As this season of Thanksgiving approaches, I reflect over the past couple of months. There have been life changing changes in my life. The hard kind of changes. Changes that we only understand to be the mystery of God. Yet I know of His unending grace and I know I must live thankful.
God asks us to give thanks in all circumstances. Always and for everything. Not just when it is easy to accept the good… but also the bad. Giving thanks always and in everything is the only way to live through anything that comes before us.
Through it all He is there. God is there. He has always been there and He will always be there.
Thanksgiving is so much more than a holiday. It is not about the things; it is about Him. We give thanks because of Who He is.
And as our family gathers around a table filled with love and all of our life changes, we will be thanking Him for all. Embracing being thankful in all.
I would love to share these tags with you to use on your Thanksgiving table. You can click on each of the three images {free 4.5″ x 2.5″ PDF printables} and you will be able to download them, to then print and use in your own home. Personal use only, please.
I printed the tags on plain white card stock, then cut them out and cut along the two horizontal lines. Using a brown ink pad, I rubbed the ink around the sides of the cutout tag, letting some of the ink just come over the top edge. This gives the tags a nice finished look and also hides the stark white edge.
I used some dried pods I found outside to slide through the two cuts. You can use a variety of things for this like flowers, dried grasses, branches, wheat would be beautiful too! You also can simply turn these into place settings by just adding the name in the center!
I would love for you to join me in being thankful in all, good and bad, by sharing in the comments!
As a way to extend a bit of my gratitude for this amazing community that gathers, shares, encourages and loves here, I would like to offer a special discount to my art shop. My shop is filled with art meant to reflect Him back to the world! You can do some early Christmas shopping or treat yourself to something special. Just use the code ‘thankful’ at checkout for 20% off your order! Discount good today through November 20th.
Created just for you, by Jennifer at StudioJRU.
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Jennifer,
God calls us to be thankful, not because He needs the thanks, but because He knows that it is truly good for us. It is hard to be miserable while giving thanks. Thanksgiving and giving God praise can override whatever state we may happen to be in at the time. Just another example of how God’s heart is truly loving toward us. Thank you for a reminder of God’s goodness and for the free printables…I will use them on my Thanksgiving table 🙂 I will enjoy browsing in your shop!
Blessings,
Bev
You make such a great point… it is hard to be miserable while giving thanks. That is so true, Bev. It is a life changer. Happy you will be able to use the printables at your Thanksgiving table! Happy Thanksgiving!
Thankfulness comes so hard for me. Leading my children in that path….yeah, needles and camels. I come here and God reinforces what he’s spoken into my heart and for that, thankfulness comes easier! Thank you.
Beautiful to hear how He reinforces what He speaks to your heart, Marcy!
I love your thankful heart, Jennifer. Hugs to you.
Thank you, Renee!! Happy Thanksgiving!
Im thankful to come here and read the stories of God showing up in your lives. Which means I can wait, hes coming to mine soon. I wont have to cry forever. For a glimpse of hope Im thankful.
He is there, Ty, He is there! Praying He dries your tears and you feel that Great Hope!
I love your printable thanksgiving tags. They’re beautiful.
I’m thankful for challenges that are causing me to grow and stretching me lately! Life would be boring if everything were easy.
Thank you, Betsy! What a great way to look at challenges in our life!
Jennifer,
This is wonderful reflection.I have so much to be thankful for. I try to find something each day to look up and say “thank-you.” It doesn’t have to be extravagant, it could be the simplest thing but to me one is not less important.
I am thankful for this place of sharing, inspiration, love and support .
Many thanks,
Penny
Yes… even the simplest things are not less important to be grateful for! Thankful you are part of this place of love!
May every day be a day of Thanks-Giving, no matter the circumstance or condition, as God promises this to shall pass…where to you .at ask? Why the past of course! Happy day, glorious happy day to you all. Smile it may be the only Son-Shine someone sees today. Shalom. Gods heart to mine, to yours. 🙂
Beautifully said, Deborah! Thanks so much for sharing your grateful heart with us!
You’ve pinpointed a measure of our maturity, Jennifer: How thankful are we during the challenge of change? We can begin by expressing gratitude to God for His unending grace and presence that will see us through. Your tags are beautiful reminders — not just for Thanksgiving!
Yes… knowing He will see us through makes all the difference during those challenging times!
These are beautiful and great reminders of THANKFULNESS. I lave so much to thank GOD for–my family, my friends, my health, my needs HE gives me daily, our freedom to worship , my blessings, and sending JESUS to die on that Old Rugges Cross for my sins. Thank you for sharing this gift of Thanks-giving. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful list of thanks with us! Happy Thanksgiving!
Jennifer,
Your art is so inspiring! I love it. I am so grateful to God for showing me Him each and every day. Even through my husbands bout with cancer, God showed us – me, grace. Mostly in the form of my sick husband who weathered his illness so artfully. God’s grace flowed through my husband during that time and God used it to bring me back to him almost daily. It helped me realize how much I needed God for pretty much every breath I take, but also for how much He lavished is love on me.
What an extraordinary example of His grace. Beautiful, Lisa, so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing!
Life can get you down so easily with daily struggles. I have a thankful journal that I began a few years ago. I wrote out everything big or small that I was thankful for. Then each day I add in what I’m thankful for that day. It puts life into perspective.
I make Thanksgiving to God a daily routine. My prayers start with thanksgiving for all the good he’s given me. Where would we all be without the love, grace and mercy of our God?
It really does give you a wonderful perspective on life, doesn’t it… the thankfulness for big and small. A beautiful gift.
You don’t know how you have blessed me! I have been struggling with injustices to my daughter and grandchildren in shenanigans pulled by my son-in-law and his lawyer in their recent divorce. Deceptions, manipulations, alterations to agreed- upon issues…I’ve been angry.
But your tags finally got through to me: in everything, in this circumstance, GIVE THANKS. For these very things, for the daily stressors and do-withouts, give thanks, because somehow God, our God of surpassing love, wisdom, and power has promised to work even this together for the good of conforming my daughter and each of her children to the image of their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So yes, Lord, I thank You. I release to You the resentment I claimed to be fighting (while I really rehearsed and nursed it), and I praise You for Your grace to me, and pray for Your grace to touch those who turned their backs on You by their deliberate choices. Be Merciful to them, and give them the GIFT of repentance…as You just gave it to ME, the sinner.
I am just so happy to hear that, Carol! So happy to hear you won’t have to struggle with all that anger and instead you are give thanks to Him. Only through grace. What a beautiful gift!
hello there!
i love this post oh so much. I just turned 21 years old before my first fall semester at a real university (i was previously at a college). During my last moments of being 20, i was incredibly happy, i had all things figured out with my feature career and i was (finally) in love with my best friend and my relationship with Jesus was finally growing. I felt this sense of moving forward with my life when i heard the Holy Spirit say “when you turn 21, everything will change. i am doing a really big thing. be ready.” And just like that. Friends where dropping like flys, previous leadership roles where taken, family changed, my first love fell through…i felt so alone. so angry and hurt over why everything was taken from me.
BUT GOD..was patient with me. He let me work through my flesh and end up at the end of me so i could see all of Him. Now i type this thankful for the real moments, the raw moments, the little moments, the waiting moments, the redeeming moments, and the moments where you know that despite of all your failings..He still calls you lovely.
So…in conclusion i want to thank (in)courage blog posts that have always guided me towards the Father, the Healer, the Truth, and the Redeemer. Without y’all it would be a much more difficult road to the next chapter.
With thankfulness,
Mandy.
To come through it all being thankful for those moments… a beautiful thing, Mandy. The road is much easier with Him by our side, isn’t it?! Thank you for sharing with us the grace you have received. Thankful for you.
O thank you very very much. I love it.
I give thanks to the LORD for a very mixed season where I have been able to learn to be strong in Christ JESUS. Where in the very midst of the storm, in the quiet still still place, I found utter communion with Christ our LORD in complete adoration of who HE is. And survived.
In this season of mixture, I grew ever stronger in Christ and became victorious in every battle against my fears and worries and hurts and pains. I learnt to rise above the storm and take authority over it and found my calling as a warrior I was called, in a higher calling. I thank the LORD for my best friend who prayed and taught me and helped me through this part of my twelve year season and I pray we will be blessed to learn more from our LORD JESUS who is the Christ and plunge HIS sword into battle ever, as we grow closer to see HIM Face to face, this is the CHRIST, Messiah, before HIS return.
Thank you so much for sharing with us, Karyn. “In this season of mixture, I grew ever stronger in Christ”… this is so beautifully said!