Thanksgiving Day is almost upon us.  At this time of year, we are reminded to be grateful for all God’s blessings – the gifts of home and hearth, family, friends, and God’s never-ending provision.

But this year, we are admonished to resist “gathering together to ask the Lord’s blessing” (a line from a favorite hymn).  We are partially locked down, totally masked up, and wondering if it is safe to leave our homes to enjoy the company of family and friends.  Many have lost their lives to this dreadful pandemic.  And many are frozen in fear.  And at least for now, our houses of worship are closed – where we gather to share our faith, pray and encourage each other.  Let’s face it:  Times Are Tough.

So what is our response to be when we are “up against it” and see no light at the end of the tunnel?  As we open up our bibles, we see what the saints of old did when confronted with “seeming defeat.”

Psalm 107:9 – “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distress.”

Psalm 16:8 – “I have set the Lord continually before me.  Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

Psalm 18:2 – “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge.”

SO………………………..We CAN give thanks that He is ever-present with us.  He will see us through this crisis.

Romans 8:35-39 – “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Just as it is written: “FOR YOUR SAKE, WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”  But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Thanks be to God!