You Are Very Special!

I watched her sitting in the corner, painstakingly working on a card she was writing. At the age of seven, a brand new first grader, Ella is adorable as she applies her newly acquired reading and writing skills to everything she touches. As her grandmother, it delights me to watch the transformation she is going through from caterpillar to butterfly, testing her wings and beginning to fly! What a privilege to play a small part in that transformation!

Although I always tease my grandchildren that I don't want them to grow up too fast on me, I know I cannot stop the clock. The best I can do is enjoy the ride and cheer them on as they move forward on the timetable that God has set for them. I watch them with love and admiration. With prayers for their well-being. With hopes that they will find Jesus along the way and give Him their hearts. I watch their dreams unfold, right before my eyes. Can there be any greater privilege in life? If there is, I haven't found it yet!

When Ella finished her labors, she presented me with the card you see above. She had asked me earlier for a little note card to write on and was now gifting me with it in return. It was a card that an adult would send with a little scripture verse on the cover. Underneath that verse, in her adorable child's script, she had printed, “You are very “SPECEIL.” She had written over the word special, obviously confused about the correct spelling! Next to it she drew a little heart and signed it, all grown up style, “Love...Ella”! All over the inside of the card, she had drawn hearts and smiley faces and printed the words “I LOVE YOU SO MUCH”!

No amount of money would ever be enough for me to part with that sweet gift from my youngest granddaughter. Some things are just beyond words to describe how much they mean to us. To receive the unabashed declaration of love and affection from a child is such a sweet blessing. Soon they learn to “grow up” and be a little more discrete in their expressions of affection and appreciation. But, for now, this is a wonderful season of free and joyous expression.

Got me thinking. I wonder if God is waiting to receive a thank you note from me?  Is He waiting for me to tell Him how special I think He is – how very 'One of a kind' I know Him to be in my life! Is He wishing I hadn't grown so sophisticated that I no longer find the need to shower Him with affection and gratitude for all He is to me? I love my granddaughter so much! It would be such a great loss if she never told me she loved me. Why should God, our Father, the Giver of every gift worth having, not want to hear our “I love you's” just as much as we do?

Children have an amazing way of leading us by their innocence and simple honesty. If they love you, they let you know! I hope I learn from Ella how not to ignore my Heavenly Father. Like the old Sesame Street song says, “If you're happy and you know it, then your face should surely show it!” If you're grateful and you know it, then your mouth should surely tell it!

I am so very thankful for the priceless care and treasures I have received from the hand of my God, each and every day!. Thank You, Father! YOU are very Special!

Scripture Reference: James 1:17 NKJV

“Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights...”

Sweet Hour of Prayer...

As the year draws to a close, I find myself looking back over the year searching for the fingerprints of God on my life.  Unless I deliberately look and choose to see, I often miss the clear activity of God on my behalf.   I have noticed, when I am trying to teach my grandchildren about the power of prayer, that we have a tendency to go to God asking for things we need, but, when the answer comes, we often fail to notice and thank Him for His care for us.  As I've noticed this in my life, I have felt more and more the need to be very deliberate about looking for those answers to prayer.  I look to see where did I see Him moving to answer whispered prayers?  Where is it I am still waiting for those answers to come?  Have I stopped praying - have I given up hope that those prayers will ever be answered?

This has been a difficult year for many, many people.  What about you?  Have you been through a testing time that has drained you and left you discouraged?  Maybe you're still in it?  Are you weary and worn out to the breaking point?  Are you in need of a fresh vision of what God can do in your life?  Are you losing all hope?  Are you feeling alone in the battle?  Are you grieving a loss of someone you loved more than life itself?  Are you fearful of what is coming next?

These things come to all of us at one time or another.  I personally am in the midst of a very difficult and trying time in my own life.  I am much in need of prayer to come through this as the Lord intends. I also have loved ones for whom I have prayed for many years that are yet to be saved.  I need your prayers every bit as much as I know you need mine.  Let us support one another and give each other the gift of prayer across the miles.  I may never have met you nor you, me.  But, we are brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ just as surely as if we lived in the same house.  God intends that we pray for one another.  We have the great privilege of joining Jesus, Our Intercessor, at the very Throne of Grace.  How can we neglect such a great calling as this?

Please use the comment section below to share a prayer request with us or to share an answered prayer that has particularly touched you.  What was the most surprising answer to prayer you received this year?  What is the prayer that is still left unanswered (as far as you are able to understand)? What is the deepest need you have that you would like us to bring before the Lord in prayer?

Please join us in the privileged place of the believer - on our knees in prayer.

 "Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work."  Oswald Chambers.

Scripture Reference:  Revelation 5:8   NKJV

"Now, when He had taken the scroll, 

the four living creatures 

and the twenty-four elders fell down

 before the Lamb,

 each having a harp, 

and golden bowls full of incense, 

which are the prayers of the saints."