A Devotional Guide to Pray With Gratitude During the Thanksgiving SeasonSample

THANK YOU, GOD, FOR MY LIFE!

Today, as we read the scripture, we realize that we were each created for a purpose.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t look at a newborn baby and not think of the word ‘miracle.’ It amazes me how the sperm of a man can join with an egg in the uterus of a woman and become a living, breathing, beautiful life! One morning as I laid in bed thinking of this miracle, it came to me that I had never thanked God for the individual parts of my body. I had taken all these miraculous things for granted. Today, I created a prayer list of things we often take for granted. Begin now to ponder on these miraculous creations as you thank God for what He has done!

Thank You, God:

• For my soul that acts as a link between the physical body and the spiritual self.

• For the Spirit that gives me insight, wisdom, judgment, and awareness.

• For my body, which is the vessel of the Spirit and houses the various parts that give life to this human form.

• For my brain, the very first computer, that sends messages to all areas of my body.

• For a mind that gives me the ability to think, feel, and want.

• For my conscience that helps in decisions, planning, and responding.

• For a skull that protects my brain function.

• For a nervous system that helps to control, regulate, and communicate to the body. 

• For my endocrine system, which regulates all biological processes from conception through old age.

• For hair that protects various parts of the body.

• For eyes that enable me to see.

• For a nose that enables me to smell and helps filter the air that I breathe.

• For my ears that enable me to hear and help with the balance of my body.

• For lips that help me form words and help hold food and drink in my mouth.

• For my tongue that aids my ability to swallow and to speak.

• For a neck that supports my head and protects sensory nerves, allowing me to move my head.

• For an esophagus that transports food from my mouth to my stomach.

• For my lungs, as they move fresh air through my body while removing gases.

• For blood, a lifeline that carries oxygen, and cells that fight off infections.

• For my veins that carry my blood to my heart and to other areas of my body.

• For skin that protects my organs and regulates my body temperature, as well as providing sensation.

• For my breasts, which supplied milk to feed my babies.

• For my arms and shoulders that enable me to have movement, to lift things, to lift my arms in praise.

• For joints that give movement to my limbs, torso, and neck.  

• For my hands that allow me to feed myself, clap, grasp items, and so much more.

• For fingers that enable me to write, type, grasp, and perform intricate tasks.

• For my nails, protecting my fingers and toes.

• For a diaphragm that helps me to have breath.

• For a heart that pumps blood, oxygen, and nutrients throughout my body, as it filters waste toxins.

• For tendons that connect my muscles to my bones.

• For my ligaments, which hold my inner body in place.

• For a stomach that receives food and breaks it down.

• For my kidneys that filter toxins from my body and balance the minerals in my body.

• For my liver that processes the blood and nutrients.

• For my spleen, a part of my immune system, that filters blood and makes white blood cells that fight infection.

• For a spine that enables me to move all parts of my body. 

• For my ribs that aid my respiration and protect the organs beneath the cage.

• For bile, that carries away waste and breaks down the fats in my body.

• For my digestive system, which breaks down and absorbs the food and liquids I consume.

• For my hips, which allow movement of my legs, to sit, walk, and stand.

• For my reproductive system, to form, hold, and deliver a human baby.

• For my urinary tract, which filters the blood and creates urine to eliminate waste from my body.

• For a rectum and bowels that receive stool from the colon and remove waste from my body.

• For my legs that carry the weight of my body and allow me to run, walk, and sit.

• For my knees that help me bend, stoop, walk, and climb; and bear the weight of my body.

• For feet that provide locomotion and help bear the weight of my body.

• For my toes that help balance me and help with posture.

• And, Lord, for all the other intricate parts of my body that were created and fine-tuned that I may have missed.

• Thank you, Lord, that I have the breath of life.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts,[o] God!  How vast is the sum of them!”  Psalm 139:13-17 NIV

Oh, Lord God, as I go through this list, I thank you for forgiveness; I take so much for granted each day.  How magnificent You are, Lord! Only a living God could be so full of creativity and put together individual bodies that have no two fingerprints the same - not even on the same person or identical twins. Our fingerprints are our identity, and You created us this way. This fact makes me want to shout, "Hallelujah"!  Thank you, thank You, thank You, Father, for life! In Jesus' Name, Amen!