Giving Thanks

Yesterday I had my first Thanksgiving dinner. There was a Thanksgiving banquet at my church here in Seoul and me and my small group were helping out with the event. As I walked into the church I was immediately struck by how beautiful the decorations were and how many people I was told were coming! They were hoping to feed about 500 people and all of the food was donated by the American base. While listening to the orchestra practice, I just knew this evening was going to be one to remember.

 My small group proceeded to a room where about 40 people gathered, myself included, to pray for this event. There were people praying aloud or to themselves about all different things; for things to go smoothly serving 500 people, for everyone to feel God’s love through this time of fellowship, and most of all for everyone to leave with grateful hearts for all that the Lord provides. It was so moving, so encouraging, so fantastic to be a part of such a powerful moment at my church. It was one of those moments that you know God is looking down and smiling at the genuine hearts he was watching.

After this, we proceeded to our seats and waited for our turn to begin ushering. We were second shift and so we chatted and watched the loads of people pour into the church room to find a seat. Finally it was our time to help so we grabbed a nametag and looked for people to assist to find seats. By this time, most of the people who were coming had already arrived, so we ended up with very little to do. But because of this we were able to enjoy praise and worship which soon began. A few of us who had gathered in the back of the room sang along to the songs which were all about how great God’s love is, and how we are so grateful for all he does. It was so powerful seeing a group of people so eager to feed themselves physically but also spiritually. The pastor asked us to hold hands while we prayed, so I grabbed the hands of two of my small group members, and we all prayed together. In this huge room with almost 500 people, we were all interlocked praying to the Lord. Powerful. We continued to hold hands while we sang another song about God’s love and I just couldn’t help but get choked up by the power of it all. It was so meaningful to be there and I truly felt so blessed to be able to take part in that moment.

 

Of course, the food was delicious! We had all the usual players; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, bread rolls, and pumpkin pie! We all ate at our table, laughed and joked about how full we were, but the food is not what will stick with me from this night of giving thanks. The love that was in that room is what I will remember. God’s love, from wall to wall. He is the one I give thanks to during this holiday, and every day.