Thanksgiving doesn't get the attention it deserves.

 

Thanksgiving has become all about eating turkey and all the fixings. Family gatherings and playing games out in the yard. Or for some, it’s another day of being homeless and hungry. Thanksgiving wasn’t meant to be either.

Thanksgiving, sadly, many Americans skip over the truth of how God was faithful to lead Christians who longed to openly serve Him, leave their homelands and everything behind, and risk their lives to set sail for a New World. Historian Rod Gragg explains in The Pilgrim Chronicles how, in England around 1606, the Pilgrims began as a group of Christian separatists seeking to worship Jesus in the purity of the Gospel, based on their beliefs and understanding of the Geneva Bible.

However, what they wanted to do was illegal and prohibited, resulting in harsh persecution for the Pilgrims. So they fled to Holland around 1609. But that was short-lived, as their children were being influenced to follow worldly Dutch ways in the Netherlands, prompting the Pilgrims to seek new living options. The hearing of the Jamestown settlement, the Pilgrims set out to borrow funds and request King James’ permission to make the Mayflower voyage.

Let me stop here, and let’s focus on what exactly is happening. Here’s a group of people about to get on a ship and sail off to somewhere sight unseen. That takes incredible strength and trust in God, not to mention an inner drive that they could not give up.

Columbus had sailed in fourteen ninety-two, reaching the Americas in October. The Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower in sixteen twenty, about a hundred twenty-eight years later. Thanksgiving is about the faith of the Pilgrims. Our foundation was laid in biblical truth by the Pilgrims and led America’s Founders to establish godly principles. These biblical truths have given us the right to worship God freely.

Lincoln signed it into law on October 3, eighteen sixty-three, just before the Civil War got any worse. It set the last Thursday in November as the official day. He honored Sarah Josepha Hale’s request by proclaiming the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

So you see, Thanksgiving involves a whole lot more than whether Publix has its turkeys on sale.

Put yourself on that boat that morning. Take very few possessions with you. Unsure of whether you’ll even live through the trip. Dealing with the elements, sea sickness, and perhaps even the loss of loved ones.

Our lives stand this Thanksgiving on the shoulders of some incredible fellow human beings. Surely, we can shut down the TV noise in the background, get quiet, and bow our heads to stand in silence, thanking these brave individuals for the freedoms we have today, our lifestyles, and so much more.

Our hearts should burst with joy over this Holiday before we put the last of the dinner preparations in the refrigerator, shut off the light, and head to bed.

I hope sometime during your celebration, you will take stock of all your blessings and realize they came with a cost that other people paid for you.

I bless you. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Please hold on if you are at the brink of despair and hopelessness.

I listened to a young woman who has been furloughed from her government job, and her message hit me hard.

She was being as open and honest as a person could be. When she listed the things she has done over the years to better her life and the lives of her 4 children and husband… she broke down sobbing. She said,” I did everything right! I worked, went to school, and bettered myself after being in the army….I did everything right!”

She wasn’t asking for a handout; she was screaming out her mental, physical, and emotional pain, clearly displayed. She and others who have been the victims of this schoolyard fight between the two political parties are devastating this young woman and thousands of others.

Her next remark hit the core of this government shutdown. “All those throwing punches at one another go home to their families, not missing a beat. Their children are eating, their bills are being paid, and they are being paid. It’s the average hard-working, dedicated American individuals who are suffering.”

I’m not personally involved in this layoff, but it’s touching me anyway because it's touching my family. The big question is, what do you do when your income just STOPS? And there’s no end in sight?

I’ve been to that jumping-off spot so many times in my life. I’ve felt like this young woman who can hardly speak, let alone breathe. Hanging between where life has forced you to go and the pain of letting go is real. You find yourself dangling over what you feel is an inevitable loss.

It's hard not to hate right now. It’s hard not to want to scream in the faces you see in the news whose lives are in control of your life, and they are saying and doing nothing. It’s like a huge schoolyard fight between grown men and women who are punching the air while those around them are getting desperate.

I’ve had times when I just had to let go and let whatever my fate was going to be. Sometimes I thought I’d never see the next five minutes.

All I can offer to anyone who is suffering in that “what am I going to do” place today, might think my suggestion is lame.

It’s crying out to God, looking to Him and not the situation. Christians, you know Who your source is, and those of you who don’t know God… He’s right there with you, ready to catch you.

I’m living proof of a person coming back from the brink of despair and hopelessness. God NEVER left me nor forsook me.

I always bless my reader. This blessing is to encourage you to please reach out to the hand of God and watch him deliver you back on solid ground.

 

I bless you.