Now try your hand at writing your own poem about how a pair or trio very different things would perceive of a blessing or, alternatively, how these very different things would think of something else (luck, grief, happiness, etc).
I wondered what scripture to use to begin this public thanksgiving for answered prayer and then this chorus came to mind and lifted my spirit –
Praise Him, Praise Him;
Praise Him in the morning,
Praise Him in the evening;
Praise Him, Praise Him;
Praise Him when the sun goes down.
image of snowdrops in a snowy ground – representing the hope of Spring and the hope of Jesus, who thaws our cold hearts and brings new life.
I thank my God for answering my prayers in the following ways during January:
For beginning the New Year with S and for restoring trust and closeness.
For courage to do the drive back from W. in the night and courage to learn and fix the problem with the expansion tank.
For finding a good pair of shoes for J.
For a wonderful holiday time of ?J being back at home with us.
That I got to see L this visit.
For a good first meet up with D.
For our first team meet up as leaders of small groups.
That I could finally return and upload to his computer all the digitalised slides I did for D.
For healing M.
For Your promise to our Home-Group – that You will ‘restore and more in 24’.
For fixing and restoring C’s car.
For an amazing, transformative, bonding first weekend of the new EH school.
For my precious group of wonderful individuals and for blessing me with grace to love and meet them where they are.
For all the bitter roots You continue to demolish from Suzie.
For keeping S focused on You during this tragedy and grief.
For a lovely sleepover weekend of 21/22nd Jan.
For the re-connections You inspired with family and friends.
That C is improving, healing and sober.
That R and I were able to go and retrieve all of his childhood memories from childhood home and that he coped well with it.
That C had a great week of exams – for the amazing progress and grace on him.
That J has begun to write his thesis and for the grace on his life and future too.
For the blessed opportunity to call and pray with S.
For opportunities to bless others.
For strengthening and growing S in her faith walk.
I thank my God for answering my prayers in the following ways during February:
For privilege of praying over and seeing You heal K’s hip.
For privilege of doing prayer ministry with H and S and for it making sense in joining the dots and axing some of those idols and bitter roots.
For inspiration to make calls and contacts.
For a good visit with C and family and for Your healing touch and hope.
For 2 successful house clearing days for R and us all; and for all the help to do it.
For a good few days with K as our guest.
For inspiration and favour to me to fix the floor under the shower.
For the blessings of friends.
For bringing D to church again and blessing her again.
For our group’s ministry to this month’s seekers – to the amazing transformations You do!
For another great sleepover with grandchildren.
That I succeeded in putting up some pictures at last.
That You organised transport for me to get the dresser home and for kind E, who helped me do what I couldn’t do alone.
That S was more productive and motivated since Your ministry.
For R and the people You bring into the shop for us to love and bless and for the privilege of seeing You move in their lives.
For the powerfully bonding 3 days of fasting in our church.
For a lovely evening with E and A and family.
Lord, as always I also thank You for answering all the daily prayers for protection and inspiration, wisdom and guidance and for all the blessings for which I may have neglected to give You full praise.
Psalm 32
When a great flood of trouble comes rushing in it will not reach them.
You are my hiding place; You will save me from trouble.
I sing aloud of Your salvation because You protect me.
You teach me, instruct and advise me
and protect me by Your constant love.
I shout for joy, am glad and rejoice.
I wonder if I should go back to writing these praise and thanksgiving reports on a monthly basis? What do you think, beloved reader friends?
The word respite took me straight to a specific time and place in my life – that of the blessing of occasional respite care for my mother.
Let me explain:
Mammy had early-onset Alzheimers. She received her diagnosis in her early 50s and was already just turned 60 when we moved her in to live with us.
It was a momentous undertaking for all of us – for mum to leave her beloved Orkney Island home; for my husband and children to have this needy stranger suddenly living with them; and for me, to become a full-time carer for a mother that I felt had rejected me.
It was a sacrifice and a privilege that I am grateful to have accepted.
However, as anyone who has been a carer knows, one needs to be super-careful not to overdo it!!! When one is looking after another 24/7, one tends to forget to look after oneself.
I was caring for my mother, but still had to attend to my husband and 2 young teenagers! There was little energy enough for them, so self-care was neglected.
This is when I discovered the benefits of respite care.
Respite care means taking a break from caring, while the person you care for is looked after by someone else. It lets you take time out to look after yourself and helps stop you becoming exhausted and run down.
The dictionary describes it as RESPITE: ‘a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant’. But I describe those breaks from caring as necessary breathing spaces for sanity to resume, for me to see my children and myself uninterrupted; time to go away for a few days together and do the sorts of things we used to take for granted, like camping, hill-walking, or meals out, without constant risk-assessment and stress.
Of course the word comes from ‘respire’, which means ‘to breathe’. It also has an archaic meaning which is equally relevant here – ‘to recover hope, courage, or strength after a time of difficulty’.
Jesus invited me to take frequent respite with Him.
He invited me to come to Him, casting off my cares and leaving them in His care; resting in His loving embrace; resting in His Peace. He knows that when I do this I too will recover hope, courage and strength in my daily experiences and battles.
He invites all of His children to come to Him and receive His peace and that turbo-charge that we often so desperately need!
Respite care at that time of being a full-time carer, was a real God-send for me. For Mammy it was mixed; sometimes she would be delighted to meet people and equally delighted simply to see us come to fetch her home again, whence she immediately forgot where she had been; at other times she would spend the time away feeling abandoned and grumpy.
But for my sanity and ability to care – and therefore ultimately for Mammy’s well-being too, we used respite care whenever we could afford to just take a break by ourselves.
We would resume caring refreshed and appreciative of Mammy and of each other.
I’m almost amazed to see how many entries there are in my ‘thanksgiving for answered prayer’ log! Yet why am I amazed?
My Lord is the God of surprises!
I also can’t help but look over the year as a whole with such gratitude – but that might have to be a separate post!
‘When human-beings give thanks to God, something at the heart of the universe comes back into proper shape’ … ‘when lots of people are praying for something and God then grants it, the thanksgiving is increased’. (Tom Wright)
As always in this post, I want to give thanks publicly to God, for all the specific answers to prayers that I recognised over the months of November and December, acknowledging His care shown to me in these details of life which are important to me.
I give glory to God for His care and compassion.
Specifically I give thanks for –
– for healing S’s ankle and back in response to prayer,
– that C is now dismissed from nephropathy clinic,
– for the vision, time and strength to mend and decorate the guest room, in time for Christmas guests.
– for re-establishing the cosy home-group at our house and for the growth in love and relationship,
– For the dedication of ‘Re Church’.
– for your inspiration and courage to reach out to D and others with Your heart.
– for protecting and blessing J in Xiamen,
– for clearly showing me the new season You are leading me into
– for the powerful start to the ministry with Suzie
– for the enforced rest and for causing the infection to leave, in the name of Jesus,
– for the honour of being asked to lead the small group,
– for reassuring L about her feet issue,
– for enabling baby W to thrive,
– for N’s successful surgery and for finally allowing him home,
– for keeping T on board in the ministry
– for finding the key for us!
– for the new glasses
– for teaching me and preparing my heart for the last days,
– for a successful and fun staff Christmas meal
– for the opportunity to bless S and me with the wonderful ‘Messiah’ performance
– for a successful and warm church-family Christmas meal
– for the bus at just the right time in the snow
– for teaching me lessons through my frustration and anger at the bad customer service and for resolving the whole problem,
– for the new cooker and installation in time for Christmas guests,
– for the opportunity to re-watch all the EH videos,
– for a lovely night out at C’s and a real strengthening of love,
– for my ‘conversation’ with R&P
– that I can be a ‘trunk’
– for continuing to demolish the power and roots of bitter judgments in my life
– that S’s motivation and productivity has increased
– that D was able to visit and stay
– For a wonderful opportunity to get to know L, W, and many others over the Christmas holiday celebrations – that I was able to successfully host them all and make them welcome in Your love and grace.
– that J & L came to and were blessed at the Carol concert
– that J, C, L and W all came to the Christmas mass and You spoke to them.
– that the hopping and cooking was all a success
– that the grand-children had 2 great sleep-overs
– that I could borrow K’s scanner again and was able to re-scan over 500 of my old film negatives and over 500 slides for my dear friends.
– for all the little promptings throughout each day – reminders, ideas, thoughts and words of encouragement – spirit nudges that bless Your children. Thank You!
One of the blessings of publicly acknowledging the answers to prayer in my own life, is that you may be encouraged and your own faith strengthened.
If God has answered my little and big prayers, He will surely answer yours too!!
Can I encourage you in 2024 to write down your prayer requests – the ‘big’ requests and the smaller things that maybe you think is insignificant to God – and regularly look over what you have prayed for and are continuing to pray for… don’t give up praying for those who need a touch from God. When a prayer is answered, acknowledge it, celebrate, give thanks and write it down.
Always give thanks and always keep praying.
Philippians 4: 4 – 7
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
And verses 8 – 9
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Thanksgiving for answered prayer in September and October 2023
There is always so much to be grateful for!!!
These bi-monthly posts are specifically thanksgiving for answered prayers during the two previous months.
I pray about so many things and one day in February 2021, I heard in my heart – ‘Why do you not come back to say thank you when I answer your prayers?’
Luke 17:
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?”
Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
So this is what I do – publicly – to give all the praise and thanks to God, who is faithful and good.
As prayers are answered, I log them in my thanksgiving book.
So, for September I specifically give thanks:
For enabling me to successfully restore the garden furniture
For 2 extra work-days in lieu of days off for the course next month.
For grace to strengthen relationships at work
For finally a chance to clear and clean the dining room
That the children were happy to return to school
That Chatterbox’s first day back brought in old and new families and carers
That I finished reading and reviewing ‘Unashamed’ in time for my blog slot.
For S coming to our church and being blessed
That the boys all had a great camping trip together
That S and I had a relaxing Sunday and time to talk.
For L & A finding a good flat in the right location
That J arrived safely back in Vienna and has a place to stay
That the refunds were both successful
That the statement needed finally arrived in time
For a lovely, easy reunion at J & P’s
That M&D continue to open their home for our home-group and that we started back with joy
For safe delivery of D’s granddaughter
For the amazing gift of prayer ministry to break long-standing, deep bitter roots
For inspiration and time to sort the kids’ clothes
That S managed to finally commission the boiler and got home safely
For a fun charity concert evening with S and many from church
That R, S and D and family now come to church
For letting me pray for, and for you healing T’s toe.
For my new volunteer and all the old faithful ones
For allowing me to think your thoughts after you
For the gift of dreams and for speaking to me in them
For the new pound rail
For new directorship and energy in the shop
For sending me K to lend me the scanner to copy old negatives and inspiring me to buy my own
For a lovely day out with kids to see C’s art exhibition at the university
For courage to pray for healing for M
For the improvement in C’s condition
Blessed be God forever!!!
And thanksgiving for specific answer prayers in October:
For inspiration, time and energy to let me help Gs to downsize
For giving Gs a bungalow so quickly!
That S fixed the downstairs loo and commissioned the heating in time for visitors
That I now have heating in my room!
For ideas, time and energy to make improvements on house and garden, do some plastering and to prepare fuel for winter.
For inspiration to speak up and effect change
For increased footfall already in this first week!
That C came with me to the EH seminars and for working in us both
That sharing dreams has enabled honesty and communication with D and S
For directly answering my question about overtly Christian messages – Matt 11
That S and I had a positive and productive week together in London and I managed to complete all the goals I had set.
For inspiration in London to make nice things and to meet up with P in Hanwell
For the honour of being asked to consider leading small groups in January
For inspiration and resources to make a lovely birthday weekend and sleepover for C and the kids
For showing me how to give a mother’s blessing
For blessed days of rest
For healing S’s ankle
For speaking into S’s heart and shifting her focus to blessings and what she can do to improve her life.
Blessed be God forever!
Thank you so much for your continued inspiration, presence and constant faithfulness to all who seek you with a sincere heart.
enjoying a birthday celebration together
‘In ordinary life we hardly realise that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.’ – Dietrich Bonhoefer
I especially want to thank my loving God and Father for all of the specific answered prayers that I have noticed and noted down during July and August this year.
As always, I’m quite sure that there are hundreds of other daily divine interventions in answer to my prayers of guidance and protection for myself and for all of my loved ones!
In July I thank Him specifically:
that our church building is now physically a ‘light on the hill’
for the energy, leadership and life in the newly merged church
that I was able to borrow ‘loppers’ to trim down the eucalyptus and 2 bay trees
that I created a guest room space in time for guests arriving!
That I unpacked most of everything and it feels like home
that I have been a blessing already to S
that P had a good visit here
that Josh arrived here safely for the Summer break
that S and J made good progress in B Road
that preschool, although having to close, were able to celebrate at church for patrons of 36 years service in the community.
For healing K’s eyes, strengthening her faith and blessing her heart and family
for blessing our Youth, Ablaze and Little Sparks
for all the memories reignited whilst sorting all my lifetime of photos!
For all my chats and time with Josh and all his friends now appearing again at the house
that S and D are living happily alongside one another again
that I could coordinate and book a holiday for 5 of us to Orkney
And my thanks for specific answered prayer for August:
that I’ve had time to clear the front garden and paths
that I now have wall lights and shelves
for speaking to me through ‘Unashamed’ book that I’m reviewing
for the joy of reading Susan’s ‘Return to Caesarea’ book
for the people You introduce me to at work and all the divine encounters there – especially D and E.
for a lovely evening out at Kayal with J, C, J and V.
for the August break from duties and extra time for family and garden
for your favour, grace, protection and presence on the whole journey – trains and boats – to and from Orkney and our wonderful family holiday there.
That I’ve been able to clear and ‘chip’ all the garden rubbish from the patio
for the new storage solution for DVDs
For the miracles You are doing in church, at home and in me!
For this rich, blessed life of adventure, mercy and Your great LOVE
For the HOPE you give to Your children
all of us together at the Stones of Stenness
And I thank the Holy Spirit that every time I come to write a blog, He gives me grace and words to write and always some reader is inspired.
I thank God for you, my readers too. ❤
Don’t forget to go and thank God for all of the prayers He has answered this week for you.
Thanksgiving for answered prayer in Dec 22 and for the whole year!
A beloved friend sent this quote in her Christmas greetings to me:
Nicht die Glücklichen sind dankbar. Es sind die Dankbaren die glücklich sind.
Sir Francis Bacon
It is not the happy/blessed who are grateful. It is the grateful who are blessed/happy.
Sir Francis Bacon
This is so very true. May we live our lives in gratitude every day, because His mercies are new every morning, and He loves us with an everlasting love!
Our God desires that we share our lives, our love, our hearts, minds and bodies with Him and that we go to Him in trust with ALL our concerns and desires.
When we do this, He rewards us with great joy.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Matthew 6:6
And I shall praise Him openly again today, and give all the glory to Him, who hears our prayers.
Though I am already singing praise and thanks for a blissful day and for prayers answered this week, now it is time for me to also look back on God’s faithful answers to prayer over December.
For December 2022, I thank my Father God for:
The privilege of giving financial Christmas gifts to the charities most on my heart.
For orchestrating my appointment to sort out the few medical issues I needed to understand, and for healing me Yourself, with no disruptions.
That J. was strong enough to make the best of circumstances and to head for new pastures where he was well received and blessed. For the lovely family who welcomed him.
For the blessing of one day-a-week working in a pre-school this half-term – for the lovely team and children.
For the birth of a new healthy grandson.
For the birth of M. & P.’s new baby and the family reconciled.
That the staff meal at Punch-Bowl was a success.
That 4 friends accepted the invite to come to our carol service.
That I was blessed to meet the B. family and S. at the reunion.
That on separate occasions, H. and J. both agreed to engage in prayer ministry with me for the work of healing you were doing in me.
For the miraculous transformation in sowing and reaping immediately visible afterwards!
That S. made good progress to get the room empty and order the insulation boards, which all arrived in good time.
For a great Christmas send-off at Chatterbox.
For the privilege of helping M. and the ability to get it all done in good time.
For the inspiration and strength to persevere, decorate, give, and to go the extra mile.
For Your gift of great JOY!
For a glorious family Christmas – of gatherings of family and friends, sleepovers and fun with the grandchildren and loved ones.
That You provided for me to give appropriate gifts and to provide good food and supplies for all the guests.
For new volunteers at the shop.
That I was able to attend M. and M.’s funerals.
Lord, throughout 2022, every month You amaze me with Your faithful provision and Your faithful answers to prayers.
When I look back over 2022, I see only blessings and favour.
Truly, goodness and mercy will follow Your children all the days of our lives.
No matter what circumstances the world may confront us with, Your children rest in perfect peace!
To all my beloved readers – to you – I pray the blessing of Almighty God over you and your loved ones, over your hopes and your dreams for 2023.
Know that He is Emmanuel for you this year and He is the lover of your soul.
I’m sorry for being late in giving my hearty thanks for all of the blessings and answered prayer acknowledged in November.
It is my honour to give glory to God by telling of His goodness and faithfulness, both in the large and small details and concerns of our every-day life.
For November I give thanks in particular for:
For a great party with family and friends and lots of interactions and fun.
For reminding me to live in the moment and embrace fully the life that I have.
For helping me to minister your love to C.
For a special day remembering my baptism of 38 blessed years ago.
For healing and turning around my relationships with L. and E. over these weeks.
For all those mobilised women at ‘The Orchard’ and for showing me Your heart for the injustice of systematic spiritual attack against ‘woman’.
For a powerful and honouring send-off and thanksgiving for Your daughter, T.
For giving E. a new home and for a swift move and transition.
For P. and D. coming as guests during the month and for fun, days out and quality time together.
For an easy, painless trip to the dentist!
That the Christmas staff booking and order is all complete and sorted.
For orchestrating many necessary agent visits and getting the boiler fixed – and that meanwhile, S. had spare heaters to lend me.
For another blessed Ablaze lesson.
That there have been applicants at last for the vacancy in the pre-school.
That C. has recovered well and is home again.
That I managed to re-watch and make notes on all 27 course videos through the 2 months.
That S. has made good progress in the room and cleared it out.
For beginning to teach me to recognise your voice.
For the lovely Christian nurse I saw at the surgery and Your presence for us to encourage each other.
For the privilege of doing some prayer ministry with C. and Your blessing in that.
For the encouragement of Holy Spirit in our second joint service.
That S. and J. were both in church!
For the blessings of reconciliation and tangible growth in S. and their team.
That A.B. is well enough to return back to phased-back-to-work.
That A’s count is back up high enough for chemo to no longer be necessary.
For a whole, peaceful day to myself.
That 8 guests persevered right to the end of the Alpha Course and that You worked in every heart and life there.
When we look with gratitude, we see the creation in all it’s glory. I often take photos of the sky, but that wasn’t my photo – I don’t know who took it, but it is stunning!
How many blessings can you count this week, or even today?
Do you write down specific prayers and remember to look back and give thanks for the ones that your faithful God has answered?
As the daylight hours lengthen, the trees bloom and flowers burst out, my heart sings, refreshed and delighted:
Blessed be God forever.
I praise Father God for His unfathomable love, that He would want to save a wretch like me!
Thank you for calling me, choosing me and equipping me, and this precious reader, with quality seeds to sow and for all the subsequent growth, blossom, fruit and the harvest in our lives.
Blessed be God forever.
I thank God specifically today for all the fruit and answers to prayer during April.
That S achieved grade As and has blossomed during her time in the school.
That S finally wrote his article.
For all the families blessed by the 2 weeks of lunch-club over Easter and for all the amazing volunteers. For your faithful provision for this.
For the opportunity to bless 3 special people and to celebrate their birthdays with them.
For the creative ideas for the Sunday School lessons and great tasks to do with my own grandchildren too.
For the beautiful liturgy of the Easter Triduum, the opportunity to enter into it all and the rich revelations and blessings that came from it.
For my new Saturday volunteer.
For opportunities to bless specific S, E and J with a cuppa and a welcome in the shop.
For sorting out the upcoming weekend that I was unaware needed fixing.
For introducing me to new bloggers through the FMF community.
For other opportunities to grow relationships and connections with the beautiful people you have put in my life – for each one of them, family, friends and passing acquaintances – I am truly so gratefully delighted.
Thank you that I can bring their prayer requests to you and you answer those prayers.
Blessed be God forever.
For saving H in the accident, for sending the right people to get the van out of the ditch and for him still not missing the ferry!!
Thank you for S and those others who have said they will come to the banquet.
Thank you for leading me to the right counseling course and for opening that door and a place becoming available.
For providing for this.
That my presentation event was not cancelled, but went ahead and was successful.
For all your help preparing the material and for giving me Your peace, so that I could deliver the material.
Thank you that I even sold 2 paper copies of the book and made some lovely connections at the centre.
Lord, I am so grateful to You that I no longer feel the need to run away and hide – from You or from anybody.
For Psalm 139 and all the truths therein.
Thank you for Your faithfulness to me and Your great patience and mercy every day of my life.
That You know me better than I know myself and yet You still love me.
That You are my HOPE and my Healing.
Blessed be God forever.
Lord, I thank You for answering each of those specific and general prayers. Let me never take You for granted or forget all that You do for each one of us – that You care for those that we care about.
dawnfanshawe 