Don’t Forget to Thank God…

Don’t Forget to Thank God…

…for so powerfully, tenderly, graciously, and majestically being God.

In this season of thanksgiving, we tend to lean more heavily toward thanking God for the myriad gifts he generously provides. For our family and friends. For good health and answers to our prayers. For our homes and communities. For our vocations and our avocations. For experiences that have formed us as disciples. For the gift of life itself. Such thankfulness is good for the soul, and the people who surround you.

In our gratefulness, however, do we inadvertently bypass our expressions of gratitude to God for being God?

As we pause this week and celebrate Thanksgiving (in the USA), let’s out-thank one another in love and generosity. This is good for our hearts and for our relationships with all who cross our paths in daily life and service.

Also, let’s begin our expressions of gratitude by giving God our deepest and most profound praise.

Perhaps using a psalm to guide us? Psalm 103 is filled with sentiments of gratitude worthy of our prayerful reflection.

Read Psalm 103 – alone in your prayer closet and together around the Thanksgiving table.

Then, identify the expressions of the psalmist toward God being God, such as:

  • He forgives all our iniquities
  • He heals all of our diseases
  • He redeems your life from the pit
  • He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy
  • He satisfies us with good
  • The Lord works righteousness and justice for the oppressed
  • He makes known his ways to his people
  • The Lord is merciful and gracious
  • He is slow to anger and abounds in steadfast love
  • He doesn’t deal with us according to our iniquities
  • The Lord shows compassion to those who fear him
  • He knows our frame and desires our flourishing

After noting these and other traits of God, give God the glory, honor and praise. Reminding ourselves and each other of the foundation of our faith – the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – will send our thankfulness for one another in the right direction.

Bless the Lord, O my soul! All our inmost being praise his holy name!

A bountiful Thanksgiving to you and yours! Thanks be to God!

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Steve Macchia

Founder & President

The Rev. Dr. Stephen A. Macchia is founder and president of Leadership Transformations, Inc. (LTI), a ministry serving the spiritual formation, discernment, and renewal of leaders and learners since 2003. For more than 20 years he was the Director of the Pierce Center for Disciple-Building at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he continues to serve as an adjunct faculty member in the Doctor of Ministry Program. From 1989-2003 he was the president of Vision New England, the largest regional church renewal association in the country. Earlier in his ministry life, Steve was a member of the pastoral staff of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts for 11 years. He is the author or co-author of 17 books,  including Praying the Parables of Jesus (NavPress/Tyndale), The Discerning Life (Zondervan Reflective), and Crafting a Rule of Life, Becoming A Healthy Church (LTI), and Broken and Whole (IVP).  He and his wife Ruth live in the Boston (MA) area and are the proud parents of two married children and grandparents to three adorable grandchildren. Steve’s personal website is www.SteveMacchia.com.

“My soul comes alive singing the great hymns of the church and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation. I’m in awe of God for fulfilling the dream for LTI that he birthed in my heart, for the team he has assembled, and the transformational impact experienced in the leaders and teams we serve.”

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Mitzi Mak

Selah-West Faculty & Emmaus Faculty

Mitzi started her professional life as a high school social studies teacher. She and her husband Jerry then served cross-culturally for ten+ years, living abroad first in India and then Kurdistan, N. Iraq. In addition to being a Spiritual Director, she now serves as a Formation and Care pastor in her local church in Houston, TX. She has graduated from LTI’s Selah Spiritual Direction training as well as LTI’s Emmaus Formational Leadership Program.

Mitzi enjoys engaging conversation, reading fiction, doing jigsaw/crossword puzzles, ocean gazing and exploring the world with Jerry through food and travel.

God has two main callings in Mitzi’s life: to care for those who care for others and to be a guide in helping others have a healthy relationship with the Trinity – recognizing God’s loving presence and activity in their lives and how to faithfully respond.

“Selah was a transformative experience for me – allowing the contemplative within to emerge and to beautifully co-exist with my extraverted personality.“