An Introduction to the Thanksgiving Series
“O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.”
Psalm 95:1-7
When most of us think of Thanksgiving, we think of family, food (especially turkey and green bean casserole), harvest decorations, toy turkeys, and memories from years gone by. This holiday is filled with many traditions, some of them with deep meaning while others are just fun. Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving in our house without the Cowboys’ football game on for my husband and children. This was such a tradition growing up, that we replicated that in Africa, when we were missionaries there. While we couldn’t watch the live game, we often had an old game playing in the background. (We picked games that they won, of course.)
Even though it is well and good to have these special traditions in our lives, I think that some of them may have caused us to lose perspective on this season. Our ability to be truly thankful has not graduated from the “I’m thankful for turkeys” that we made in elementary school. Too often we settle for a rote list of thankful items. We don’t truly think of the blessings that each of those items is in our lives.
In this devotional series, we will get back to being full of gratitude for how the Lord has blessed us. We will praise God with a renewed spirit because we understand how abundant our lives are. During our time together these ten days leading up to Thanksgiving, we are going to peek into the lives of Zambian children. Since we were missionaries there for seven years and only recently moved back to the United States, we have seen a stark contrast – the land of abundance (the United States) and the land of desolation (Zambia). Living in both has given us a unique perspective and has deepened our appreciation for the simple blessings we have every day that we take for granted.
This devotional series will transport you all into the lives of families in the capital city of Lusaka, Zambia. You will see their everyday lives and share in their joys and struggles. Zambia has suffered the effects of the AIDS epidemic throughout the country as it has orphaned millions of children. While the median age is under 17 years old, there are currently over 900,000 orphans and vulnerable children there. It has been recorded that well over 50 percent of Zambians live below the poverty line.
My prayer is that through these times together as a family your hearts will become more grateful to our Heavenly Father for the simple things that you have and will become more generous as you see your abundance beside the poverty of another country. I can think of no better time to do this than this Thanksgiving season. God’s Word tells us in I Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” God’s desire for us is to be a thankful people, ones who choose to praise Him and be grateful to Him in spite of the circumstances around us. God is worthy of our worship and thanksgiving when we feel like it and when we don’t because His character (who He is) doesn’t change even when our circumstances do.
Each day there will be an opening story about a fictious child in Lusaka. You will read the story aloud as a family. After the story you will be asked to do four things: Discuss the story, Complete Action Items, Memorize Scripture, and Pray. (You can choose to do whichever ones fit for your family.) We hope these things will cause your family to have deep discussions with lasting impact. Use this time to point your hearts to God, asking Him to make an impression on your whole family this Thanksgiving season.
These lessons start today, Monday, November 17, and then follow this schedule for 2025:
Two — Tuesday, November 18
Three — Wednesday, November 19
Four — Thursday, November 20
Five — Friday, November 21
Six — Saturday, November 22
Seven — Sunday, November 23
Eight — Monday, November 24
Nine — Tuesday, November 25
Ten — Wednesday, November 26
THANKSGIVING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What are you looking forward to as we complete these devotions together as a family?
If you could look at everyone’s list of what they are thankful for, what items do you think would be on most people’s list?
Have there been times that you haven’t felt like praising God or being thankful to Him? When? Why did you feel that way? What made you change your attitude?
ACTION ITEMS:
~ Give each person a sheet of paper or an index card. Write at least 5 things you are thankful for. Share these lists as a family.
~ Watch this video and sing along to Brandon Lake’s “That’s Who I Praise”. Follow this link.
THANKSGIVING SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Psalm 100 is a classic portion of Scripture for our families to memorize during this Thanksgiving season. While some families are accustomed to memorizing verses, this may be your family’s first time. Either way, pick a verse or two or the whole chapter to work on these next 10 days. It will be a sweet memory from this holiday with your family. You may even want to challenge your extended family to memorize these verses. You could then say them together at your Thanksgiving celebration. Download a printable copy of this verse HERE to hang in your home to help you memorize it. (If you need ideas on how to memorize Scripture with your family, click here to see some of my favorites.)
(If you already have this Psalm memorized, try Psalm 95 instead.)
THANKSGIVING PRAYER TIME:
Ask God to deepen your thankfulness for what He has done for you. Ask Him to open your eyes to the blessings that you have and the ways that you can use what you have to encourage others.
CLICK HERE FOR THANKSGIVING DEVOTIONS NUMBER TWO.
If you would like to know more about the work that we are a part of in Zambia, Africa, click here to visit Family Legacy Missions International.
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