Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give thanks because he’s given, Jesus Christ His son…and now let the weak say I am strong, let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us. Give thanks. (Henry Smith)

As I continue to sing this song, over and over again I am reminded of the many times something supernatural has occurred, either in my life, or in my presence. When was the last time you just started out by singing a song of thanksgiving, and ended up spinning around in circle, tears rolling down your face, and the sweetest, sincerest words of praise come out of your mouth, but you know it is pouring out of the depths of your heart?

Not sure about you, but I am surely overdue for an all out worship experience. I need to pause right here and just have a moment with the Giver of life. “Hallelujah to your precious name, you are worthy to be praised, and beside you there is none other. You are the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, and I will forever worship you with my whole heart. Blessed is the name of the Lord most high, and blessed is the name of your son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Hosanna in the highest, greater is He that is within me than he that is in the World.” Amen.

We all get bogged down sometimes, when the pressures of life try to distract us from the blessing that has been bestowed upon us. However, we must continue to make it a priority to start our day thankful for all the Lord has done, and continues to do in our lives. As the season of Thanksgiving is upon us, and we will all be focusing on intentional giving ,and sharing of our food and lives, let us all carve out sometime to just open our mouths, and shout it from the mountain tops “Praise God! We want the world to know that the Lord of love has come to us and we want to pass it on.”

While reading this piece, please help me say thank you for the many blessings in my life. For each scenario, if your story isn’t quite the same, replace mine with yours so that we are all sending up our praises. The word said where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in the midst.

• Thank you for bringing my husband and son home safely on Saturday night, after the car was hit on the passenger side, by a driver who didn’t even stop.

• Thank you for keeping my niece and me on Friday afternoon, when the tire on the driver’s side of the same car, blew out on the highway.

• Thank you for blessing us with a new home, in the midst of a struggling economy.

• Thank you for covering my Bahama Islands during hurricane Joaquin. While a lot of people lost everything, no lives were taken, and restoration is on the way.

• Thank you for a good report after my first mammogram. Even though my heart jumped when I was called to come in for another scan, you kept me hopeful.

• Thank you for ensuring that both my life, and sanity, remained in place after a thief pointed a 9mm in my face and robbed me sometime in August of this year.

• Thank you for all the promotions my husband received this year. It is only by your grace that his way was made clear.

• Thank you for health, strength and daily bread. You wish above all things that our souls prosper.

• Thank you for never leaving us during times of grief. For all the loved ones we lost this year, you were always there with a word and a song.

• Thank you for travelling mercy. We take getting on an airplane, driving our cars, or just leaving our homes, for granted sometimes.

• Thank you for the freedom we have to worship you openly, and in our prayer closets.

• Thank you for your Grace, which is sufficient for the world.

I can write pages and pages of thank you notes, and I still don’t think it would be enough for all the wonderful things that have happened just over this year, but to God be the Glory, great things he hath done. Let us not forget to say thank you, for there is power to change the world in those two simple words.

Take the next 60 seconds and give a resounding thank you for all the blessings around you.