Thanksgiving 2016

Every year on this day, I wake up to write a list of things I'm thankful for. If you know me, then you know I have no shortage of words that can flow across a page with ease when the mood strikes me. I have my Hallmark card list of "things I'm thankful for" that I could probably copy and paste in a moments notice. 

But this year is different. This year I woke up with tears before I could even get my iPad up and running. Some years are just harder than others and this is one of those. Sometimes I have to dig just a little bit further under the surface to be able to put my thoughts on paper. 

This has been a hard year for many reasons. Our country has been beaten and bruised by an election that has brought out the worst and ugliest sides in all of us. Our thoughts, our words and our actions have lashed out to inflict pain and they have met their mark with deadly precision. Though history tells me that we have been here before, this is the most divisive our nation has been in my lifetime and the feeling leaves me heartbroken and despairing. 

This year one of my closest friends, a sister of my heart, was diagnosed with cancer and is preparing for an epic battle to come...and she isn't alone. I can list at least a half a dozen more friends that were diagnosed and fighting as well. 

This year I have lost loved ones, unexpected to say the least, and it has left us in an uncomfortable position of asking God, "Why?"  No one likes to be at this place but as humans, we will inevitably be there at some point in our lives. And as always, I miss family members who passed years ago yet never more than during the holidays. Some losses never lose their sting. 

So this morning I've had to do some soul searching and spent a lot of time in prayer asking God to show me something, give me something, tell me something that would help me through this "year that wasn't as great as others". And being the Loving Father that He never fails to be, He showed me this verse....

Matthew 28:20, "I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

He told me through this verse that there is absolutely no place, no trial, no journey on this earth that He would not be there with me (and you) right by my side. 

So to my fellow Americans, we have not been nor will  we be alone as we begin this journey of repairing our country. 

To my beloved Adel, and my other friends and loved ones fighting cancer, we have not been nor will we be alone for every treatment, every trip to a hospital, every Doctor's visit to give us news of this horrible disease. 

To my family who has lost loved ones this year and years past, we have not been nor will we be alone during our time of grief, suffering and even anger. 

And to all of us, from every moment past to the right here and now and to every moment of the future, we have not been nor will we ever be alone! 

Today, that is what I am Thankful for...a God who will be with me always, to the very end of the age. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!