Give Thanks Anyway by Carol Harrison

 

         photo by Carol Harrison

It’s the season when our thoughts are directed towards giving thanks. Yet it should be something we do continually. But the question becomes, “How do we accomplish that in the midst of the difficult times of life?”

One of the worst times in my writing journey happened decades ago. Yet it remains a vivid memory. A single comment from a teacher negated the good mark on my short story and I believed I couldn’t write well. A second comment a few months later along with a failing grade from an English professor convinced me of my inability to write. Thankfulness never entered my mind. Discouragement did. I stuffed my enjoyment of writing deep inside, telling myself I’d focus on passing my classes. I’d forget the idea I could write anything remotely reader friendly.

Looking back, I dwelt in that belief for a few decades before giving in to pressure from my husband to try and write. I argued I wasn’t a writer. I didn’t know how. He encouraged. I grumbled and then tried. Thankfulness didn’t enter my mind.

Then God sent others into my life to encourage and give direction in how to become unstuck. I began to learn what I’d hidden away for years. I learned lessons in giving thanks in between but in that one area involving writing, I remained unthankful; fearful of letting others reading what I wrote.

Over the years, God in his patience and mercy kept nudging me towards lessons in giving thanks in all situations including writing. I still struggle with being obedient to His command when life is hard and words won’t come. Yet God reminds me He’ll use my pain for His glory and my good when I give him the broken pieces of my life. I don’t have to like the dry times, the lack of ideas, and words to fill a blank space won’t appear but I still need to give thanks.

Then I remember to reread Psalm 103 and am reminded of all there is to give thanks to God for.

Psalm 103:2-5 (NIV)

² Praise the Lord, my soul and forget not all his benefits—

³ Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

⁴ Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,

⁵ Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Psalm continues with so many reasons to praise the Lord and give thanks for all God is and does for me. For that I can give thanks in all situations of my life, even when facing a blank page that waits for ideas and words.

Carol Harrison writes from her home in Saskatoon, SK. She enjoys reading, family times and history too.

By Lorilee Guenter

 

Photo by Lorilee Guenter;
Grasslands National Park

In the Psalms we often read a mix of lament and praise. David and others often cry out to God in difficult times. How long oh God, how long will you forsake me? How long must I face this alone? Even as they cry out, their words show they know they are not really alone. They just feel alone.

In Psalm 13:2 David cries, "how long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?" By the end of the song, he will sing the Lord's praise, "for he has been good to me." There's no evidence in this psalm that David's situation has changed yet he trusts.

I wrestle with my thoughts. I cry out, "why Lord why do I have to face betrayal by my own mind, my own body? You created me in reverence with wonderful complexity (Psalm 139) so I can serve you, love you and glorify you. How Lord? How do I do that with a traitorous brain?"

I trust because I know in the depths of who I am, the place the Holy Spirit speaks, I know I am not walking this path alone. I know, but my traitorous humanity tries to convince me that my trust is misplaced. It calls me to turn away, to turn back. It councils me to trust only what I can see.

Like David, I'm learning not to stop at "how long?" But move through to, "even so I trust." I still sit with unchanged circumstances, my body falters, my brain betrays me. Even so I trust.

God is with me in the desert. Jesus spent 40 days in the desert after his baptism. He walked with the Israelites through the wilderness, leading them and teaching them. He walks with me, with us, even in the desert places. He is with us in the wilderness.

How long oh Lord, must I feel dry, ideas withered, stillborn? Challenging me to hide with sorrow for myself and for others. How long Lord, until I learned this lesson and can move on? And yet I trust. The answers don't come and yet I trust because I know I don't walk alone. I trust because the only one who can perfectly keep his promises, says he will be with me. And so in the middle of the storm, I will sing his praises as I trust. The Holy Spirit will walk this road with me.

Lorilee Guenter is a Saskatoon based artist and writer. Her writing stems from the many questions she finds herself pondering and from the things she observes on her wanderings. One such question is how did events she lived through become the subject of history. More of her writing can be found on her Substack.       

                                                                                                                   

Sincere and Prayerful, but Unprepared by Michelle Joy Teigrob

 

With the dream of winning a big-name secular contest several years ago, I sat down to write my story.

Hours sank away as I oh-so-carefully crafted my article. Like a carpenter putting together the most delicate fine furniture, I tried to select only the finest verbs and adjectives, glued together by the most exquisite sentence forms. Here’s just one example: “Her wing of polished, brown hair is hemmed by morning sunlight, but her face is shaded.”

I really did try to put out my writing best.

I also did not compromise my deeply-held values. My main message in the story is to show that we are all bound together as humans, regardless of our background and race. The story is based on my real-life experience of supporting a young refugee who is blind and cannot speak. While language and cultural differences loom like large walls all around us, his mother and I share tears of joy when the boy is heard saying a few words.

As I aim to do with all my writing, I prayed for God to guide and anoint my work.

In the end, despite my prayers, hard work, and good intentions, the story did not place at all in the contest.

It took several years before I could whisper sincere thanks that the article had not been recognized. My gratitude flowed as I realized that with my story I had been wading into a political tide that I was not prepared to handle. I had been writing sincerely but quite naively, and I see now God’s hand of protection.

Proverbs 19:2 says, “Zeal without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way” (NLT).

Having pure and prayerful hearts as we write is a must. It’s also wise to do our research and be astute about the possible implications of what we are publishing. This is where going slowly can be helpful as it gives us time to deeply think through all sides and angles of the content we are creating.

This is not to say we never publish for fear of backlash. Instead, I am learning, it is wise to be aware that we might receive backlash and are prayerfully prepared to respond.

As for that article I crafted with such diligence, I’ve since made revisions and shared it elsewhere. Potential political ramifications still exist, but I believe I am now better prepared to respond to them, with God’s help.

Michelle Joy Teigrob blogs on Substack and at michellejoybooks.ca. Her mission is to share true stories and articles from a heart seared by this message after being shattered by the deaths of 3 sisters: In the end, one thing will remain above all.

 

Rejection is Just Redirection by Peggianne Wright

Photo credit: P. Wright, 2026

WOW…that hurt! When my dearest friend told me via email that she didn’t want to study the Bible with me any longer, that was about as gut-wrenching as it gets. We’d been sharing the Lord’s Word for over a year so it was truly heartbreaking news. Through days of flooding tears and agonizing self-recriminations, I couldn’t think of much else. It dogged my every thought, coming back over and over as I reread her email in my head again and again. The sting of the words and the feeling of abandonment. The REJECTION.

Rejection. Just writing the word makes me sad. But when it’s coupled with something sacred like sharing scripture together, it feels so much more sorrowful. It stirs a plethora of shattered feelings in my heart and soul.

God’s timing is perfect. We all know that. In fact, when my father passed away in April of 2020, just as COVID was ramping up, I cried at his bedside that I wouldn’t have anyone to share my faith with after he’d gone. It had been just him and me loving the Lord together after Mom had passed away two years earlier. Then, out of the blue and totally unexpectedly my friend asked if I would like to do a Bible study with her. God did that!

For an entire year, I created and wrote a weekly Bible study walking us through the New Testament. But when she decided to quit, I was shattered and stunned. I kept asking God for answers. Was I too much this or not enough that? In my love of the Word and zest for learning, had I become too intense? Had my desire to share and teach overstepped boundaries? Had I been insensitive to my friend in some way? What had I done or not done? Was I simply a COVID distraction? On and on and on.

The Lord knows I am a “bottler” and I don’t always hand my problems to Him right away. At the first hint of a negative situation, I roll up in a tight ball like an armadillo. So, my first impulse was to go into hiding; basically isolate myself from the rest of the world. After all, in my deep humiliation of being rejected, it was a natural human reaction. Right? Sure, human but absolutely not Christian.

A few days later, as I was driving home from an errand that had taken me over an hour’s highway drive east, the “replay button” in my head still kept clicking. Why? Why? Why? And then, “What do I do now?”

But then God decided enough was enough! Enough tears. Enough sad feelings. Enough self-pity.

All of a sudden, I began to realize that this was God’s message to me to get serious about pursuing plans I had put on hold for over a year already. Plans I had never had time to act on because of this study with my friend.

A huge burden seemed to melt and I immediately began to feel some excitement. I realized at that moment that this was God’s planning all along!

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)

Often, if we’re quiet in our pain, God will come alongside and provide the guidance we need to navigate a dark time. During that solo car trip, He laid out a fresh two-forked path that blessed me enormously.

Fork 1: The Launch of a Dream.

For the better part of 18 months before all the turmoil unfolded, I had been harbouring a dream of launching a unique ministry and writing career. At that very moment, my Paws To Pray pet parent ministry was born. And, in the five years since, I have also been blessed to have written and published five books. I’ve been published in Guideposts and collaborated with a group of Christian women writers on a writer’s devotional.

Fork 2: Personal Growth.

Dealing with rejection isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy. Working through it takes courage and strength and honesty. When broken down into a few steps, I found that dealing with a wide range of emotions became manageable, allowing each one to be recognized and attended to.

Acknowledging the hurt we feel is one of the most important steps. If possible, put down thoughts on paper and then even put them into prayer.

Be kind to oneself in the process. Write a short list of some positive things about yourself including some of your strengths and values. This will help face self-doubt. Then pray over it.

Take time to process your feelings. Be sure to reserve reaction for later. Ask God to hold your hand.

Look for the positive take-aways. It may take time for this to happen but, with the right attitude and mindset, you’ll realize that a lesson of some kind, a new opportunity, some other positive experience, or even the removal of a negative circumstance has come from this.

As part of this rejection, I had considered stepping back from this friendship altogether. But, I realized that I was acting completely opposite to what Jesus expects of me. Putting myself in my friend’s shoes helped me accept that the time had come to make a change and I should be grateful that we shared those many months growing our faith together.

Facing rejection head on with God’s guidance, I realized a dream that has given me purpose; pointing others to Him. When I wondered with whom I would share my faith after that, God whispered, “I created a whole wide world out there for you to share your faith.”

His gentle reminder tells me that rejection isn’t bad if it’s view as an opportunity. In fact, today’s rejection is really God’s redirection.

Peggianne Wright is a published author and is the founder of the pet parent ministry Paws To Pray, blending her passion for the Lord and all-things-K9 to form this unique, faith-based community. Peggianne is an ardent Bible study student, devoted dog mom, wife of 44 years, and lover of music. Her blogs Spiritual Scribbles and Fur-Kid Fanatics can be found on her website www.PawsToPray.ca and you can follow her on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PawsToPray/ and on IG @Sister_In_Prayer.