Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5)
And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20)
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Ok, confession time again. I am going to let you all in on a little secret. I am a closet Veggie Tales movie watcher. They are so entertaining with catchy little songs and teach practical Bible truths in a fresh way. I often find myself chuckling out loud. If you have never watched one I invite you to check them out. Although they are made for kids they are quite clever. So the other day I got to have my niece and nephew (4 & 2) over to “play” and we pulled out the Veggie Tales Tuba Warrior, a story about Gideon, and while I was sitting playing dolls and cars on the basement floor watching the movie I was struck by a prayer from Gideon. This was Gideon’s prayer, just before going into battle.

“Hey God, it’s me. You and I both know I can’t do this on my own, but you can, and that’s good enough for me. I pray you’ll be with us tonight and your will be done. That’s it I guess. Oh, one more thing. You could have chosen anyone but you choose me. Thanks. Amen”

A simple little prayer offered up by a cucumber resonated so deeply that I found myself days later still thinking about it. This little clip made me realize how thankful I am that God chose me. He chose my path, He chose my struggles, He chose my disease, specifically for me. All of these things have shaped and molded me into the person I am today. He has realigned my will, my thoughts, and my desires, all the while holding my heart in his hand to keep it from breaking in to an irreparable mess. It sounds crazy even to my own ears, thankful for a disease?! But the changes that God has engineered through it, in myself and in my family, are something to be thankful for.

God, you could have chosen anyone, but you chose me. Thank you!
Today, I pray that you can live in gratitude as well. No matter what your circumstances.

PS – In case your curiosity has gotten the best of you and you want to see the clip of Veggie Tales with Gideon’s prayer here it is. It is about 7 min long and comes from the end of the movie. There is also a great exchange between Gideon and an angel about how hard it can be to trust God
sometimes when what He is asking us to do doesn’t make sense. Like I said, they are full of great truths!