On Oct. 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave a Proclamation extolling the blessings and abundance the people were experiencing in this land and acknowledging them as blessings from God in heaven. He said: “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” (Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler et al.)
Since then, we have celebrated this holiday every year, and pause to thank God for our blessings. It’s easy to be thankful for the abundance of harvest, warm homes and food, good health, etc. But, it isn’t so easy to be “thankful” when life doesn’t seem to be going so well. When dearly loved friends or family are seriously ill or die, when children rebel and get hurt, when financial crises happen, when relationships dissolve etc. etc.
Laura Story wrote words and music to a song she entitled “Blessings”. (Listen to the whole song from the link below).
Some of the lyrics are: “ ’Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops, what if Your healing comes through tears?
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know that You’re near?
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?”
I have been so touched and moved by this song. All of us have been affected by some sorrow or illness or pain or heartache that seems to unravel the very fabric of life, destroying our peace and joy; causing those “thousand sleepness nights”.
What then?
My 6 year old granddaughter heard me listen to and sing along with this song. I shared the words with her, and an example of how God had taken a recent, very difficult and scary situation and turned it into a blessing. It helped her understand the verse “In everything give thanks” (I Thessalonians 5:18), and how our God is sovereign and can turn even bad things into something good for those of us who love Him. (Romans 8:28)
It doesn’t mean those hard things won’t happen; but it does mean that we have a God who loves us, and cares about us, and can use “trials of this life” to bring about His mercies and blessings into our lives. Not only on the holiday of Thanksgiving, but every day let us seek our God; thank Him for His abundant mercy and blessings, even when they seem to come through raindrops, tears, or sleepless nights!
Hear Laura’s beautiful song: