Thankfulness in 2023
It’s become a tradition in our family to count and share our thankful items from the past year on Thanksgiving. One evening during that week, the whole family gathers to browse all the photos and videos on my iPhone from the past year, casting them on the TV screen. We each jot down moments or events that we’re grateful for. After two hours, each of us has accumulated twenty to thirty grateful items. Life is so busy, and our hearts often get filled with the world’s cares, making it easy to forget the grace we’ve experienced from God. We need this intentional reflection and counting. In the following days, we organize our grateful items. Finally, on Thanksgiving evening, after praise and prayer, we take turns standing up to read our list.
I think this kind of counting of God’s grace is very good.
Later, I joined a gratitude gathering with some close friends. They didn’t record God’s graces in daily life as meticulously as our family does. It was more of an impromptu reflection, yet their reflections moved me. They reviewed how God changed them in the past year, or what hardships they faced and how God showed grace in those times. I realized that daily gratitude reflection is just one aspect. We also need to deeply meditate on and review how God has changed us as individuals—focusing more on the heart, not just external circumstances. Additionally, when writing these grateful notes into articles to share, we need to reflect on and guard against the motives, as it’s easy to subtly shift from counting God’s graces to boasting and showing off. May God help us.
Thank God for the peace, joy, and hope He has given me. In the past year, I’ve had some not-so-small issues with my body, like constant ringing in my right ear all day and my vision starting to blur (after a check-up, it’s early signs of presbyopia), plus a noticeable decline in physical strength and energy; in short, I feel my “body is gradually deteriorating.” Besides my physical health, my 40-year-old mind also wrestles with many struggles and unrest. Questions and pursuits about the direction and value of life, the emptiness and confusion from doubts about life’s meaning (even though I’m a Christian), and the identity issue of being far from home (an occasional but persistent issue) and so on… I wonder how I’d face these issues without God, without God’s word and promises. So I’m thankful to God. When I bring these problems into prayer and meditation, peace, joy, and hope flow from inside. Even though many times I don’t specifically pray about these issues, just turning to God and reading some of His word brings comfort.
Thank God for His love, faithfulness, and never-changing love. In some way, I know well how great, dirty, and filthy my sins are because weak as I am, even while indulged in sinful pleasures, I still feel the pain of being bound by sin and the inner struggle between the desires of the flesh and the Holy Spirit. Thank God for His love. He loves a rebellious, repeatedly sinful person like me anyway. I have been born again and saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, and every time I sin again, it hurts God the Father, yet this Father, His love never changes, He continuously shows me mercy and grace, forgives me, and grants me the relief and freedom of forgiveness. (Often, when I am about to get angry because my kids repeatedly don’t change or don’t improve noticeably, the Holy Spirit often reminds me how the loving God treats a rebellious child like me. I feel ashamed, and the gentle, humble, and merciful spirit from God gradually quenches my anger.)
Thank God for preserving and guiding my relationship with Him. I’m far from what I consider the standard of a devout Christian. I’m not trying to legalistically set my own “devout standard,” but I do feel indebted to God because of my lack of pursuit of Him, my lack of love for Him, my lack of thirst for God’s word, and lack of love for people. Thank God for keeping my relationship with Him. I often feel like that younger son who leaves the father, indulged in the world, but God often brings me back to His embrace, sometimes through the Holy Spirit’s inner reminders, through reading the Bible, or being moved by hearing Scripture, sometimes through people or circumstances.
Thank God for preserving my marriage. In 2023, several friends around me, both Christian and non-Christian, experienced various problems and challenges in their marriages, such as cold wars, indifferent relationships, warning signs, divorces, and so on. Objectively speaking, my own marriage is currently running normally and plainly. But even there, potential problems and crises exist. Christians believe that marriage is instituted by God. Marriage holds many meanings for people. I think one very important meaning is to be laid bare in front of one’s partner and let them be a mirror reflecting one’s sins, the ugliness and selfishness in one’s humanity, the injuries/lacks experienced through growth. A failed marriage stems from failing to handle or avoid these issues. A marriage is still running normally, but these problems still exist, requiring vigilance from both spouses. Genesis 2:24-25 describes the state of a blissful marriage: the two will become one flesh, Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Simply put, marriage should be about physical and mental compatibility, openness without privacy or concealment between spouses. This is the state I aspire for my marriage. In marriage, everyone hopes to be loved, understood, and accepted, but at the same time, without God, no one has the capacity to love, understand, or accept. Thank God for preserving my marriage.
Thank God for keeping our family relationships. In our little family of four, four sinners together, the relationships between husband and wife, parent and child, sibling relationships, there’s laughter, tears, hurt, and healing. Thank God for keeping us.
Thank God for providing for all our family needs. The Bible says that if we have food and clothing, we will be content. Clearly, what we have exceeds this level. Thank God for His provision. But I often worry, get greedy, love the world, and put my sense of security in money. May the Lord help me to worship God, not money.
Thank God for providing the current educational resources for our kids (school/sports activities). When we were in Shanghai, the kids’ education was quite unstable, requiring a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Pudong to Songjiang, making four round trips a day. Now, all educational activities are about a 10-minute drive one way. Thank God.
Thank God for shepherding our family through the R4C Chinese church. There are differences between churches in China and the US, and I am still adapting. Moreover, my slow-to-warm-up, cautious, conservative personality makes the adaptation process slower. Thank you R4C Church. Over the past year, even though I have not gained much from listening to sermons — being honest, there are issues on my part — the love and enthusiasm for evangelism from the pastor and pastor’s wife, as well as the love from brothers and sisters in the church, have shepherded me well on another level.
Thank God for our gatherings at Story Church. Before the 11:45 R4C Chinese Church services, we try to attend the 9:00 Story Church English services. I really enjoy worshiping God with people from different ethnicities. God is not just the God of the Chinese. But staying in a monocultural environment for too long makes it hard to equate Jesus with Jesus. I also enjoy the worship at Story Church, with its simple instruments — guitar and hand drum — and somewhat traditional hymns, often immersing in worship with everyone, and often being moved by the lyrics sung.
Thank God for the enthusiastic strangers who allowed Linda to get timely treatment for her acute allergy. Whenever family and friends ask me what American people are like, I always mention this. One evening, our daughter Linda went into a semi-comatose state due to an acute allergy. A stranger mom left her own child, invited several other stranger dads to lift my daughter into the car, and then this mom led the way driving, taking my wife and daughter to the hospital. Thank God, and thank these kind-hearted strangers.
Thank God for protecting Aaron’s eye from harm. While tidying up the yard, I tied a rope around a post without considering it was at the height of my son’s head. Even though I reminded him not to run around, he forgot. It was really just a hair’s breadth between his eye and the potential for irrevocable harm. Just thinking about it is chilling. Thank God for protecting him. When his scar healed, I took a photo as a reminder of God’s protection, so we ungrateful people don’t forget or deny God’s grace in the future.
Thank God for the timely treatment of Linda’s toe injury with a needle. I once shared with family and friends how God provides for our family’s needs, and it seems as Christians we enjoy many benefits. But we also face dangers and crises. Our daughter’s foot stepped on a sewing needle left in the carpet, which broke in two after puncturing the flesh. Thank God for His protection. Before getting an X-ray, I correctly identified her symptoms and promptly went to the hospital instead of following a friend’s well-intentioned advice to monitor at home. Also, thank God for hearing our prayers and preparing medical resources so that a surgery originally scheduled for a week later was moved up to the next day. Not to mention, while going between multiple hospitals, it was indeed exhausting and stressful. Thank God for granting us inner peace.
Thank God for leading me to a Christian event in New York this May. Christians from different ethnic backgrounds shared their diverse ministry stories (serving campuses, prisons, shelters, etc.), which were very inspirational and encouraging. An old Black brother in Christ served the homeless and said that compared to their traditional ministries, working in internet technology actually gives one a superhero-like power, like Iron Man’s superpowers, so it’s worth using well.
Thank God for leading me to outdoor hiking in Colorado in June. Seven or eight Christian brothers, leaving their cities, work, and families, ventured into the remote, cellphone-signal-free, even electricity-free Colorado wilderness. During the day, we hiked and sometimes encountered rain and hail; at night, we shared our life stories around the campfire — about faith, marriage, career, etc. The most wonderful part was spending the last half-day alone on an open grassy field surrounded by a forest, reflecting on God’s creation and salvation.
Thank God for caring for us through Jason & Elizabeth’s family. They’re a couple from Story Church who warmly care for an immigrant Chinese family like ours.
Thank God for leading us to the retirement retreat in Thailand in July and meeting up with close friends in Christ along the way.
Thank God for giving us our third child. Thank you for ensuring everything during the pregnancy went smoothly and for the smooth birth of our daughter Esther. It seems that every time we move to a new city, a new child is born. 2010, 2014, 2023 — three kids were born in Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Los Angeles, respectively. This time, I had the opportunity to be present in the delivery room to welcome the newborn instantly. When the doctor placed the child, still connected to the mother’s womb, in front of me, I was overwhelmed, awed by God’s great creation.
Thank God for caring for us through Mr. and Mrs. Song. These elderly folks often drive dozens of kilometers to visit us, always saying not to worry because they only plan to stay for ten minutes, just to chat and pray with us.
Thank God for leading my daughter Linda to be baptized. This is a significant step in her life. All praise and glory to God. May the Lord nurture her faith, guard her heart, and help her to walk in God’s path all her life.
Thank God for guiding me to participate in the Trium Group’s gospel activities at Covenant Church. Through the evangelism training and practice I received from R4C Church, I gradually realized how vital and precious Christian faith is to people’s lives. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.
Thank God for protecting me and my son Anran as we returned to China in late December and gathered with friends from Shanghai church. A year’s time brought many changes, incidents, growth, challenges, and stories. Gathering with everyone again in the familiar atmosphere was as moving as ever.
Thank God for keeping our short meeting with Grandma safe. The arrangements were very rushed, and after just a few hours together, we quickly left. Seeing Grandma reluctant to part made me feel a sense of loss.
Thank God for leading me to a house church gathering in Changsha. The last time I was at this church was in 2018. Meeting Brother Zheng after five years didn’t feel strange at all. On Sunday morning, seeing Brother Zheng welcoming the elderly from afar with a smile on his face was truly filled with Christ’s glory and joy. Attending two meetings allowed me to meet the pastor there, and surprisingly we had mutual friends. Among Christian brothers, even when communicating for the first time, there are no barriers because we are in the Lord together. I am very moved by the church’s display of enthusiasm for the Lord, even amidst challenges, strengthening its strength. Chinese churches in America and China have different situations, each with its own crises and challenges. May the Lord help me play my role in the American church well and exert my strength.
Thank God for guiding me to preach the gospel to my parents, brother, and sister-in-law. Previously, my faith couldn’t go beyond provincial boundaries. In Shanghai, I’m a Christian; every time I return to Changsha, I become a non-believer, unable to live out my faith and ashamed to mention it, let alone share the gospel with my family. Thank God, I’ve changed. This time, while interacting with my family, I tried to seize conversations to share the gospel message with them. On the night before leaving, I stayed in my parents’ room, seriously sharing a relatively complete account of the gospel of Christ with them. However, my parents still weren’t ready to accept it. I believe God will lead and prepare. Finally, I proposed a blessing prayer for my parents. They were slightly embarrassed but did not object. So, I prayed a blessing over them.