I got a cup of coffee and woke from my dreamy fog, I began to feel so thankful. It was the first day of our Thanksgiving break from school. The past several weeks have been very full and in the early morning while four out of five of my children were still sleeping, I was trying to take time to focus on thankfulness. My tendency is to worry about things instead of thanking God for what He has done which is the opposite of what we are taught in God’s Word.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”‭‭ Philippians‬ ‭4:6‬ 

There are many important things to learn from this passage and the ones surrounding it, but the thing I want to focus on today is praying with thanksgiving. There are so many things to be thankful for, but I will only mention a few this morning. As I share some of my thoughts with you, I will also pray and thank the Lord. 

I am extremely thankful that we recently received a visa for Evie so our whole family will be able to travel back to the US to introduce Evie to our family and friends there. We will also be able to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with them for the first time in 7 years. This is an answer to many prayers and years of paperwork.

I am also thankful that God has called us to live and serve here in Uganda. He has blessed and grown our ministry to missionary families as we partner with them in the education of their children. It has been beautiful to hear from some of the families who have recently joined our school about the blessing it has been to their children and the family as a whole. We are so glad to be able to be a small part of the good work these families are doing. 

In addition to our primary calling, we have also had the opportunity to love on the children of GSF and our neighbors in Buwundo Village. This week we were able to have several early Christmas celebrations. On Monday, the Children at GSF had a Christmas party. David was able to speak briefly and then we got to help with serving a special meal and giving out Christmas stockings. It was a special time together! 

On Tuesday, I was able to meet with some of the teenage and pre-teen girls from GSF along with a sweet Ugandan friend. We baked brownies, talked about life and family and prayed for one another. It was a special time! Then on Wednesday, we were able to host an early Christmas party for the women from my Bible study group along with a few of our other neighbors. It was a joy to celebrate together and because of generous donors we were able to give these friends a solar powered audio version of the Bible in the local language. It was such a joy to see the excitement of each one. Some of these women never had the chance to learn to read. But now they can listen to God’s Word every day! I am so thankful to be able to be here and be a little part of what God is doing in each of these areas. I cannot explain the joy and fulfillment that come from having meaningful work and relationships. 

On Thursday, we had the  joy of celebrating Thanksgiving with several other missionary families. We had about 55 people over. David cooked 2 large turkeys and a ham, Esther made some delicious pies and others brought all kinds of delicious food. It was a wonderful taste of family and home for those of us who live far from our family. At the end of the day we watched an episode of “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.” 

We have decided that Black Friday for our family will be spent clearing out things we don’t need or use. Instead of thanking the clothes and toys and books like Marie does, we are thanking our God for the many things he has provided us and then passing those along to other who might enjoy or use them more. It is also a way to prepare for our trip to the US since we often come back with more things. I am actually looking forward to this day although it is sometimes  a little overwhelming. 

We have so much for which to be thankful. The people in our lives, the work we get to do, and the home God has given us here are all gifts from our loving Heavenly Father. I want to remember that and practice thankfulness more. I hope you also have had a blessed day of giving thanks.