Are you feeling thankful today? This is the time of year when Christians encourage each other to express gratitude for the blessings in our lives, particularly the ones we often take for granted—for loved ones, for health, for supportive communities.

But what if you aren’t feeling especially grateful for those usual things right now? Maybe over the course of this year, some of those things you’d usually be thankful for—health, family, relationships, financial security—have been damaged or eroded away. Perhaps divorce, a lost job, the death of a loved one, or a medical scare have taken away one or more of those pillars.

Perhaps we can find answers by rethinking what, exactly, we’re grateful for.

I’ve always been intrigued by the thanksgiving prayer of Hannah, a woman in the Old Testament who finally gave birth to a son after years of being mocked for being unable to do so. The Bible records the prayer of joyous thanksgiving she offered up to God after the birth of her long-awaited son.

If I, like Hannah, had just received the one thing I truly wanted, my prayer of thanks to God would be entirely focused on that one thing, and my gratitude for it. But Hannah’s prayer scarcely mentions what you might think would be her main reason for gratitude. Here’s her prayer in its entirety:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

“There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

“Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.

“The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.

“The Lord brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
on them he has set the world.
He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;
those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.” — 1 Samuel 2:1-10 (NIV)

Hannah is certainly grateful for her newborn son, and there’s a short (but non-specific) reference to a “barren woman” in the middle of this prayer. But the rest of her prayer is simply praising God for being who He is. She’s grateful to God for the specific blessing He’s given to her, but more than that, she’s simply grateful that she serves a God who can impart blessings like that.

Hannah serves a God who loves the poor, the weak, the humble—the underdogs. Like us, she doesn’t know what her life holds in store—whether she’ll find poverty or wealth, victory or defeat. But she trusts the God who grants and withholds those blessings, and she knows He has her best interests at heart.

So this Thanksgiving, if you’re struggling to feel grateful for a year that has brought pain and difficulty, you can still give thanks to God for being who He is: a God who’s on your side and whose plans will be accomplished no matter what life brings. And on the other hand, if you find yourself surrounded by blessings this holiday season, take a moment to consider whether your thankfulness is based just on those material blessings, or whether your gratitude is rooted in the unchangingly good nature of God. Whatever you’ve experienced this year, you are loved by this God—and have a reason to give thanks.

Image: “Hannah Giving Her Son Samuel to the Priest,” by Jan Victors, 1645.