How am I going to make it in the busy days ahead?

That is, essentially, what I asked God this morning.  And this was His reply:

Thanksgiving is going to be the key to staying in close connection with Me.  Thanksgiving positions you to hear My voice and to receive My direction in every situation.  Remembering past exploits and giving thanks bring your thoughts, that stray so easily, into alignment with Me.  

Give thanks. And again I say, Give thanks!

For your light and momentary troubles are working for you a righteousness that outshines the s-u-n and releases in you the brilliance of the S-O-N.

Thanksgiving paves the way to a life continually lived out in My presence.  Enter My gates with thanksgiving and My courts with praise. Thanksgiving gets you in the gate and helps you get in touch with the greater reality of Who I am in your situation.  

Thank Me for the air you breath.  Thank Me for the song you sing.  Thank Me for the clothes you wear and the shoes on your feet and the food on your table and the abundance of My blessing that you have not seen yet.

Don't turn your gaze from Me.  Keep words of thanksgiving in your heart.  And on your lips...thanksgiving.  When you focus on your lack or on what I have not done yet, you throw up a wall around your heart that keeps you from receiving the strength I have for you in trying times and  severely limits your ability to see the truth of Who I am in your life.

Knowing who I am will give you renewed perspective on the wind and waves in your life.  You will no longer fear them or shrink into self-pity and victimization.  No - through the discipline of a lifestyle of thanksgiving, you will rise above every circumstance in your life. 

You will stand on top of every wall of defeat and despair and discouragement and depression, and you will see My hope rising on you, and you will know the hope to which I have called you.  You will bask in the light of My glorious presence, of My Son, and you will rest, and you will know that I am God and that your problems are nothing compared to the Solution that you already carry within you: My precious and powerful Holy Spirit.

That same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and active in you to bring you to a place of hope where there is no hope, a place of peace where there is no peace, a place of dwelling continually in My Presence through a life lived in perpetual thanksgiving which keeps you always aware of Who I am, what I have done, what I am doing and builds strength and faith in you to wait patiently and expectantly for the things I have yet to do.