Deborah and Lyle Thorpe adapted this prayer of thanksgiving and praise from Scripture and Ruth Myers’ book, 31 Days of Praise, Multnomah Books, 1994. Deborah and her husband prayed this prayer often during her extended terminal illness. Deborah passed away on December 27, 1999 from a rare neurologic disease, striato-nigral degeneration, SND.
Thank You, my gracious and sovereign God, that You have been with me and carried me from the day of my birth until today… That You have known my whole life from beginning to end, since before I was born. Thank You that You wrote in Your book all the days that You ordained for me before one of them came to be.
Thank You that in Your gracious plan to bless and use me, You have allowed me to go through hard times and extended trials. How glad I am that You are so good at reaching down and making something beautiful out of even the worst situations.
Thank You that I can safely commit my situation to You. How safe it is for me to trust Your reasons for acting or not acting and Your methods of working. I am so grateful that my circumstances are permitted by You to make me see my need of You and prepare my heart for You… to draw me to Yourself, and to work out Your good purposes for my life.
Thank You that my difficulty is an opportunity to see You work and that in Your time You will bring me out to a place of abundance. Thank You that I can be still, I can cease striving, I can let go, I can relax and know that You are God. Thank You that You are in control and that I can restfully depend on You and absorb Your strength and joy and peace. How thankful I am that my momentary troubles are producing for me an eternal glory, that far outweighs them all, as I keep my eyes focused on You.
All my days had Your touch of love and wisdom, whether or not I can yet fully see it. So I rest in the fact that You have me in this place, for this day, and I praise You that You will faithfully guide me to just where You want me to be, as I seek to do Your will. Lord, I choose to look beyond my present troubles in this life – this temporary life – and fix my eyes on the unseen things that will last forever.
How my soul delights to hide in the secret of Your presence, to take refuge in the shadow of Your wings, to eat at Your table and to drink my fill of the river of Your delights. How blessed I am, my King and my God, for You have chosen me, and brought me near, to live in Your presence, to behold Your delightfulness and to seek Your counsel. To think that You desire my fellowship, that it gives You satisfaction and joy and pleasure and to think that I will dwell in Your house forever. It is almost too much for me to understand. Thank You my Lord and my God. Amen.
This prayer first appeared in Theology Matters, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan/Feb 2001).
