“But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. So don’t worry in advance about how to answer the charges against you, for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you! Even those closest to you—your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends—will betray you. They will even kill some of you. And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But not a hair of your head will perish! By standing firm, you will win your souls.

Luke 21:12-19

Dear God, several months ago, Andy Stanley preached a sermon I loved called, “Not in it to Win It.”

It helped put words to what I was feeling and what. You were showing me through these times of prayer. You are not dedicated to the success of the United States. You are not dedicated to my success. You are dedicated to the world. You will gladly lose a battle to win the war. You will choose the loss of being crucified for the victory of saving my soul. You will allow hundreds of years of Hebrews being enslaved in order to form the Israelite nation. Why would I assume that you wouldn’t sacrifice me for a greater purpose? I just pray that I am ready to accept my fate should that day come

As I sit here on Thanksgiving morning, there is so much for which I’m grateful. I can think of friends and family who died this year and wonder what life would be like today if they were here. I have a friend who lost her dad last night. And her husband and one of her sons cannot be with her because they are with her husband’s ailing father in another state. While you don’t promise us every victory in battle, you do promise us that the war is yours and you will be there to comfort us in the losses. I know a man who died from COVID-19 last week. I know our hospital had someone die from it on Tuesday. These families are experiencing loss. They lost their battles. Please comfort them as they continue on fighting for you. Help them to be stronger and closer to you as a result of these struggles. Don’t let this pain be wasted. Make it count.

Father, I really am grateful. There are some things in my life that confuse me, and I’m not sure if they are the way you want them or not. There are broken and dysfunctional relationships. I don’t like it, but maybe you are using this for your purposes. It feels like the battles are being lost–and maybe they are–but I trust you that if I keep simply pursuing you day by day you will eventually work all things out for my good (whether I live to see it or not). So thank you for every single circumstance in my life–the many good and the few bad.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen