By Teddy James
Eleven-year-old Botum and her mother, Chantou, sat in their hut waiting for the water to boil. Botum had spent most of the day patting out manure fuel cakes while her mother made the two-mile hike to get water. When Botum’s father got home from not finding work or food that day, they sat around the stove and thanked God for the leftover bread they were wise enough to save from yesterday.
Sixteen-year-old Raymond stood in front of an open refrigerator bobbing and weaving so much that he looked like he was in a boxing match with the milk on the top shelf. He yelled, “Mom, there is nothing to eat in here.” Martha walked into the kitchen holding two dresses. She looked in the fridge pointing out the fruit, vegetables and sandwich meats.
Then, holding up the dresses, she asked, “Which do you like? I just don’t have anything to wear!”
Which scene is more familiar? In America, it is easy to cross the line from blessed to spoiled. Thanksgiving is a great time to be reminded of just how blessed we are as individuals and as a nation.
Read more at http://www.afajournal.org/2013/November/112013thankful.html
Praying for those in need of God’s help …
A prayer by Carmen Fowler LaBerge
Holy God, we come before Your throne of grace and mercy with a genuine sense of awe at who You are — great, glorious, magnificent, perfect, holy, almighty God — our God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Lord of all creation and Lord of our lives, we render to You ardent thanks and praise for the goodness and fullness and richness of our lives. In every fiber of our being, keep us mindful that all that we are and all that we have flow from Your love.
When we give thanks at tables heavy laden, hear our prayers for those who go hungry in the midst of a world of so much excess.
When we give thanks for our prosperity, hear our prayers for those who live everyday in abject poverty.
When we give thanks in homes filled with joy, hear our prayers for those whose lives are marked by darkness, fear and failure.
When we give thanks for our loved ones, hear our prayers for those who feel that they have no one in all the world who loves them.
When we give thanks for the land of freedom in which we live, hear our prayers for those who live in lands where freedom does not ring.
When we give thanks, O God, for the joy of our salvation, hear our prayers for those who do not know the good gift of Your grace in Jesus Christ.
Great God our King, we will give You thanks in all circumstances, even in the midst of circumstances we do not understand. In all things, Lord, in all circumstances, we give You thanks and praise. Amen