🌾 Holiday Series: Hope Through the Holidays

A Harvest of Hope: God’s Faithfulness in Every Season

Autumn has always been my favorite season. I love the changing colors of leaves, the cooler temperatures, and the Saturday college football games (Go Huskers!). As autumn fades into early winter, however, this final November post weaves the imagery of changing seasons with God’s unchanging love as we observe Thanksgiving.

🍂 When Seasons Shift, God Remains Steady

As I reflect on how the trees have become bare and the days have become shorter and darker, God’s promises still remain. That’s why Advent is a time to look forward to; its theme of light returning gives us something to hope for.

This year, I picked up Ann Voskamp’s The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas for the Advent season. In this book, Voskamp begins with Jesse, the father of David, and offers devotionals, prayers, and reflections leading up to the birth of Jesus. I’m looking forward to reading it as a way to focus my heart on the true meaning of Christmas: Jesus coming to earth as a baby to save us from our sins through His death and resurrection.

“There is a time for everything… a time to weep and a time to laugh.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1,4

💛 Looking Back and Remembering God’s Nearness

I’ve been reflecting on many things over the past months. Perhaps it's because I’ve written a children’s book about grief, and stepping back into those memories made them feel too close again, as if they had happened only yesterday.

I still remember the flat tires that kept us home the day my daddy died. I didn’t fully understand it then, but looking back, I can see God’s hand of mercy keeping us from arriving at the field before my grandparents could reach us with the heartbreaking news.

Throughout my life, there have been many, many trials, from losing my oldest sister to cancer to a season of relational pain and loneliness. But as I look back, I now see what I couldn’t always see in those moments: God never left. He was faithful every single time.

🌅 His Mercies Are New Every Morning

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:22–23 (NIV)

As I grow older, I can say with confidence that I cannot remember any trials where God didn’t care for me in His way, sustain me, or walk beside me.

There have been many storms and many tears. But there has also been His presence, His peace, and His steady love.

And that is worth singing about.

🎶 A Hymn That Still Holds My Heart

“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” by Thomas O. Chisholm (1923) has become the prayer of my heart:

1. Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.

2. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

3. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside.

Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness,
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hast provided;
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.

🍁 A Prayer for Your Thanksgiving

May your Thanksgiving, and every ordinary day that follows, be full of hope, gratitude, and quiet reminders of God’s nearness.

Even when grief resurfaces…
Even when trials come unexpectedly, over and over…
Even when the enemy tries to shake your confidence…

God is faithful.
God is present.
And God will carry you.

May His peace fill your heart as you walk into the Advent season with expectation and hope.

📣 A Call To Action

Join me next week as we begin a new blog series: "Advent of Hope — Four Weeks of Light for Weary Hearts." Also, now available on Amazon is my new collaborative devotional, A Year of Hope, written with hundreds of writers (I wrote January 18). And... (cue the drum roll)... my children's book, And the Sun Came Up: A True Story of Grief and Hope is ready for the publisher proof and then my author copies! God is great!

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out my recent holiday blog series, "Hope Through the Holidays" and get the freebie, “Seven Affirmations of Hope” on my website, https://marygracejohnsonauthor.com/blog. I am so thankful for all your support, and I'd love to hear from you any time!