My very favorite Thanksgiving Hymn is Thanks to God, by a Swedish man, August Ludvig Storm. He trusted Christ as Saviour when a young man through a Salvation Army Meeting. He wrote this hymn for a Salvation Army publication, “The War Cry,” on December 5, 1891. As a middle-aged man, he suffered a back problem leaving him crippled for the remainder of his life. Yet he persevered in serving the Lord through the Salvation Army until his death. And each line can bring to mind particular times in our lives, good and bad, and remind us to Thank God for each one.
Here are the words:
Thanks to God!
(1) Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a memory,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and dreary fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!
(2) Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace the none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond conpare!
(3) Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks thru all eternity!