Choosing To Give Thanks

For many people around the world, the days are now filling up with holiday preparations.  Thoughts of Thanksgiving or Christmas enter our minds but can often evoke stressful emotions.  “Will I have time off to celebrate with loved ones?  Will I be alone again for the holidays?  Will my family have the money to give gifts even to our children?”

Depression, anxiety, and loneliness, to list a few, are real and they can weigh heavily on our hearts.  How can we be filled with HOPE during the holidays?  As Christians, our HOPE is in Jesus Christ, who suffered all our earthly emotions for us on the cross at Calvary.  He took all our infirmities, sins, and iniquities; died; was buried; and resurrected for us.  Jesus is now seated beside the Father and continually prays for us. Through Him we can conquer all these things!

Romans 8:34-35 (NKJV)
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
There is ONE thing we can do to remain hope-filled… choose to give thanks.  Have you ever heard of “counting your blessings”? It works!!  Choosing to give thanks and remembering what the Lord has done for us keeps us full of hope.

 Psalm 103:2-5 (MEV)
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
    and forget not all His benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquities,
    who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 who satisfies your mouth with good things,
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

When we choose to give thanks, we enter the presence of the Lord. (Psalm 100:4) In His presence is fullness of joy! (Psalm 16:11) Whatever we say or do should be in giving thanks to our heavenly Father because of what Jesus accomplished for us.


Colossians 3:17 (CEV)
Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father because of him.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)
… give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
So, we have a choice, once again. Our heavenly Father chose us before the foundation of the world and made us accepted in the beloved, Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:4-6) Let us choose to give thanks today and each day as the year quickly comes to an end.
We are thankful to God for the privilege of sharing our hearts through the scriptures in this blog.  The Lord, Jesus, continues to bless us by “filling our ink wells” with words of hope to send out.  Thank you, readers, and to those with whom you share these thoughts on www.theheraldofhope.com – we are truly thankful.
Hebrews 13:15 (KJV)
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

~ Joanne and Sarah