20 Beautiful Thanksgiving Prayers for Family

Thank you for faithfully loving people. 

I give you thanks for family—those relatives by blood, adoption, and friends that find me when I am alone. You’ve gifted and given talents to each member circling me. You know the plans you have for them and me, and they are good. You thought of us before time began, making preparation for our final communion. And it is good. Praise you, Lord.

Thank you for faithfully loving my family. 

I give you thanks for fathers and mothers. Bless mine and those around the world today. For any who are struggling, may they be strong in you and in your mighty power. May they trust in you and lean not on their own understanding, acknowledging you in all their ways. Thank you that you promise to make straight paths. And for the mothers and fathers who don’t know your salvation, Lord, I pray they hear your voice and accept your saving grace through Jesus today or sometime soon.

Thank you for creating fathers and mothers, for faithfully loving them.  

Thank you for creating and gifting mine. I give you thanks for brothers and sisters, for threading them together in the manner you have, Lord. May they live long in the land, being fruitful in your spirit. May love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control burst from their life. If they are not born again, I pray now for their salvation. May they know the assurance of heaven through Christ. May they give their life to you.

Thank you for placing brothers and sisters—biological, spiritual, and friends who are like family—in my life. 

Thank you for faithfully loving them the way you do.

Thank you for grandparents, for faithfully loving them in a way only you can. 

I give you thanks for the grandparents in our lives. Thank you for the godly legacy they plow, the beautiful memories they sew, and any prayers they planted in the past or now. Father, whether middle-aged or older, may they be led by you, and especially in the later years of life. May they know well that you, God, so loved the world that you gave your one and only son for them.

I give you thanks for extended family members.

Lord, you have created aunts and uncles. In them, I find connection. Bless the work of their hands, Lord. Thank you for the blessings they’ve already been given. May they know that in you all things hold together and that at the name of Jesus all will bow. If they aren’t born again, I pray today for their salvation. Lord, I thank you for faithfully loving aunts and uncles as you do and for intertwining their lives and mine.

I give you thanks for love.

Jesus, you have loved us by giving your life to cover our sins. Thank you for pulling my family close with such deep assurance, for sacrificing for our good. May each member grab hold of your grace and keep on loving one another daily. Thank you, Father, for love.

I give you thanks for our home, the place our family gathers.

Thank you for the warmth it offers and safety, too. I am thankful for a place to remain dry on rainy days, congregate and share stories in the evening, and offer encouragement, praise, and prayers throughout the week. May this home and others in the future be walls with worship, homes for hospitality, places with purpose. Thank you, Lord, for our home. 

I give you thanks for the church in which my family worships.

We gather and go, freely and easily. It’s a place where each member worships, praises, and grows in faith. Thank you for the leaders within, the ones who champion the name of Christ and encourage eternity with him. Thank you for those you use to encourage my family’s spiritual maturity. Thank you for pastors, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and apostles. Thank you for providing the gathering body of believers that my family is a part of, for the place in which my family worships.

I give you thanks for provision for our family—from food and employment to healing and deliverance.

You care more about my family members than the sparrows or the lilies of the field. Just as you provided quail and manna for the Israelites in my Bible, you provide for my family today. Father, thank you for being a God of provision.

I give you thanks for your healing.

I pray for willing hearts within my family, ones that sit solidly with healing. For hardened hearts, soften them, mine included. Lord, you offer forgiveness. May my family and I cling to and offer it freely as you have done for us. Thank you for healing. Thank you, God, for washing my family and me in forgiveness.

I give you thanks for your promises. 

You have spoken them over every member in my family. You promise to never leave us or forsake us. You set in writing that we are heirs. God, you assure that a beautiful eternity awaits with Jesus. And I believe you—for myself and members of my family. Thank you, Lord, for your promises spoken over my family.

And Father, I give you thanks for each family member.

Your work in each one of us is good because you are good. Thank you for creating us and loving us with your eternal love. Thank you for working out the plans for each life you created in this family. Lord, complete the work you have begun in each heart. I know you won’t abandon us, for your faithful love endures forever. Today, I give you thanks, God. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

A Short Thanksgiving Prayer Before the Meal

God, we thank you for the blessing and joy of family. Thank you for those who are gathered with us today and those who are far away. May we all see the many ways you provide for us, comfort us and protect us. Bless this food to make us healthy and strong. Amen.

A Thanksgiving Prayer for Family Who has Lost Loved Ones

As we gather together in the midst of our grief and sorrow, we come before you with hearts heavy from the loss of our beloved family members. Though our pain is deep, we are grateful for the time we had with those we loved, and we thank you for the cherished memories we hold close.

Lord, we ask for your comfort and strength to sustain us during this difficult season. Wrap your loving arms around our family, and help us find solace in each other's presence. May our shared sorrow bring us closer and remind us of the preciousness of life and the importance of the bonds we share.

Thank you for the love and support we've received from friends and family during this time of mourning. We are grateful for their compassion and presence in our lives.

As we move forward, help us to honor the memory of our departed loved ones by living lives filled with love, kindness, and compassion. May their legacy inspire us to cherish each day and to be a source of comfort and support to others who may be experiencing loss.

In this time of Thanksgiving, we are thankful for the love that continues to unite our family, even in the face of loss. We trust that you are with us in our grief, and we find hope in the promise of eternal life through your Son, Jesus Christ. In His name, we offer this Thanksgiving prayer. Amen.

Prayer for Family Thankfulness and Gratitude

Lord, help us to be thankful for one another. Help my children to be thankful for each other, for our family to be grateful for each member and to pray one another continually. Our gratitude for one another will bind us together as a family, and our prayers for each other will further unify us in gratitude and love. - Marie Osborne

General Thanksgiving Prayer

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen. - Book of Common Prayer, 1979

A Thanksgiving Prayer for Children to Say

Dear God, thank you for the sun and the warmth and life it gives. Thank you for the creation and the beauty it brings. Thank you for my family and friends and the fun and joy they share. Thank you for the food that gives me strength. But most of all, thank you for your love and protection over me. Amen.

A Prayer for Hope and Thanks for Your Children

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the living hope I have today through your Son, Jesus Christ. There is nothing more wonderful. Help my kids to know the magnitude of that hope, as I show it through my words and actions. When we are tempted to be cynical, restore our joy and renew our attitudes. You are bigger than any problem in this world. I declare today that my family will focus on Your goodness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. - Kristine Brown

We Thank Thee

For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee.
For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee.
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee.
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
- Ralph Waldo Emmerson

A Prayer for Mealtime Fellowship

Father, Praise You for friendship and family! Thank You for bringing us together today to share a meal. The people in our lives bring us such joy, and we are grateful for time spent in fellowship together. Help us use this time to bond closer as a group, and learn to love each other more. Bless our appetites, both physical and spiritual, to honor You in all we do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. - Meg Bucher

Prayer for God's Blessing

Dear Father, in Your beautiful book of Psalms, chapter 103 and verse 17, You give us this wonderful promise, “From everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.” What better promise could we receive from You in the autumn of our lives than to see our children and children’s children blessed with Your love and righteousness? We ask for Your hand of blessing on us as well. Bless us with strength to be there for those we love, and wisdom to know what to say to bring comfort, encouragement, and sometimes difficult truth. We will need Your patience as we wait for Your perfect will and way in each of our loved one’s lives. We are so grateful, Lord God. Amen. - Rebecca Currington, Dayspring

Thanksgiving Scriptures to Share With Your Family

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. - Psalm 100 - A Psalm for giving grateful praise

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High. - Psalm 7:17

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! - Psalm 107:1

Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! - Psalm 31:19

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! - 1 Chronicles 16:34

Kristi Woods, writer and speaker, is passionate about women walking deeper with God. She writes encouragement and offers faith-building tools at www.KristiWoods.net, around the Internet, and in various publications. Kristi, her husband, and their three children survived a nomadic, military lifestyle, and have set roots in Oklahoma—where she keeps an eye out for chocolate and tornadoes. 

Photo credit: ©Thinkstock/Shironosov

Related Sources:
Thanksgiving Bible Verses
How to Celebrate When There’s an Empty Chair
Thanksgiving Prayers & Blessings from the Heart
Thanksgiving Dinner Prayers to Bless Your Meal