3 Ways Giving Thanks Can Heal Our Hearts

By the time Thanksgiving rolls around each year, the daily grind of the school year has worn us down.

The pressure to craft a perfect holiday season is rising by the minute. Our bodies are tired from adjusting to the time change and fending off cold-weather viruses. The calendar is overflowing, but our supply of energy and motivation is running dry.

At a time like this, we’re more likely to worry and complain than to “count our blessings, name them one by one.”

And if we’re honest, by year’s end we all carry our own personal burden of disappointment.

Maybe January’s promise of a promotion or raise never came through. Or, despite counseling appointments and self-help books, your marriage still stands on shaky ground. Perhaps your prodigal child is more distant and self-destructive than ever. Or the doctors have run out of tests and treatments to alleviate your pain. Hope, faith, and patience are wearing thin after months of desperate prayer.

Does this Thanksgiving holiday feel like salt in your wounds?

When your cup is empty, it may feel like anything in the world would be easier than trying to practice the gratitude this holiday celebrates. But perhaps, if we look past the feasts and football games, we’ll find that giving thanks is God’s path to healing our hearts in this season.

Let’s take a moment to discover the encouragement tucked away in Luke 17 in the scriptures. It reads:

As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”

These men had every reason to cry out for mercy. They were suffering, destitute, and isolated by the contagion of their terminal disease. Their bodies—and their hope—were wasting away. Then, a single encounter with Jesus brought the healing they were dreaming of.

But while ten were made physically well, only one was healed through and through.

Like those in Luke 17, do you long for mercy in your pain? Are you feeling burned out, defeated, or alone? Have you achieved a goal you wanted, but you still feel empty inside? Are you just going through the motions in your relationships and your faith?

If so, you may be longing to receive relief from the weight you’re carrying. But what if the solution you seek is found not in receiving, but in the act of giving? Here are three ways that giving thanks can heal our hearts today:

1. Giving thanks heals our self-sufficiency

Giving thanks is a holy admission that, apart from Jesus, our hands are empty. It declares that God is God and we are not. Giving thanks says, I cannot not meet my needs, but you can.

At the core of our thanks to God is the truth that He is our Source.

Gratitude knows that our success is from God’s hand since He gives us skills and talents, and opens each door of opportunity. It knows that failure and trouble are never wasted, because God uses it all to mature our faith and put His faithful love on display. Our kids might struggle with grades or decisions, faith or mental health, but God keeps them in arm’s reach of our love and the work of the Spirit in their lives. Because of God, we are secure. We find purpose. We have all we need to live as His children in this world.

In Luke 17, the grateful man recognized Jesus as the only One who could restore him to wholeness. In the same way, giving thanks casts our self-sufficiency to the ground and restores our humble posture of dependence on the loving kindness of God.

2. Giving thanks heals our priorities

We all know the heartache of separation from loved ones. Of broken dreams and plans put on hold. Of feeling like the full, meaningful life we crave is on the other side of a chasm too wide to cross. When Christ healed the men in Luke 17, their soul-crushing wait was finally over. Sweet reunions, purposeful work, and life in community could be theirs once more.

Yet while each of those blessings is good and right, the grateful one chose something even better. Instead of running to pick up his life where it had left off, he ran to worship at Jesus’ feet. He proclaimed the greatness of God instead of the goodness of his circumstances. Before he enjoyed long-lost people and places, he savored the presence of his Savior. His absolute priority was making God’s name great.

Is God’s glory the aim of our lives today? Do we want Him more than anything else? Let’s choose to pause and rest from the tasks, people, and goals that tug at our attention. Let’s pray and worship our Lord for calling us out of the darkness and into His wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). And as we give thanks, let’s discover the joy and freedom that are found when He takes first place in our hearts.

3. Giving thanks heals our identity

Each of the men who Jesus healed had been named with love at their birth. Yet by this point in their lives, their true names were blotted out by labels from the village where they marked their days. Jew. Samaritan. Leper. Beggar. Outcast. Threat. They needed a Savior to restore their identities and make them them once more.

Perhaps you, too, feel labeled by your role or problems or past. When you look in the mirror, you see Useless or Unwanted. Failure or Broken. Frightened and Alone. You’ve lost touch with who you are as the beloved, redeemed child of the Most High God.

The grateful one didn’t just run to Jesus to give thanks. In his thanksgiving, he ran to enjoy relationship with his Savior. His gratitude poured out of faith that could say, “I am his and he is mine.” Each time we praise God for His goodness, our confident peace in our identity as His son or daughter is restored.

This Thanksgiving, let’s worship at the feet of Jesus. Let’s praise God for helping us, loving us, and calling us His own. And may our gratitude lead us to a place of strength and hope as we celebrate all He’s done.

Lord, every good thing in my life is a gift from your hand. Each success is a sign of your favor. Each struggle is part of your good work to show your grace and make me new. I never have to face a moment on my own since you never let me go. In your love, I am well.

Restore a humble spirit that trusts and depends on you for everything. Transform the affections of my heart so I love you fully and pursue you with all that I am. Tell me again and again who I am as your child. Let me know you as my Healer and the One who makes me new. May I live a life of praise and thanks forever! Amen.

Questions to consider:

What struggle is challenging a grateful spirit in your life right now?
Which needs the most healing today: your self-sufficiency, your priorities, or your identity?
What is one way that God has shown His kindness to you this week?
What name label might you be placing on yourself today? How might you see yourself or your situation differently if your name was “Loved by God”?

Here are a few extra resources I’ve gathered for you. My hope is that they help you make the most of your Thanksgiving holiday this year: