It’s Canadian Thanksgiving and we have a lot… a lot… to be Thankful for this year. It’s been a crazy whirlwind of life changing moments in the last few months, but God has been faithful and our ever constant source of support and comfort. Especially when the moments got just a bit too tough for my little human brain to handle.

So for today’s post, I thought I’d be super candid and simply write out a thanksgiving prayer. I hope it brings you joy this thanksgiving weekend.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for being in charge. Thank you for keeping it all together when I feel like I don’t have it all together. Thank you for being there in the little things. Like my garden spider. The monarch butterfly. The simple daisies and the vine of red.

Thank you for allowing me tears and laughter. Thank you for special visits with family and friends. For blessing us with “Itsnotta” farm and our dreams and adventures now, and in the years to come. I’m grateful and humbled at what You have given to us each and every time we give “the tour”. I marvel at the details and how you orchestrated it all – just for us.

I thank you Lord for allowing us to be pushed out of our comfort zones. To integrate into a community where things are not the same as they were before. For pushing me to get out there and try. Please God, give me the courage to continue to be bold and a light in a world who so desperately needs You. Please help me encourage our children to grow in their independence as they grow into adulthood. Protect them and send your angels to guide, comfort and shelter them out on their own. May they feel the safety of “coming home” often. May they feel the freedom to raid the fridge and bring their dirty laundry home to mom.

Help me to be patient with others who don’t see eye to eye with me. Grant me supernatural love for those personalities who clash with my own. Allow me gentle words. Less sarcasm. Less cutting comebacks and more time to think before I speak.

Thank you, Lord, for bringing people into our lives who encourage. For a Christian heritage that has given us a strong foundation. May we never take that for granted. Help me to remember to take more time for those who need it. Help me to be aware of those who are on the sidelines and be an encourager.

Thank you, Lord, for the talents and gifts you have given me so generously. Help me to use them well and for Your kingdom. To not be proud – as those gifts and talents are not my own, but given to me to use well. Thank you for your goodness, and blessing us with adequate finances, a source of income, abundance of food, shelter and so many tangible items that surround us. Remind me to share and to not take anything for granted. For these things are Yours.

And finally, Lord, thank you for this little piece of the internet where I can freely express my joys and thoughts and musings with others. I pray that you use it to bless strangers. To encourage. To be real as well, allowing others to “taste and see” for themselves what you have done for us. Life is not always easy. Thank you. Thank you for pruning and sharpening us through trials… and for reminding us that only through pruning do we bear fruit.

As we go into this week, give us the energy we need to continue to do all the things. The resignation to push forward and do all the hard stuff. The self control to choose peace when we are pushed to our limits. And in it all, help us to be thankful!

With all the sincerity of my heart,

Amen.