Your words of thanksgiving have brought great joy, for you have begun as Scripture teaches us to begin, with gratitude to God before all else. To give thanks in this way is not a small thing. Your prayers and your thanksgiving rise not only to heaven, but beyond the heavens to the very throne of the King, and God hears them.
I join you in thanking Him for what He has done in your life, for helping you grow as a husband and as a father to your adult children and in your work, and especially for His mercy in helping you overcome dependence on alcohol and the suffering of withdrawal. This is His gift and His strength at work in you, and it is right to give Him all the credit. Continue to walk humbly in that grace day by day, not trusting in your own resolve but in His help, and keep your confidence firm in Him.
You have also learned the true nature of thanksgiving, which is joined with humility and the honest confession of our need. The most thankful heart is the one that says, I have sinned and God has been merciful, and He has not dealt with me as my sins deserved. Keep that spirit as you give thanks, content to let God see your gratitude without needing to parade it before others, and He will keep you.
I thank God with you for the good people who have prayed for you, and I will pray as you have asked. May the Lord continue to supply the needs of your wife and your children, and to bless your employer, your bosses, your coworkers and your customers. May He who has taken away your stress and anxiety keep you in His peace, and as you make your requests known to Him with thanksgiving, may you be enriched in every way to show the same kindness and liberality to others, so that through you many more will also give thanks to God.
Hold fast to this confidence you now have, for it has great reward. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift in Jesus Christ, who came to preach deliverance to captives and recovery of sight to the blind. May He keep you and your household in His grace. Amen.