Thanksgiving

A friend once told me that if you thought of 10 reasons to be thankful everyday that could, actually, overcome depression.

I am thankful for many things and one thing is that I work for a truly international organisation. Mercy Ships HQ (known as the IOC = International Operations Centre), is in Texas, USA; but we have a Mercy Ships Global Association based in Switzerland which supports approximately 17 National Offices around the world. And on the ship we have around 400 crew usually representing 35-40 different countries. What a privilege to be part of such a community.

On board the ship, we deliberately don’t celebrate individual countries national holidays because with so many countries represented, we would be having a holiday virtually every week! Not good for business! However, this time of year (October / November) is in many countries and cultures associated with harvest and a time of thanksgiving. We are right now in the middle of the two different dates for Canadian and US Thanksgiving. And as a ship we have been reflecting on thanksgiving for a week. To acknowledge what we colloquially term ‘our ship family’  - that means our friends who become like family while we are away from our natural families, we have recently had a week of ‘FriendsGiving’. FriendsGiving is a new Mercy Ships term for thanksgiving. We have left notes on one another’s doors to tell them how thankful we are for them and their influence in our lives; we have had a wall poster in the café where we have written 1000 reasons to be thankful; we have simple had a week of being intentionally thankful.

So I couldn’t let this month’s blog slip by without telling all of you how thankful I am for each and everyone of you and the way you have impacted my life. From teachers who encouraged me at school; to medical bosses who inspired me as a junior doctor; to colleagues who continued to model leadership and courage in the workplace of the NHS. Parents who sacrificed and continue to serve me and this work I do now; family who have always been there for me; friends who support and encourage me and walk through the tough times;  church leaders and church family who pray and support me ,……the list is endless…..without all of you, I wouldn’t be who I am today and I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing serving the poor and needy and trying to empower the surgical workforce in Madagascar and beyond, to bring hope and transformation to their own health systems.

I have often said that I feel people support me in 3 main ways, professionally, emotionally / spiritually and financially. SO I am grateful to each of you in this season of thanksgiving and the ways you each support me. As a way of showing you how much we can do together, below are 3 slides of all that you have made possible ……so thank you from me and thank you from the many people here whose lives have been literally transformed. I hope you can find 10 reasons to be thankful today.

Reasons to be thankful - training:

Reasons to be thankful - patient encounters: