Dear Ones,

This Thanksgiving, we face unprecedented challenges. I felt okay with all the COVID restrictions since last March, but I’m not as extroverted as some people who fiercely resent these social restrictions. Writing and editing do not require a lot of social interaction, so I enjoyed my quiet time alone and the increased freedom from social expectations.

Over time, I missed face-to-face fellowship with close friends, so we made careful allowances from time to time. Meeting another couple outside in the park, church attendance with social distancing, and home visits with our daughter, her husband, and eight grandchildren for meals and much-needed hugs all around.

However, when the governor made more recent and more restrictive mandates, my world crumbled, and I felt the anger of disappointment and what I held to be unjustified governmental control. My husband, always the more cautious one, ended up with intensified anxiety, which didn’t help my attitude in the least.

Of course, these emotions can either drive wedges between us or draw us closer to God, who is ultimately the Blessed Controller of all things. Many voices carry conflicting messages, which makes finding the truth like looking for that proverbial needle in a haystack. I know the enemy is out to divide and conquer. He is the author of confusion and masquerades as an angel of light to deceive the gullible and uninformed. I read a lot, search the Scriptures, and ask God for wisdom.

His Holy Spirit reminds me that vengeance belongs to the Lord, and human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires (James 1:20). He tells me that love covers a multitude of sins and fulfills the law of Christ (1Peter 4:8; Rom 13:10). Even though my husband and I see these mandates through different lenses, we also believe in the unity of the Spirit, forgiveness, and submission to one another. The enemy seeks to divide all of us and bring anger and resentment through our passionate beliefs over how we see things happening in this strange new world. We all feel so much loss and find ourselves grieving those losses.

Therefore, this Thanksgiving, it takes intentional decisiveness to take our eyes off the world around us, off our differences, and focus squarely on the Savior of our souls. In Psalm 103:1-6, David says,

Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth (desires) with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The LORD executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed.

This Thanksgiving, may our gratitude, praise, and worship drown out all other voices that come against us. May we remember, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Rom. 8:37 NIV), and “God Inhabits the praises of His people” (Psalm 22:3 KJV).