A Single Thanks

I follow a lot of Christian women’s blogs. Normally I adore them. I love learning from other women’s experiences. The internet has allowed for women to practice the Titus 2 philosophy  across incredible distances. How wonderful it is to read the successes and failures of pregnancies, homeschooling, and Biblical womanhood from women further along the path than I am.

98% of the time I love it.

But this week is Thanksgiving.

Every other post in my Google reader is about being thankful, recipes for the perfect pumpkin pie, or how to deal with your nieces and nephews over the holiday.

I do not have children and I am unmarried.

Let me tell you (as the token single girl) holidays are hard, especially when you don’t come from a solid family.

In his book Made Perfect in Weakness Gary Oliver writes, “In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, the Bible tells us to give thanks in all things. We may not be able to give thanks for all things, but in every situation we can praise God for His character, His faithfulness, and His promises.”

In the past I have struggled with holidays. I have had a very broken family, a great deal of illness, and people walking into and out of my life. Instead of praising God for His character, His faithfulness and His promises, I feared the future. I griped about my current situation. I doubted God’s timing. How can I be thankful when I am alone and unable to to fulfill what I believe God’s purpose to be for my life?

Recently God placed an old hymn on my heart. The hymn is We Gather Together:

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

What should I be doing? I should be thanking God for every single moment, every opportunity. Beside us to guide us. What an amazing concept! I need to sing His praises and  let all the glory be His.

So this Thanksgiving I am trying something new. I am thanking God for my singleness  I am thanking God for the chance to learn and grow and develop. I am going to spend Thanksgiving praising God and being thankful for what God has done (and is continuing to do) in my life.