No matter the time nor distance, you never forget your best friend from childhood. Mine lives very far away now but she will ever have a special place in my heart. We grew apart, I moved away and we lost touch for many years. I am grateful that God has brought her back into my life.

 She is in a trial right now, one of those difficult ones that very few are called to face, she has been walking this uncertain road for some time now, and tomorrow is a milestone in that walk.

 Lord,

  I am asking for a special blessing for my best childhood friend. You know her situation Lord, you know the burden she carries. Tomorrow is a big day for her and her family, a scary day, an uncertain day, and I ask that she and her family would feel Your presence strong as they venture into it.

 We ask for Your grace in abundance, and Your presence with each and every person who plays a part. We ask that You would grant the words to her as she speaks, that in speaking her heart would be heard and seen by those who listen and that all would be touched by her words.

 We ask for Your strength to the family, that they might be given all that they need to endure whatever comes. We ask that the outcome would be in their favor if that is possible and within Thy will. We ask for Your protection upon them all, and Your guidance and that whatever happens tomorrow, all would be orchestrated by You and no other.

 Depending on what happens, there will be various things that will need to be worked out, and we ask that You would prepare all that is needed.

 Bless my friend Lord, she has been a faithful servant, she is your child, her heart is weary and worn from all of this mess and she ever looks to You for grace and mercy. Lord be her Strong Arm tomorrow, be her Comfort and her Peace, be her Deliverer. Give abundant grace and mercy to all who stand with her, and help hold her up.

Shine tomorrow Lord, shine like the brightest sun. May all that transpires there be for Your glory and the good of those who love You and are called by Your name. Lord my friend loves You and is called by You. Bring great good to her Oh Lord.

I ask these things Lord, with all my heart and soul, I ask them in faith that You love me, and her and her beloved son.

Lord show Yourself strong tomorrow in the life of my friend and her son.

All praise, all honor, all glory to You Lord,

In the name above all names, in the name of Jesus my Lord I pray these things,

Amen

God sent His son, they called Him, Jesus;
He came to love, heal and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives!

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance:
This child can face uncertain days because He Lives!

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!

And then one day, I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain;
And then, as death gives way to vict'ry,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives!

Chorus
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!


  The Lord be with you my friend, you shall be in my prayers, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. He loves you so my friend. All things are for a purpose, so trust Him, even in this, trust Him. I shall be with you in spirit.




And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If his grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about the way...

He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves.

 Thanksgiving is looming upon us. This year of 2013 is quickly drawing to a close and in two short weeks I will be preparing the Thanksgiving dinner for our family. Each year it is hosted by one of my husband's sisters or myself.

(This painting hung in my home when I was growing up. I have always loved it. It reminds me of my dad, of my brother, of the countless meals around the table and the prayers my dad prayed)

 We volunteered this year. 

 So now the questions loom. How to give thanks when there are empty seats at the table? How to give thanks for the hard truths learned this year? How to give thanks for the long fight where heart and soul were poured into an all out effort to make things right and yet it turned out wrong?

 How to give thanks for the wounded hearts, the bruised and battered souls?

 How to give thanks when you have battled darkness for someone, only to have darkness seemingly win? How to give thanks when that darkness snatched yet another from us, two dear ones within a few months time? How to give thanks when that same darkness seems hellbent to consume yet a third?

 "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." He says.

 Three very key words there......"in"..........and........"everything".......

 Give thanks "in" all things. That means right there, in the thick of it, we are to lift our hands to the heavens and give thanks.

 In "everything".

for this is the "will" of God.

So we lift our hands to the heavens and we give thanks to the One who is the protector of our souls. 

We thank Him for His deliverance.

We thank Him for our trials.

We thank Him for the circumstances.

We thank Him for His promises.

We thanks Him that His promises are true, even if we do not see them now, we affirm that we will see them.

And in the act of giving these thanks we understand....

 The darkness did not win. Those we love reside apart from all darkness now. He is their light. They worship Him now in spirit and in truth, they revel in His glory, bask in His love.........darkness did not win. In truth, darkness was utterly defeated and forever dispelled.

 "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand."

  Loved ones can be snatched from us here, leaving us to go on without them. But they were not snatched from Him. Their time in this fight is over. We have simply been left to fight on for a time. We will see them again. They were both His. Until then we should fight on, looking back on that victory that was achieved at the cross, where the Seed of the woman, once and for all bruised and crushed the head of darkness.

 Like a snake when it's head is crushed, darkness writhes and twists and does all in it's remaining power to harm......but in truth it's time is swiftly approaching, and it is dead.

 As for the darkness that still seeks to destroy.........

 If there is one thing the darkness hates, it is to see those afflicted, raise their hands to the heavens and sing praises to the King of glory! Darkness much prefers you on the floor in a heap, weeping and sobbing and bemoaning your state. Darkness seeks to defeat you, to have you cast off your faith and wallow in despair.

Darkness is the absence of light, and all that is needed to dispel it is flipping a switch. I stumble about in the darkness of my home, bumping into things like a fool when all I need do is flip the light switch. Just as I often stumble around in the trials and burdens of this life, bumping into things, crying out in despair, when all I need do is lift my hands to the heavens and praise God, and thank Him for His mercy and His grace, thank Him for salvation freely given to one who deserves it not, thanks Him for the trials and ask that He help me bring glory to Him in the midst of them......and the light pierces through the darkness and I can see again!

 So I raise my hands, I sing His praises! I believe! I am a child of the King! I rest on His promises! I give thanks!

Thanksgiving is the key.

                    The key to hope, the key to faith, the key to strength.

 Give thanks, in everything. For it is His will. Trust Him, no matter what you are experiencing, for He has made us promises, and those promises are true and amen, and whatever happens to be going on will lead to victory.

 "For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for well-being, and not for calamity, in order to give you a future and a hope. "

 So we look forward to the Thanksgiving celebration, where family will gather together. We will eat and drink and remember the many blessings He has given, He is giving and He will give. The greatest of these blessings is the forgiveness of sins, the assurance of salvation, and the hope of eternity with Him.

"“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

The photo is called "Vengeance is Mine" and depicts a victorious Christ, stepping upon the head of Satan, the sword in His hand the Sword of the Word of God, and the robes in His other hand depict His stripping all authority and power from the enemy.
The artist is Chris Higham.

His website can be found here: http://www.christian-art.org.uk/cgi-bin/ca.cgi?page=home.html

“And he (Nebuchadnezzar) ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.””

Most people know the story of the three Hebrew men, tossed into the furnace for their refusal to bow down and worship a false god; it has always been one of my favorite ones. I cannot count the times I have read this out loud to my sons when they were growing up, or the times I have gone back to it myself for comfort.

This morning was one of those days, and I sat and read this story and something that I had not considered before came to my mind.

Nothing is said about whether or not the three Hebrews also saw the fourth man, the one who was like a son of the gods, and nothing is even said about whether the persons watching saw him or not, the only certain thing is that King Nebuchadnezzar saw him.

Life is like a fiery furnace sometimes. We are bombarded with trials, painful trials, trials that can suck away our strength and our joy. Often in these trials we cannot see clearly. One could assume that these three young men were afraid, sure they spoke with faith and confidence when they refused the kings request to bow to the idol, but they were human, just like us, they had to be fear, and dread, and maybe even some doubt. They did not doubt God, they simply could not have known for certain if God would deliver them this side of life, or on the other. It is also possible that they walked about this fiery furnace with no knowledge of the One who walked with them, the text is not clear on what they saw, only what the king saw. They walked in faith, in the midst of flames, unaware that God Himself walked with them, for the One for appeared like “a son of the gods” was no less than our Lord Jesus Christ. (Look up Christophany.)

When life is hard, when the fires burn high, we can remember our Lord. We are not alone in the furnace. He walks with us, and He will bring us through. I may not be able to see Him, but it is certain that the enemy of my soul sees Him…………and that is enough for me.

We as believers do not walk alone, we are never alone, there is no place and no circumstanced where we should be afraid. We should face adversity, sorrow and even death with the sure knowledge that we are not alone……He walks with us. He has promised that He will never leave us, He will never forsake us and that nothing can separate us from His love and care.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.”

 So let us then be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Let us stand fast and face whatever He allows in our life, face it with faith and courage.

Fight the good fight