I have joined many facebook fans on a Thanksgiving Trek through the month of November.   However, my today's thankful post can not be written in a facebook sentence or two...

Day 12 - Today I am thankful for the Word.  Ezekiel described it as "honey in my mouth."  Job said it is "spiritual food for the hungry."  It was a "lamp for my feet" to the Psalmist David, and  "joy and delight to Jeremiah's heart." 

There is NOTHING that can soothe my troubled mind or bring peace and joy to me like the WORD of the Lord.  It is more precious than gold (Psalms 19:10), renews my mind (Romans 12:12), and penetrates my thoughts and attitudes.  (Hebrews 4:12).
 
It is a love letter to me from my Savior. 

A few things he whispered when I needed...

LOVE - The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3

PROTECTION -  "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress;  my God, in Him will I trust."  Psalms 91:1-2

GRACE - "For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Psalms 84:11

SALVATION - "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:38

Here are some promises he gave me when I was...

LONELY - "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;" John 14:16

WORRIED - "Be anxious for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philipians 4:6-7

IN NEED - "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us."  Ephesians 3:20

And a few nuggets when I felt...

INSECURE - "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"  Phil 1:6

WEAK - "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"  Psalms 27:1

SICK - "My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. " Psalms 73:26

Instruction when I want to be...

A BETTER WIFE - "The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain.  She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." Proverbs 31:10-13

A BETTER MOTHER -  "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."

 Deuteronomy 6:6-9

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I am so thankful that I walk by boy's bedrooms at night, and see them getting strength for their own journey in His Word, and for the man that calls us into the livingroom so that we can read His Word together.

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."  Hebrews 4:12

Repentance Replants

Fear and faith.  Powerful emotions.  I allow them to play tug-of-war in my mind.  I am ashamed to admit, at times, I feed the fear instead of the faith.  I have been having a particular health issue for many months.  I have had several tests and a surgery and yet the problem persisted.  I let the fear take root, and the roots grew deeper.  I had yet another surgical procedure on May 31st.  I was awakened by the nurse warning me to call right away on the results of the biopsy they had taken from the mass that was removed.  The fog of anesthesia was still thick and murky. 

Do not wait until you hear from them, call in three days.  Do you have children?
Yes, I have three sons. 
Please, you must realize the importance of this, the urgency of this.  Call soon.  You must take care of yourself. 
The roots of fear dug deeper still. 
You will be be seeing this surgery room often.  
High risk, high risk, high risk.

The nurses firm warnings replayed in my mind over and over while waiting the three days to call for the results.  Faith kept trying to knock, but my fear would not let her in.  The call came when the boys and I were running errands.  The tears begin to fall, fear's roots lost hold when I hear the pathologists report.  Avery can not handle my tears.  Ever.  Is it the cancer, Mom?  Has it come back?  Unable to speak, I shook my head NO!!  We had a time of thanksgiving in the van, while I quickly called Clark, my parents and in-laws to tell them the good news.

I went back to my doctor today for a re-check from the procedure.  He was so happy with the good report.  I was scared for you, but didn't want your husband to know. 
It did not look good. 
Too large, too much blood. 
So soon to have trouble from the last surgery. 
I should have been giving you bad news today, but I am happy to give good news!

Tonight I am spending time with the Lord, asking for forgiveness for my doubts.  Thanking Him that grace and mercy stand waiting when I let fear dig deep, asking Him to replant faith firmly in my life. 
May it grow strong and true, regardless of the winds that may blow. 

Lord, take me back to the Landmarks!

The newspaper headline read, “Tanks for the Memories.” It went on to tell the story of our water tower, a prominent landmark in our city. The name of our city, Maryville, was painted on its side. My husband read aloud the details to our family. The decision had been made to take it down. The article stated the water tower had not been in use for years and the cost to maintain it could not be justified. This “old way” of delivering water to the city was outdated as there were now more efficient ways to provide the service. The tower itself had become a relic to be looked upon fondly by those who remembered the days when it provided life-giving water to the city. What had once been imperative to the city’s survival was now a rusty, peeling eyesore.

We watched over the next several weeks as they disassembled the large water tower. The bowl at the top slowly came down, piece by piece. The large pieces of steel were lowered to the ground, cut up with a torch, loaded on a truck and hauled away. The skyline of our town would be forever changed. My eight year old son spoke up, “No one is going to know where they are after it is taken down.”

Sadly, my son’s remark gave me pause and caused me to consider a spiritual parallel. Over the years I’ve seen spiritual landmarks suffer the same fate as our city’s water tower. We have watched as many of our spiritual landmarks have been torn down just like the water tower. Modern technique and the church social club mentality have become more important than the things that have formed our foundation as a movement. They have slowly quit using our spiritual landmarks and have found that it is easier to just tear them down. Some ask, “Why keep them on display if we are not going to use them?” The cost of “maintaining” the landmark is thought to be too high. It seems many would rather conform than offend.

Many are no longer taking their children to visit the landmark of HOLINESS. Its story is not told in our churches, therefore a love for it has not been established in the hearts of our children. Because of this, the power of Holiness is becoming a distant memory of a past lifestyle. Their parents and grandparents visited and took snap shots of this spiritual landmark, but it is no longer considered a necessity for today’s generation. A love for Holiness was not developed. In its place is an empty lot with a ‘For Sale” sign where anything can move in.

The landmark of BIBLICAL DOCTRINE is also being replaced. The teachings that were once lovingly studied and taught by our forefathers have been buried in our church archives instead of in the hearts of the saints. Many have built cathedrals of unconditional love and grace in the place where doctrine once stood. The next generation does not realize the soul saving necessity of it.

My husband read the conclusion of the article. The water tower that once proudly welcomed travelers to our city and let them know they were in Maryville, was now being sold for a small price on Ebay. Surely those who once appreciated the life-giving flow of water from the tower could have never imagined the day it would been torn down and sold for scrap. How often has it been decided that the destruction of spiritual landmarks were necessary to draw in a bigger crowd with bigger bank accounts? Unfortunately, our religious culture seems perfectly at ease selling off the spiritual landmarks that have guided our past. However, my salvation and the salvation of my family, is not for sale…at any price.

Destroying spiritual landmarks is not a new thing. Solomon allowed worldly pleasures to replace his God-given landmark of WISDOM. Samson gave up his ANOINTING for the love of this world. Esau traded his BIRTHRIGHT for a bowl of soup. Hophni and Phinius traded their PRIESTHOOD for the riches of this world. The rich young ruler passed on SALVATION to hold on to something that he could not keep. Saul traded his KINGDOM for the jealousy of those to come. Each of these was once a major landmark in their lives, but they were laid aside for what they thought were bigger and better things.

My son’s words continued to come back to me as the weeks of demolition continued. How many of our churches will lose their way because of the spiritual landmarks that are slowly being removed from our spiritual landscape? I am determined to take my children to the landmarks of holiness, doctrine, and righteous living until it is indelibly imprinted on their hearts. I want them to be so in love with them that they will never tear them down, though the years go by. May the foundation be so firm under these landmarks that they will never crumble when it comes time for them to make lifestyle decisions of their own. I pray my children have a sign on the spiritual landmarks of their hearts that reads, “Not For Sale.”