{"id":1352,"date":"2015-04-13T22:19:10","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T02:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=1352"},"modified":"2025-08-20T13:46:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T17:46:28","slug":"thanksgiving-psalm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=1352","title":{"rendered":"Thanksgiving Psalm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blossom\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In my last post, I looked at the form of the Lament in the Psalms \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the most common form used in the Psalms. I posted an example I wrote a year ago.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I thought it was time I wrote another personal Psalm. However, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in the mood for a lament. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been trying to remember the bright side of being single lately, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been succeeding. In fact, writing out the lament itself brought me to a happier place.<\/p>\n

So instead, I decided to write a Thanksgiving Psalm. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d focus on the wonderful home that I feel was a gift from God.<\/p>\n

Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the form of a Thanksgiving Psalm:<\/p>\n

I. Introduction<\/p>\n

I will exalt you, O Lord,
\nfor you lifted me out of the depths
\nand did not let my enemies gloat over me.
\n— Psalm 30:1<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

II. Call to Praise<\/p>\n

Let the redeemed of the Lord say this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c
\nthose he gathered from the lands,
\nfrom east and west, from north and south.
\n— Psalm 107:2-3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

III. Account
\n A. Crisis in Retrospect<\/p>\n

The cords of death entangled me,
\nthe anguish of the grave came upon me;
\nI was overcome by trouble and sorrow.
\n— Psalm 116:3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

B. Deliverance
\n 1. I called.<\/p>\n

Then I called on the name of the Lord:
\n\t\u00e2\u20ac\u0153O Lord, save me!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n — Psalm 116:4<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. You heard and you intervened.<\/p>\n

You turned my wailing into dancing;
\n\tyou removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
\n –Psalm 30:11<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

IV. Praise<\/p>\n

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
\nand his wonderful deeds for men.
\nLet them exalt him in the assembly of the people
\nand praise him in the council of the elders.
\n— Psalm 107:31-32<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the basic form.<\/p>\n

My challenge is this: Try using this form, along with parallelism. (Repeat yourself!)<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lovely way to remind yourself what God has done.<\/p>\n

Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I wrote yesterday morning. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not eloquent \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just an example of how you can use this form to recount something God has done for you.<\/p>\n

God is good.
\nIt is always worth it to seek Him.<\/p>\n

Praise the Lord for his kindness;
\npraise Him for noticing our needs and longings.
\nNotice the Lord\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s compassion,
\nfor He notices us.<\/p>\n

I was abandoned and alone,
\nin debt after divorce,
\na single mom with an empty nest,
\npouring money into rent,
\nwith a guest room that was never used,
\nwith furniture for a family I used to have.<\/p>\n

I asked the Lord if I should look for a home to buy,
\nor look elsewhere for a job?
\nShould I stay where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d healed after my divorce
\nor look further afield for something new?<\/p>\n

He answered to enlarge the place of my tent
\nand spread my tent curtains wide.<\/p>\n

I thought I found a home\u00e2\u20ac\u201d
\nfarther from my church than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d wanted,
\nbut surely the best I could afford?
\nIt didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a view,
\nbut couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t being nice inside make up for that?
\nThen it fell through, after inspections were done.
\nI had to start all over again.<\/p>\n

Then I saw this place, and looked out on a lake.
\nThe first place kept me busy
\nwhile waiting for the gift you had for me.<\/p>\n

And every day I look out on my lake
\nand my soul is soothed.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m near my church family,
\nand the whole church helped me move.
\nNow a Small Group meets in my home,
\nand I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had more visitors than my last two homes combined.
\nWalking by my lake
\nrestored my health after my stroke.
\nThe birds and ever-changing plant growth
\nconstantly speak of your loving care.<\/p>\n

Father, I thank You for giving me the disappointment
\nthat led to the perfect timing of the home you had for me.
\nThank You for knowing what I needed in my life
\nfor this time.
\nThank You for giving me much more than I asked for
\nand always dealing with me with love.
\nThank You for the egrets and the great blue heron,
\nthe robins, blue jays, woodpeckers, and cardinals.
\nThank You for the enticement to walk
\nand the soothing lap of the lake.
\nThank You for Spring blossoms,
\nSummer growth,
\nAutumn splendor,
\nand Winter whiteness.
\nThank You that Your gifts never run out
\nand You are good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last post, I looked at the form of the Lament in the Psalms \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the most common form used in the Psalms. I posted an example I wrote a year ago. Yesterday, I thought it was time I wrote another personal Psalm. However, I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in the mood for a lament. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,4,34,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contentment","category-devotional-thoughts","category-gods-love","category-thanksgiving-psalms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14231,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions\/14231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}