A while back I walked into the kitchen and I said to Kathy, “That smells like Thanksgiving!”. As I walked in, I experienced a wide range of sensory connections with Thanksgiving. The smell of spices and basting meat and the odors of baking coming out of the oven filled my senses. But I also began to hear things. As memories of Thanksgivings-come-and-gone stirred in my mind, I could hear the sounds of those gatherings, those loved ones, those children, those songs, that worship—in my memory. Kathy couldn’t hear any of it but I could hear many things all at once. I had to just stand there for a minute or two, not focusing on anything in the room but looking with my memory into those sights and sounds that had been cherished and stored away in valuable files of my heart. Then, even as I write now, hot tears filled my eyes and my heart raced up at the peace and joy and delight all those sounds and people in my memory brought to me. I didn’t even realize that I had tucked those precious memories away so many years ago. But the loving atmosphere, the loving people, the lovely ambiance and delicious foods all impacted my senses then for a delightful, sensory and welcome release now. No camera could have accomplished what those pleasant experiences wrought, for they were drawn up out of the well of cherished ones and cherished things in my heart. And for a brief time they were all there, all real and all so lovely once again. I am so thankful for a rich spiritual heritage, deeply meaningful relationships and for cherished memories that still impact me today. May this Thanksgiving bring to you sights and sounds and smells that pleasantly soothe you and heal you, and may they all bring you to a fresh place of rest in our Lord.(Prov.10:7a, Amp) ”The memory of the righteous [person] is a blessing,”.
MARTY, KATHY, MELISSA — Thoughts of Christmas MARTY—Jesus, son of Abraham and son of David, was born when the seed of Abraham was a despised people and tributary to the Roman yoke and when the house of David was buried in obscurity. The performance and provision of God comes when circumstances would place upon it the heaviest it has to offer. Ease and convenience are not the components of fulfillment. The CHRISTMAS story is a story of hope in the face of all that is contrary. “Against all odds, when it looked hopeless, Abraham believed the promise and expected God to fulfill it. He took God at His word…” (Rom.4:18a) KATHY— Growing up on Abraham Avenue, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary had no idea how they would fit in the plans of God and the history of man. Amid all their lessons in history and prophecy from the Torah, they had never pictured themselves as key players in the greatest story ever told. However, their lives were divinely positioned for the plans of God. God intends your life to be spent to His glory. (Jer.29:11) MELISSA—Yesterday I was praying over a situation for which I have no answers and can do nothing about.As soon as I prayed I heard, “Now, let go of all of your ideas of how this thing needs to be worked out and let Me have it.” As we head into CHRISTMAS and a new year may we lay down every weight, worry, and preconceived idea of what the will of God should look like in our current situations, and leave it in the capable hands of the One Whose birth we are celebrating! Have a very Merry Christmas and may you find peace unspeakable in the decision to trust the One who already set us free.
Your Home #11—May your home be a place of receiving. May your family receive encouragement, good times, happy times, times of celebration, gifts and surprises, supplies, breakthrough, health, wealth and resolve of on-going issues.
“Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.” (Isa.54:2, NKJV)
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MARTY, KATHY, MELISSA — Thoughts of Christmas
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