An article of 'Thanksgiving'

Happy New Year to all of you!! This year I really want to remind myself to start the year with thanksgiving. It wasn't because of big shock of blessing, but it's because I realize that God is doing his good work in me, and I'm where I am right now because of him alone. I got to read an article from the book "Displaced Reflections" by Oddny Gumaer. Thanksgiving: We are in a refugee housing thousands of people who have fled war. Bugs are buzzing around our sweaty bodies. There is no breeze to move the hot air. Little children are playing. From a house close by we hear music. Several people must be gathered together. They are singing in beautiful harmony. Praise songs. "Is there a church meeting?" I ask. "No, one family is having a Thanksgiving service twice a year to remember what God has done for them." How many times a year do I conduct a Thanksgiving service to remember what I have received? These people who are singing praises to God right now are refugees who have lost everything they own. They do not even have a birth certificate. They are some of the poorest people in the world. But they are thankful. They are thankful that they are still alive, that they have food to eat and a floor to sleep on. They are so much bigger than me. As I'm looking at myself, I felt I kept repeating the same phrase over and over, I don't have those, I don't have this, I can't do this, I can't do that, I hate this, and I hate that. These people they are so grateful of a little that God has done for them, mostly their lives!! Will I be able to give thanks to God while I'm loosing everything? Am I value my life so much more than what I have? Here is how God challenge me to be thankful of everything in my life this year. I need to be change of this area, so that I can freely keep praising God and sharing his goodness to others. As I started this year, I would like to focus on worship God and intercede for the lost, and I found it's very helpful if I watch closely how God move and work among his people, and keep giving thanks to him. I thanks God for my life, for an opportunity to serve him because it's such an honor to serve our greatest God. Thanks to God as he is trustworthy of my provider. I fail thousand times already to truly understand what it means as he is my provider, but I'll keep holding on to him that he is my provider, my future and my hope. May God be glorify for thousand times. Gade