Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth, the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. Psalm 95:1-5 NKJV

The secret to being thankful in this chaotic time we are going through is to know God and to have a personal relationship with Him. For when we know Him, our focus is on Him and not our circumstances.

When we sing praise to the Lord we can’t stop smiling or rejoicing! When we focus on God’s Words in the Bible, we can’t stop seeing the truth – that God is God and the maker of all that is in heaven and earth.

When we focus on God, the blinders are taken off our eyes and we see the reality of life – that God loves us so much He sent His only Son to die in our place and give us life with Him on earth as well as in eternity.

When we take the stand of saying, “Yes, Jesus, I need and want You to come into my life” then our whole self will be filled with thanksgiving that God saved you! And that He comes into your life with His very presence with His Holy Spirit.

When we are grateful, we will have an unexplainable sense of joy and happiness which also transfers to others.

When we say thanks to God and others, we are saying “no” to letting world events or mean people or hard events in our lives get us down.

When we love the Lord, we will:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7 I pray this Thanksgiving you will be filled with amazing joy and gratitude so that your problems will seem small compared to the riches we have in Christ.