In from the Cold

    All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
    Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
    Isaiah 53:6 NLT

As I write this we are experiencing our first days with temperatures below freezing.  When it is warm and the breezes are light, we can forget what it’s like to need shelter.  When the temperatures are below freezing, snow is swirling in the cutting wind, we gratefully rush to our nice warm homes for shelter.

In the same way, we may forget what the Bible tells us about Jesus being our shelter, and our heavenly Father being our true welcoming home.  As a way to prepare your heart for Thanksgiving, I encourage you to read Isaiah 53, and put yourself in it, and be truly thankful for all God has done. For example, you will find:

(1) “Who has believed our message? … (3) “He (Jesus) was despised and rejected (for me), a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief..  (4) “Yet it was our (my) weaknesses he carried…  (5) “But he was pierced for our (my) rebellion, crushed for our (my) sins.  He was beaten so we (I) could be made whole. He was whipped so we (I) could be healed.”

It is on days when we recognize our brokenness and deep need for our Lord, when we can truly be thankful for all he has done.  We are not shut out in the cold to freeze in the dark.  We are welcomed into the warm, loving embrace of our Savior, our Restorer, the One who paid the price for our place in the Light and guaranteed our eternal security in him. 

As we allow that truth to sink into our spirits, we realize we are not alone in our struggles.  Jesus has taken it all so we would not have to carry the load of sin and the sinfulness of others.  Hallelujah!  Why carry it when Jesus has already taken it for you? Let go of it and praise God!

Dear friends, be blessed to feel gratitude welling up in your heart as you ponder the compassion and power of the Cross and what it means for you.  As a daughter adopted into the family of our Lord, you are precious and dearly loved.  You are protected under the Savior’s wings and his mighty angels minister to you.  Holy Spirit, open our eyes to see and our ears to hear so our hearts may rejoice! Amen.

Mary Sumner ~ November 22, 2022