CELEBRATING 16 YEARS

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;

blessed is the man who trusts in him.

(Psalm 34:8, NKJV)

This past Monday, AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS celebrated its 16th birthday. 

My desire was to celebrate this anniversary by writing a special post that would encourage those who need encouraging, bring hope to those who are feeling hopeless, and point the way to Jesus.  

I thought and thought about what to write, but no thoughts came. Not until my quiet time this morning when I noticed that today's devotional quoted the same verse from Psalm 34 that I had quoted at the top of my very first blog post. 

Back then, as now, my desire was to encourage others by sharing about God's goodness and the ways He has worked in my life. I was going to call the blog Streams of Living Water and even had what I thought was a perfect graphic picked out, but the Lord had a different plan. He reminded me that although streams of living water may be where the action takes place, we first need to be transformed.

Transformation can only happen when we lay our burdens down at the foot of the cross. At the foot of the cross there is mercy and grace. There is forgiveness, healing, and deliverance. It's where the slate gets wiped clean and we can have a fresh start. 

At one point during my adventure in Blogland, I had several blogs going that I was trying to promote in order to attract viewers. It got to be too much, so I decided to consolidate them and redirect readers to what had been my very first blog, Random Thoughts of a Great-Granny Grandma. 

Two years later, however, during an unexpected season of great weariness, discouragement, and overwhelm that left me feeling like a bop bag that has been bopped so many times it has developed a slow leak that is making it harder and harder to pop back up again, I remembered this blog and returned to it, seeking comfort at the foot of the cross. 

When I did, I purposed to turn it over to the Lord to use as He sees fit. I still post random thoughts and interact with my blog friends on my great-granny grandma blog, but my posts here are deeper and more personal. Who gets to see them--whether one person or many--is entirely in His hands. I committed not to use hashtags or share to social media in order to try and gain viewers.

Back to Psalm 34. I am currently reading through The Living Bible, and liked its version of verse 19, which says that the righteous man or woman is not spared from trouble. He or she has troubles too, but is helped through each and every one of them by the Lord. This has been so true for me.

Even when I don't understand what is happening or why, God has always been the one constant, the one thing that never changes. In retrospect, I can see how even the harshest experiences were a part of His purpose and plan, leading me to where I am today.

I am so grateful for His unconditional love, longsuffering patience, and that He never gives up on me. I am so thankful for the perfect design He is weaving into the tapestry of my life, making some of my greatest regrets the very things that led me to Jesus. Had it been otherwise, would I ever have felt a need for His saving grace?

OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH...

"You of little faith," Jesus replied, "why are you so

afraid?" Then He got up and rebuked the winds 

and the sea, and it was perfectly calm. 

(Matthew 8:26, BSB)

These words Jesus spoke to His disciples came to me and convicted me when a friend called to share some amazing news.

We had been praying for one of the members of our Bible study group who had been taken to the Emergency Room for nausea and shortness of breath. Defective heart valves had led to heart failure, which caused pneumonia, and she was now lying, intubated, in the ICU. 

For me, this was a very deja vue experience that brought back memories of my own similar experience over seven years ago (documented here) when those closest to me thought I was not going to make it, but the prayers of my church family and friends who did battle for me in the spiritual realm prevailed, and I am still here today to bear witness to it.

My fervent prayer was for the Lord's mercy and grace, and that He would glorify His name by granting her the same miracle He had granted me.

And then came news that the pneumonia was getting worse--not better. Our friend's organs had started shutting down, and they expected her heart to fail within the next 24 hours or so as well.

Even though I know and believe that only God knows the number of our days, my faith started to waver. Maybe her healing was meant to come on the other side rather than here in this world? 

Allowing myself to be moved by circumstances and what my senses and intellect were telling me, rather than by trust in God who is in control and has the last word, no matter how convincing things may look in the natural, I changed my prayer to one that the Lord would keep her comfortable and let her pass peacefully into the arms of Jesus.

Back to the phone call I mentioned at the top of my post. 

Our friend had been taken off of life support, and my expectation was that the next words would be that she had passed, but no. Much to everyone's amazement, she had started breathing on her own--and talking--and had even eaten some eggs. Plans were being made to move her out of the ICU and into a regular hospice room. Wow!!!

Later, in my quiet time, when I opened my Bible to the reading for the day, it was the story of Lazarus, and my eyes fell on Jesus' words in John 11:4--"The purpose of this illness is not death, but for the glory of God" (TLB). 

WORDS OF HOPE AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR 2025

And God is able to make all grace abound to

you, so that in all things, at all times, having

all that you need, you will abound in every

good work. -- 2 Corinthians 4:8, BSB

Although there was much to be grateful for, 2024 (from my perspective) did not end on a very good note. It was actually quite bewildering.

As I tried to make sense of it all, Lisa Anne Tindal's words in her blog post, The Driver, spoke to my heart. They were so timely. Over and over they played in my mind as I stood at the gate leading to 2025, preparing to board a train headed for an unknown destination: "God is driving the train. Only He knows where it will go. We are just riding."

Unlike other years, there were no expectations, no resolutions, no plans. Just an openness to whatever God has in store. Thy will, not mine be done. 

I may not know where this ride will take me or what this journey into the new year will bring, but I choose to sit back and relax, and enjoy the ride. I choose to put all my hope and trust in Him to guide and uphold me along the way, knowing that He is in control and sees the whole picture, which I do not.

Two reassuring messages with very similar themes reinforced the wisdom of this choice.

The first was in yesterday's Our Daily Bread's New Year's Eve message about the hand of God. It started out with the following lines from Minnie Louise Haskins poem, God Knows:   

 

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

The second was from today's Streams in the Desert, about trusting God when we cannot see what loss, sorrow, or trials are accomplishing. These are the times that drive us to His throne of grace where "the Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way."

WHY?

Why, when I  had prayed for protection from tripping or falling did I do just that when exiting my granddaughter's car in my parking lot after spending a beautiful Christmas day with my family?

Why did I fall flat on my face on the concrete sidewalk?

Why, when I've been trusting the Lord to help me get back on my feet financially, did this result in large unanticipated expenses that will drag me deeper into the pit?

Why, when I was in the middle of a special Christmas present project for one of my grandchildren have I now lost the use of my right hand for just long enough to make it impossible to complete before the end of the year?

Why all this now at such an inopportune time?

Why?

These were just some of the questions running through my mind.

Only God knows the answers. 

His ways are not our ways. He sees the whole picture, which we do not. He is the author of our stories, the driver of the train we are on. Now, more than ever, I need to cling to the truths that He is in control, that He is a good and loving God who has a perfect plan for my life, a plan for good--not for evil (Jeremiah 29:11).

I think of 1 Thessalonians 5:18--give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you...  it is not telling me to give thanks for what happened, but to find something in it I can be thankful for. And, come to think of it, there is a lot.

I can be thankful that I just chipped a tooth rather than knock it out, and that my glasses did not shatter in my face.

I am thankful that my granddaughter was with me and is very level-headed. I am thankful she helped staunch the flow of blood coming from my mouth and determine I did not need to make a trip to the ER, and then cleaned the blood off my jacket once she got me up to my apartment.

I am grateful that she stayed for a good while, offered to sleep over, and when I declined her offer, told me to call if I changed my mind.

I am thankful I was able to get a good night's sleep despite it all.

I am grateful to that same granddaughter for giving up many hours of her time today (the day after) to take me to the Vision Center to order a new pair of glasses for driving, and that I found an old, old pair in my car that, although not the greatest, work well enough for me to use while I wait for the other pair to be ready.

I am grateful that the Visiom Center had a cancellation that made it possible for me to get the appointment today rather than have to wait until some time next week.

I am grateful that when we went to the ER to get an Xray of my hand that was looking very bruised and swollen when I woke up this morning, it was not crowded, and we were ushered into a very comfortable room with private restroom to wait for the doctor instead of sitting in a crowded waiting room or a tiny cubicle partioned off from the others by a curtain.

I am grateful for all the kind people who attended us everywhere we went today.

I was grateful to hear that all the blood had been from a puncture (not a gash as we had thought), and though my lips are still very swollen, I am thankful that my mouth is feeling so much better today than it did last night.

I am grateful that the X-ray of my hand and the CT scan of my face did not show any fractures.

I am sad I won't be able to spend the amount of time I had wanted to with family visiting from out of town for a few days who I rarely get to see, because I won't be able to drive back and forth as planned due to a temporary, very unwieldy brace on my hand, but I am thankful that my granddaughter will pick me up and take me over there to spend the day tomorrow.

This incident could have been so much worse, and when I consider all that I may have been spared from, I feel very grateful for that.

A DIVINE APPOINTMENT

What started out as a very unwanted interruption turned out to be a Divine appointment that made my day. 

My plan had been to get up early and work on the painting I was trying to finish in time to give my granddaughter for Christmas. 

However, my plans had to be put on hold due to my jade plant having fallen off the windowsill during the night, spilling out of its pot onto the floor, and many of its leaves broken off and scattered as well.

I couldn't just leave it like that, so I had to go out looking for a place that had small bags of potting soil I could buy. 

My first stop was Giant, because they have a floral department, and because they were the closest place.

As I was getting ready to exit my car, I noticed a gruff looking old man loading his bags into his car parked in the handicap spot right next to mine, and I felt the Lord prompting me to give him one of the Random Acts of Kindness goody bags I had in my car. It was the last one I had.

I was going to put it in his car, but before I could get out of mine, he had closed the door and was pushing his shopping cart back to where the other carts were lined up. 

I felt the prompt again, so I walked up to him and said Merry Christmas as I handed it to him. He seemed genuinely touched and surprised, and his gruff expression softened as he gratefully thanked me for it. 

If that toppled over plant that caused me to change my plans is what it took for the Lord to get me to where He wanted me to be at that moment in time, it was so worth it for the warmth I felt inside.

My soul was singing as I entered the store, and even more when I found one bag of soil hidden away in a corner below the counter. It was probably the last one for the season, and it was waiting just for me.

AN ENCOURAGING THOUGHT IN THE MIDST OF A STORM

Who is like you, LORD God Almighty? 

You, LORD, are mighty and your

faithfulness surrounds you.

(Psalm 89:8)

An encouraging thought from today's devotional in God Loves Her:

"No matter what obstacles we face or how many obstacles we have to endure, God holds us as the waves rise and fall." (Written by my favorite contributor, Xochitl)

30 DAYS OF THANKSGIVNG - 30

November seems to have gone by in a flash. This last day brought a wonderful surprise. The results of my recent bloodwork were posted to the patient portal, and not only was every item on the cholesterol panel normal, but it was the best cholesterol report I ever remember having. 

30 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING - 29

Feeling twice blessed by all the yummy leftovers I get to enjoy for my supper tonight. 

30 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING - 28

Feeling thankful for my family, and for my granddaughter who hosted Thanksgiving this year and made it so special.

30 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING - 27

An honest compliment about the painting I recently finished from a friend who is very artistic and wasn't just trying to make me feel good. Hearing her say it looked really nice made my day.

30 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING - 26

Feeling thankful for my friend who came over today and stretched the canvas I had been working on for me.

30 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING - 25

A $20 gift card from SBKC.