Thanksgiving Essays
This site annually hosts essay contests in November/December entitled "Why I am personally grateful to God." The essay was to be written including reasons why the author was grateful to God and how He has helped him in his life. Entries were selected on the basis of how they gave glory to God.
| 2001 Essay |
| No Entry Received |
| 2000 Essay |
| There is one real reason I am grateful to God. It is that
I am able to sit here today and type this. My answer is very simple
here. The basic fact that I am able to convey my emotions, and that I
have emotions which I can share is a miracle in itself. Before, when I
was doubting God and Christianity, I had no direction, no reason. Now I
do. I know that everything that happens to me, good or bad, has meaning.
Through my mistakes and talents, pain and happiness, I have learned more
about myself and the world than I ever would have without God. Without
God, nothing kept me from being unfaithful, nothing moved me. Without
God, I became very apathetic and undriven. Now, I am criticized for my
beliefs. I attend school in the engineering department of a university
and few of the students are religious. Often I have a hard time
justifying myself to these people. This has only makes me stronger,
because I am logical myself yet I still have strong faith and emotion
when it comes to my religion. To turn around an individual like myself,
God deserves praise. God deserves praise for allowing me the ability to
convey my beliefs through science. God gave us the ability to find the
truth, to answer questions. God gave us wonderful emotions all for free.
My understanding of God has not only made me more faithful but a better
person in general. But this understanding is only possible by God!
Without God, nothing is possible, but with God, so much is possible, and
I have witnessed this first hand by accepting Christ simply by my own
investigation and questioning, not by force from parents, etc.
Adam |
| 1999 Essay |
| I am personally grateful to God, because I was uncertain in
the path that I had chosen in life. Just under a year ago, I tried to
commit suicide; However, I was unsuccessful, even though I had very high
and dangerous levels of poison in my body. I took this as a sign from God
to change my ways and better myself. A second chance if you will. I'm am
very grateful for this "second chance" that he has given me. I
have used it in a productive way, I went on to graduate high school with
my class, and I am now attending college and maintaining a 3.33 GPA as a
true freshman with 17 credits, while being an active member of the track
and field team. I have become an active member of a local Christian church
that is here near my college campus. I am serving God in any way that I
can through my newly found church, and I feel that he has shown me my true
friends, and how I would have hurt them if I would have accomplished my
horrendous act. Every morning I wake up grateful that I am alive and well,
thanks to God and the second chance that he has given to me.
Joe |
Reflections
We are what we think.
- 07/29/2014 02:52 AM
How Can Christians Ease Suffering? Part 2: The Need for Well Wishes
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. — C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, 15. My historic Christian faith and worldview teach me that God has good reasons for allowing evil, pain, and suffering in the … Continue reading
() - 07/25/2014 02:17 AM
Quote of the Week: Kenneth Samples
I like my eschatology the way I like my fireworks—safe and sane. — Kenneth Samples, “Lecture on End Times”
() - 07/22/2014 02:57 AM
How Can Christians Ease Suffering? Part 1: Reestablishing Security
One of the most important roles of a spiritual community is to give hope for the hurting. — Dr. Ken Jung, “Giving Hope for the Hurting”1 Why would a good and all-powerful God allow evil and suffering to exist in … Continue reading
() - 07/18/2014 02:16 AM
Quote of the Week: Augustine
Therefore do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe that thou mayest understand. — Augustine, Tract. Ev Jo 29.6, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. Philip Schaff (Peabody, MS: 1995), 184.
() - 07/15/2014 02:32 AM
What I Did on Summer Vacation
Our family has started a new tradition: end-of-the-school-year blowouts. A few weeks ago we left on the first day of summer vacation for the Grand Canyon. None of us had ever seen this natural wonder so we were all very … Continue reading
() - 07/11/2014 07:13 PM
Quote of the Week: Anglican Statement of Faith
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or … Continue reading
() - 07/08/2014 02:20 AM
A Review of Dinesh D’Souza’s “America”
Over the Fourth of July holiday my family and I saw America, a new documentary from Dinesh D’Souza. The film, which sparked a lot of discussion among the members of my family, suggests that there are two basic views of … Continue reading
() - 07/04/2014 02:53 AM
Quote of the Week: John R. and Susan G. Josephson
Abduction is inference to the best explanation, a pattern of reasoning that occurs in such diverse places as medical diagnosis, scientific theory formation, accident investigation, language understanding, and jury deliberation. — John R. and Susan G. Josephson, Abductive Inference (New … Continue reading
() - 07/01/2014 12:17 PM
How to Choose a History Book
I make no secret about my love for my country and its history. If you hang around Reflections long enough, you’ll see me address topics like World War II (in which my father fought) and the JFK assassination. But history … Continue reading
() - 06/27/2014 02:51 AM
Quote of the Week: Alister McGrath
God is always with us, a gracious and consoling presence on the journey of life, even as we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” — Alister E. McGrath, Surprised by Meaning (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 2011), … Continue reading
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http://godandscience.org/doctrine/thanksessays.html
Last updated November 25, 2001
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