Category: Thanksgiving Psalms

It’s Thanksgiving Day!

And this calls for a Thanksgiving Psalm. The Thanksgiving Psalms in Scripture are Psalms 9, 18, 30, 40, 66, 107, 116, 118, 124, and 138. They’ve got this form:

1) Call to Praise
2) “I Was in Trouble”
3) “I Called”
4) “God Answered”
5) Response of Praise

So these Thanksgiving Psalms include a story of how the psalmist was specifically in a bad place, they turned to God, and God came through. This is different than our typical list of things we’re thankful for. But let me tell you how it fits with my mood for Thanksgiving this year and how writing a thanksgiving psalm I think will help set me right, remind me of the good God has done in my life.

First, November is always a little fraught for me. It was November 10, 2005, when I got back from an amazing trip to Paris with my writing buddies, right after my husband had told me he was divorcing me – that he moved out of our house to start the clock on our separation to make that divorce happen. November 22, 2010 was when we finally had a court date for that divorce, and November 25, 2010, was the date our divorce was final. Then November 30 is my ex-husband’s birthday, and November 30, 2019, was the day my mother passed away from Alzheimer’s, two months after my father had passed away from a heart attack.

So, yeah. And this year, I’ve been blogging about my trip back to Germany, so a dose of nostalgia about my young family. (I think I did keep the dosage not too high, but it was there.)

And this week, my ex-husband has his 60th birthday. So both my kids went to visit him, only a few hours away in southern Virginia. They’re there for a week, and I’ll go down and meet them in Williamsburg next Tuesday – just like I used to do when my youngest attended William & Mary.

But Tuesday night, I was feeling just a little blue. And I couldn’t play games online with my youngest like we do most weeks, because they’re with their Dad. And a text with a picture in the airport reminded me of all the times we traveled as a family – and made me miss them and miss being a family.

I’ve tried to counteract all that by remembering how thankful I am for the phase of life I’m in now. It’s Thanksgiving, after all!

But Tuesday I was feeling a little blue – and I did my mostly-daily reading a page of Scripture – and this verse (already circled) was on that page:

Isaiah 46:4 —

Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

I’ll take it! Yes, what I needed to hear at that moment. I’m in a new phase of life – one I never expected when I was in the Young Family Phase – single, with a career and my dream job, serving on book award committees, co-leading a small group, singing in a choir… Life is very, very good – and all these are gifts from God, who is with me still. I still need sustenance and carrying at times, and God freely gives it.

And then I realized that on my ex-husband’s actual birthday (which is also the 5-year anniversary of my mother’s death), I’m going to hit Isaiah 55 in my Scripture reading. Back during the hard five years of the divorce process, every single time my husband mentioned taking me to court, somehow or other, in my reading or in a sermon, Isaiah 55 would come up, including the verse – “You will refute every tongue that accuses you.” So *that* reminds me of how, even though I very much didn’t want the divorce, God was with me through that and God has brought great good out of it – and yeah, I need to write a thanksgiving psalm!

A Thanksgiving Psalm for a Later Phase of Life

Thank you, Lord!
For you have always been faithful.
You see me, you know my heart’s cry,
and you always tenderly care for me.

I’d thought I was in a happy marriage,
I relished time in Europe with my young family,
and divorce hit me like a thunderbolt,
my world turned upside-down and inside-out.
Everything I’d thought about my future
was rendered impossible,
and with it everything I’d thought about my own lovability
was rendered questionable.

But I did turn to you
in my trouble, Lord.
And I turned to friends,
who listened, who encouraged,
and who helped me turn to you.

And you answered!

Friends surrounded me, prayed with me
assured me I was worthy of love.
Friends let me stay with them,
helped me get my bearings,
give me a place to visit on holidays
(to this day!),
and gave me the strength
to envision a new life as a single mom.

I got my Master’s in Library Science,
became a librarian,
landed a job near my home,
became a Cybils judge,
got on the Newbery committee,
got on the Mathical Book Prize committee,
got on the Morris committee,
and landed my dream job
as Youth Materials Selector.

I get to sing in the choir,
co-lead a small group,
play games with friends every week,
post book reviews,
write a book about Psalms,
own my own condo
(thanks to a down payment from my Dad),
where I can walk by a lake
and take pictures of great blue herons.

My life is simply overflowing
with wonderful things –
and most of them would have never happened
if I had stayed married.
Truly, God, you work all things together for good –
even from things that are bad by themselves.

This is a different life
than anything I had ever envisioned –
but it is very good.

Thank you, Lord,
for surprising me with a future I hadn’t imagined.
For sustaining me, carrying me
when I was at my lowest
and still giving a boost
even at low times now.
(When I know full well I have no business feeling blue –
you, Lord, know that I am human.)

Thank you for a lovely day
with a Friend-Since-3rd-Grade and her family
and a hug from a Mom
to fill that feeling of missing my own Mom.
Thank you for food and games and laughter
and people caring about and enjoying each other.

Thank you for a wonderful world full of surprises
and a wonderful life.

This week my church small group, which is going through my not-yet-published book Praying with the Psalmists, is covering Thanksgiving Psalms.

My whole point in the book is that we can use the patterns in Psalms to write our own psalms and pray our own prayers. I’ve got examples in the book. But if I’m going to be consistent, I should write another psalm with each chapter we cover. And I like doing that to build a habit.

But honestly? I don’t feel a lot like giving thanks right now.

Yesterday, I wrote a lament in honor of my six-year-old niece who has relapsed with leukemia. That news is weighing on my heart.

And today, I was going to finally tackle the big shelf in my closet that collapsed a week and a half ago and see if I could put it back up. But when I got out of bed, the tile floor in my bathroom was covered with water. Water was dripping steadily from a fire sprinkler head on the ceiling.

I live in a condo. I called and talked with several people. But the people in the condo above me didn’t see any signs of trouble, so the consensus is that I need to call a plumber and get the leak diagnosed. It may be my neighbor’s or the condo association’s responsibility to repair, but it’s leaking in my home and I need to get the work done.

So figuring all that out took most of my day, while the drips keep coming in a bucket in my bathroom at a rate of one every few seconds. I did find a plumber who’s open all weekend and will come tomorrow morning.

Then in the evening, I thought I’d finally take a look at that metal shelf that had fallen down. And when I stepped in the closet to lift it up — my foot got soaked. The carpet is soaking wet. (This closet shares a wall with my bathroom.) I think I can hear more dripping in the walls.

There are lots of good sides to it — I’d taken all my clothes out already. If the shelf hadn’t fallen, I might have never noticed that water. It’s only wet inside the closet, not in the rest of my bedroom. Now if they have to make a hole in the wall, I can have the same people who repair it also put the shelf back up.

But I am not in a happy mood!

All that said, before all this happened, I’d decided to write my thanksgiving psalm about my walk in the bluebells on Good Friday. And when I’m not in a mood to give thanks is probably a good time to remember the many reasons I have to give thanks.

A Thanksgiving Psalm has the basic form:

Call to Praise
“I Was in Trouble.”
“I Called.”
“The Lord Answered.”
Response of Praise

I’ll talk about my experience in the bluebells in the psalm. I’ll put a bluebell picture between each of the parts of the psalm.

Thanks Among the Bluebells

I give you thanks, Lord,
for you have been good to me.
You answered my prayers
and brought me so far.
You healed my heart
and filled me with joy.

The first time I visited the bluebells at Bull Run,
about fifteen years ago,
I’d heard about it in an employee newsletter,
and I went after a trip to my divorce lawyer.

I was so sad about the divorce,
and walking among flowers reminded me of my husband,
of the flowers at Keukenhof,
of hikes throughout Germany.
I told myself that now I was bothering no one
by stopping every few feet to take pictures.
I didn’t have to worry that what brought me joy
was boring anyone else.
I could simply enjoy the amazing beauty
wild and free, filling the woods.

But I still missed my husband
and felt so alone.

And my walk became a prayer walk
asking you, Lord, to help me,
to be with me.

I was still trying to pray my husband back at that time,
but I also wanted your guidance in the life ahead of me.
I had a new job at Fairfax County Public Library
(which was how I heard about the Bluebell Trail),
and I asked your help in paying my bills,
working as a librarian,
making a home for my youngest,
and somehow healing my heart.

I’d been with the lawyer,
asking for her help.
But among the bluebells, I was with you, Lord,
asking for your help.

And when I went back to the Bluebell Trail
this year on Good Friday,
it struck me how thoroughly you’ve answered those prayers
in fifteen years.

My heart is healed.
Now it’s easy to wander with joy
and the woods make me think
of other delightful rambles.
I remembered that first walk,
fresh from the lawyer,
and I thought what a different place
you’ve brought me to.

I’ve got my dream job,
feeling competent and capable as a librarian,
ordering children’s books
for the entire library system.

I’ve got a home I love,
surrounded by its own beauty of nature.
My bills have been paid
and my heavy debts lifted.

And life is so much more joyful
so much more hopeful
than it was on that walk fifteen years ago.

At that time I hoped for a joyful and vibrant life,
but then it was a request of faith
and now it’s acknowledging
where you’ve brought me.

While I was walking through the bluebells
“O Love,” a song from our Good Friday cantata,
was going through my head,
especially these lines:

“O Joy, O Joy, that seeks me through the pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee.
I trace the rainbow through the rain
and see the promise is not vain
that morn shall tearless be.”

So I praise you, Lord,
for your unfailing love,
and your wonderful deeds for humankind.
You brought me out of a place of deep emotional pain
and filled my heart with joy.

“Weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Thank you, Lord my God.
Thank you, Father.

You’re very welcome to post your own thanksgiving psalm in the comments! Tell about a time when you were in trouble, you asked the Lord for help, and the Lord answered. I have to say it really helped my mood.

My pandemic project was writing a book about Psalms, and now the main work of writing it is finished.

The book is about looking at the ten types of Psalms and using them as patterns for writing out own psalms.

If I eventually get the book published, I want to have a website where people can post their own psalms to share with others who have read the book.

For now, this blog post will have to do. People who have read the manuscript form of the book are encouraged to post their psalms in the comments.

And I’ll start it off by writing a simple prayer of thanks for my big life change of 2022, using parallelism.

Thanks for a Blessed Year

Lord, this year unexpectedly a dream came true,
I was surprised with a second chance at a job I’d long wanted.

I’d wanted the job ever since I found out it existed,
thought it would be cool for about 14 years.
Nine years ago, the job came open
and I watched every week for an announcement,
but it took a year before I could apply,
and weeks beyond that before interviews happened.

Then they put applicants through three interviews,
and I was only offered two.
I was so nervous with the in-person interview,
I got a dizzy spell.
It was another half a year before I found out my dream didn’t happen,
and with a young person in the job, I thought it never would.

I didn’t understand, but I made the best of it.
After all, in a branch, my job had more variety.
I liked my coworkers,
and I liked reading to kids.
I spent the time getting better at my job
and finding great joy in it.

Surely it was all for the best,
even though I couldn’t understand?

Then in March last year, I was sitting on an interview panel,
thinking how much better it is to ask the questions than answer,
thinking how much I loved my current job,
thinking how glad I was I’d never have to interview again.

A couple hours later, I learned that my dream job was coming open again,
as the young selector was moving to Utah.
In less than a blink of an eye,
I knew I’d be interviewing for the job,
the dream job I’d always wanted,
that I still wanted with all my heart.

I was afraid the interview would be scary.
I didn’t want another dizzy spell.
I found practice questions and thought through my answers.
I did two practice interviews with others
and countless practice interviews by myself.
The real interview happened about a month later.
(Only a month!)
It was virtual, and two of the three asking questions were already friends.
I got to tell them why this job is right for me.

And I got the job!
And yes, this is the right job for me at the right time.

Looking back, I’m happy about those nine years at Fairfax branch,
that I wouldn’t have had if things had gone how I wanted.

But there are so many things right about doing the job now,
with nine years more experience in the branches.

And Lord, this builds my trust
and fills my heart with joy.
You did grant me my heart’s desire,
at an even better time than when I first wanted it.

I’m amazed and thankful,
and simply going to work gives me joy.

Thank you for this blessing.
Thank you for a dream come true.

I’m working on a book about Psalms. It’s called Praying with the Psalmists and analyzes ten different types of Psalms in the Bible. Then the reader is challenged to use each of these types to write their own psalms and pray their own prayers. And I’m putting in memoir material as I go.

Several years ago, I wrote the example Thanksgiving psalm I was going to use and posted it in this blog. But now that I’m looking at it again, it gives away some events from my life that I wanted to put in the following chapter. So I need to write a new Thanksgiving psalm! Shouldn’t be hard, right? I mean, that’s the whole point of my book. Right?

The form of Thanksgiving Psalms is praise before and after a Deliverance Account. The Deliverance Account takes this form:

I was in trouble. I called. God intervened.

I want to do it about something recent, so I’m going to talk about when I left my former church in 2019, and how wonderfully God turned things out.

I left because my former church decided by an overwhelming majority to vote to include in their church constitution that it’s officially sinful to be LGBTQ. I strongly disagree with that policy and believe it’s falling into the sin of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned in Matthew 23 and makes a heavy load and places it on other people’s shoulders without lifting a finger to help them.

I was very sad to leave that church, however, because it was full of people I cared about and who cared about me.

And I would like them to read and use my book, so I will see if I can mention that I left without mentioning why.

I was also torn about my decision. Was I being judgmental of them for being too judgmental? But time has shown that it was a wonderful decision and I am tremendously happy in my new church. And now I feel like God didn’t just nudge me to where I needed to be — God dragged me there kicking and screaming. But I’m so happy to be there now!

So let’s put it in a psalm:

A Thanksgiving Psalm for a Church Home

I will thank you, Lord,
with all my heart.
You have answered my longings
and filled me with joy.
You have put new songs in my mouth
and given me new friends to sing them with.

I was sad and heartbroken,
destitute to leave my church family of years.
I had a point of disagreement
important to my convictions,
fundamentally about ministry,
and important to my family.
But how could I leave my home?
How could I take a different path
from the people who’d sustained me
through hard times and difficulties?

I called out to you, Lord.
I agonized and prayed.
I tried to find a different way.
I talked with the elders, the pastor, leaders.
But the more I talked
and the more I prayed,
the more I realized it was time for me
to look for a new church home.
I’d hoped you would lead me otherwise,
or intervene and eliminate the need.
But that’s not how things happened,
and it was time to visit another church,
one where I was a stranger
and didn’t know anyone,
with no one greeting me by name
or looking for me to catch up.

On my very first visit
an amazing coincidence gave me hints
I was in the right place.
Then someone told me I should join the choir,
starting back up at the end of the summer.

And in the choir,
I truly found my new family.
So many meaningful times in my life
had been singing to the Lord,
among choirs of fellow believers.
It was so good to be back!

Besides the choir,
more and more things showed
that you, Lord, brought me
to the right place for me.
There’d be a word in a sermon,
a song that hit the spot.
A small group during the pandemic
gave me new connections who cared.
Now every week, I lift my voice
in praise and wonder to the Lord.

You, Father, have your hand
always in my life.
You’ve brought me to where I belong
at this particular time,
and I praise you and thank you
for knowing what I need
so much better than I do.

Out of the time of pain
you, Lord, brought me where I needed to be.
And looking back, I can’t help but realize
that for anything less, I wouldn’t have gone.

Lord, I will truly praise you in the congregation,
in the assembly of the peoples.
I will sing your praises every week
along with my new family,
my brothers and sisters
all lifting our voices together in praise.