In the early morning of Friday, November 26, 2021, I was doing my daily workout. I wasn’t even halfway through when I felt an unmistakable feeling, almost like a voice whispering to me to pay attention.

I stopped what I was doing almost immediately and started writing down the ideas that I was having. I would like to share what I wrote down because I promised God that I would publish it the following Tuesday. I don’t mean to imply that this is a heavenly message or anything like that. I just felt inspired to write what I had already thought of writing for my Thanksgiving article.

I’m Late in Giving Thanks

I’m late in writing and publishing my usual Thanksgiving article this year. To be perfectly honest, I was too excited to publish my Jumanji article last week. That one took a lot of time to craft, and I thought it was quite brilliant. So I wanted to show it off. Perhaps that was vanity on my part, which is why God felt it necessary to speak sternly to me and demand I write this simple article.

Painful Beginning to 2021

In January, I thought to myself that if I made it through that month, the rest of the year would be clear sailing. Several difficult challenges presented themselves in January:

• I had a couple of painful medical/dental procedures
• Many longtime friends at work left either voluntarily or otherwise
• I feared I would lose my own job, but thankfully that didn’t happen
• I was beginning a path of personal growth that would require a lot of effort

I endured these struggles and fears well, if I do say so myself, and things started to look up as 2021 progressed.

2021 Has Been a Year of Miracles

This year has been full of miracles. I’ve been miraculously healed several times. A few months ago, I was experiencing terrible shoulder and neck pain that was healed by divine intervention. A few weeks ago, my left hip was the source of tremendous pain. One day, I felt inspired to go on a long walk around town. When I returned home, the pain was gone. And possibly the greatest miracle is that my stony heart has been replaced with a fleshy one.

Great Things Coming in 2022

Things I’m looking forward to in 2022 include the following:

• I plan to pay off my mortgage just nine years after buying my house
• I’ll throw a mortgage-burning party, and everyone will be invited
• I want to accumulate enough food storage to feed myself and my family for a year
• I’d like to keep growing in my faith by humbling myself and being good to others
• Most importantly, I want to keep being a better husband and father

Once I pay off my mortgage, I will have no debt. That won’t be the result of receiving an inheritance or winning the lottery or any sort of sudden influx of money. My wife and I simply decided when we bought our house that we’d pay it off as quickly as possible. So that’s what we did, bit by bit. It’s amazing what we can accomplish when we take deliberate, though small, steps toward a goal.

I’ve already begun preparing my food and water supplies, but I’d like to finish my preparations this coming year. I feel a major sense of urgency about getting out of debt and preparing for whatever disruptions are coming.

I Don’t Know Why I Needed to Write This

Usually, when I begin writing an article, I know exactly what I want it to be. And I know what I want people to get out of it.

Not so in this case. I don’t know why it was important for me to write this article. Honestly, I had been feeling like my Thanksgiving and Christmas articles were superfluous. If I cut them out, I’d have a chance to share more of my movie-related thoughts. But something tells me that God expects more of me than simple entertainment commentary.

It is always a big deal when God interrupts something that’s important to me in order to focus on something that’s important to Him. I take my workouts seriously. But God sees a lot more than I do. So I trust His perspective a lot more than mine.

Perhaps I’ll look back on this article a year from now and see how 2022 turned out. Maybe it will meet my expectations, or maybe something dramatically different will take place. I don’t know, but God does. He sees the end from the beginning, kind of like a chiasmus. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, dear reader. And I will always be grateful to you for reading my words and hopefully learning something new.

This is the Deja Reviewer wishing you a happy Thanksgiving.

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