TEN DAYS OF THANKSGIVING ~ Day 8
I remember reading Philippians 4:6 many years ago, and being fascinated by thankfulness in relation to prayer.
"...do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."
How could I possibly be thankful for the things I was praying about before God had answered them?
That is the beauty of God's Word.  It is pure wisdom.  It may not make sense at first, but in time and with experience, His Word is the only path to the follow.
First of all, Paul begins with the need that probably every human has struggled with: anxiety!  When life is not going our way, we worry.  Worry is quite the opposite of trust.  So in approaching God with our prayer requests, we need to stop the anxiousness and come to Him with trust.
Another aspect of prayer is the broad scope in which we can pray.  "...but in everything..."  literally means every need can be a valid prayer request.  Paul also writes to the Ephesian believers to "...pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests..."(Ephesians 6:18a).  There is no limit to when, where and what we pray about.  The promise is that as we pray in the Spirit, He guides us to ask with right motives and ask for the right requests.
Again, the key part of this verse is the phrase "with thanksgiving", which is our focus.  With that positive attitude of gratitude, our faith is already set on the Lord.  If we can be thankful in advance for God's answers, then we are trusting Him to provide or intervene as He wills.  What if His answer is no?  What if there seems to be no response from heaven at all?  Again, we can trust God's wisdom and sovereignty to work things out according to His best.
I am learning to be praying on every occasion, even if it is a simple word or two.  I hear an ambulance and pray for the emergency.  I think of a person and bring them before the Lord.  I get annoyed or stressed about a situation, mulling over possible solutions, and remember to cover it in prayer.  The main thing is to PRAY and let those requests be made known to God.
If we cannot find anything to be thankful about, at the very least we have that privilege of coming before God's throne of grace and having that outlet of prayer.  What a hope we have in Jesus, making that way open to the presence of the Father.

Day 8 - What is God saying to you about thankfulness in prayer?