Several years ago, my Thanksgiving was marked by the unspeakable grief of losing a parent. Many of you have walked through that same deep ache, and you understand how loss can settle over a holiday with the tender ache of remembrance. Each year, as Thanksgiving approaches, I feel a familiar mix of longing and heaviness — a somber reminder of that season of pain.

I keep this little story by Donna Kersey titled “Thankful for the Thorns,” tucked away for this occassion, and it gently reminds me that God never leaves me in the midst of the thorny seasons of my life… no matter how painful they may be.

My prayer is that you will draw encouragement and strength from this study.
You can read Donna’s full story at the link below before moving into the reflective questions.

Take a moment to pause and reflect on your past year.

Looking at Your Own “Thorn Bouquet”

If you were to “arrange” the last year of your life, what would it look like?

a. A bouquet full of beauty?
b. A mixture of roses and thorns?
c. Or mostly thorny stems, where the blooms feel painfully absent?

The Thorn Teaches Dependence

We don’t depend on God most deeply in the seasons where all the roses are blooming and our bouquet is beautifully evident.
We learn dependence in the seasons where the stems feel bare, and we’re left holding what looks like an “unfinished arrangement.”

Read 2 Cornthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
— 2 Corinthians 12:9

a. What did Paul learn? If the thorn remains and if God remains, what is the outcome?

b. What does this show you about your own “thorns”?

God’s Power Fills the Empty Spaces

But God tells Paul:

“My power is made perfect in weakness.”

In other words, God says…
I fill the emptiness, the things you are missing, the weaknesses that you have…I sustain you by my power.

Where the roses are missing, God’s power blooms.
Where the heart feels hollowed out and empty, He plants sustaining strength. A bouquet with thorns draws attention to what is not there — the blooms we hoped for, prayed for, wanted to see.

a. Take a moment to reflect on something that is presently weighing you down. Something that you consider to be a thorn in your life.

b. How can you find God’s strength in this weakness, this thorn? Will you allow Him to be your sustaining power today?

Your thorn bouquet may look bare, unfinished or even painful to hold. But it is in those very places that God will meet you and show Himself strong. It is not about pretending the thorns do not hurt, but in realizing that God never wastes them in your life or in mine when we allow Him to be our strength. He is faithful.

This Thanksgiving, be thankful… yes, for even the thorns.