A fifty-ton female humpback whale swam into a web of crab lines off the coast of California, trapping her in a tangled mess. Hundreds of feet of line and hundreds of pounds of traps wrapped around her body as she struggled to stay afloat. Four divers came to her rescue, swimming under her belly. For an hour, they cut rope—dangerous work since one flap of her tail could have killed them. After they freed her, rather than immediately escaping, she swam to and gently nudged each diver. “It felt to me like she was thanking us,” one rescuer said.

Whether or not whales are able to express gratitude, being thankful is truly an important part of being human. It’s vital for our life with God. Many of us thank Him for larger blessings (the birth of a child or healing from a disease). However, Paul tells us to offer gratitude for every gift we receive, for every bit of goodness we encounter. We’re to be “always giving thanks to God,” the apostle writes (Ephesians 5:20). Not sometimes. Not only for exceptional moments. Always. And to make sure he’s made his point, Paul adds a bit more. “[Make] the most over every opportunity“ and give thanks “for everything,” he says (vv. 16, 20).

Genuine gratitude is more than an occasional word we offer; it’s the posture of our lives. Gratitude turns us to God over and again, always giving thanks in celebration.

Jay owned a Gideon’s Bible, yet his analytical mind didn’t permit him to accept its miracles. One thing haunted him though: the genuine faith of his friend. So Jay offered a strange prayer. He told God, “If you want me to believe in You, then do something I can’t explain.”

One day, something drew Jay to look for his Bible. It was gone. How could that be? He never lost track of things.

He drove in the rain to his teaching job at the University of Zurich. Stepping out of his car, he spotted a Gideon’s Bible on the wet pavement. That’s strange, he thought. Picking it up, he noticed the Bible was totally dry despite the rain. Something he couldn’t explain!

Gideon Bibles are named for an Old Testament hero of Israel. When God chose Gideon to lead Israel into battle against a vast army, Gideon had huge doubts. He told God, “I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece . . . , then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand” (Judges 6:37). God answered Gideon’s challenge not once but twice (vv. 39–40).

Doubt-filled prayers aren’t a pattern for us to follow. They can, however, reveal God’s character. Gideon led a tiny army to a smashing victory (Judges 7). Jay put his faith in Jesus, recognizing that his prayer had been answered by a loving God who does things we can’t explain.

Daniel was born into a Romanian orphanage. For seven years, he only left his crib to go to the bathroom. When he turned eight, a family from another country adopted him. They knew about attachment disorders—that Daniel could have difficulty attaching to them as his parents. Slowly, Daniel started to trust them. Over time, though, he began to rage to the point his parents hired a bodyguard to protect them from Daniel’s outbursts. They decided on a controversial therapy: for the next five years they were never away from Daniel even if he had a meltdown. On his thirteenth birthday Daniel broke down and for the first time told his parents he loved them very much. His mother summarized the experience: “Creating love is not for the soft and sentimental. Love is a battlefield.”

We’re all born knowing that something or someone is missing. Like Daniel, we have an attachment disorder. But God “so loved the world” so much that he took drastic action—“he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16), meeting us on earth’s battlefield in what we call the incarnation. “Light has come into the world” (v. 19).

God took drastic measures to demonstrate His great love for the world. For you. His strong, determined Father-heart beats to hear from us the words Daniel’s parents finally heard: “I love you very much.”