Everything Old is New Again!

The Bible says in I Samuel 30:6 that David encouraged himself in the Lord. It was at a time when David had returned prematurely from battle and found the city burned and wives and children taken into captivity. His men were ready to stone him in their grief and anger. But after consulting the Lord, he was able to take his men to victory and recover everyone safely, including his own two wives. Again in Psalm 42, he encouraged himself after being cast down in his soul. Verse 11 ends with, “Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”

My situation was not that serious, I only had a case of writer’s block. I decided to read some of my old blogs that I didn’t put in my last book, and I found myself rejoicing in the things I had related that God had done! I realized I was encouraging myself in the Lord! Tears came more than once when I was reminded of His mercies. I read my daughter’s account of how He had saved our grandson from serious injury in a 4-wheeler accident, and how he had prompted other mothers to pray, saving their children from certain harm or death. Other accounts of miraculous happenings that I had forgotten about blessed me anew.

Some of the trivial or funny things were encouraging too, in retrospect. I had lost an important accent button on a dress, and I was never able to find it at the time. Then just a few weeks ago, when I was looking in a round, decorative box for something, there it was! Just in time for me to sew it on before the cool weather we’re expecting.

I had remarked last year about getting to meet the two little girls from China that friends of our son had adopted. Now they are in China completing the adoption process for two little boys to add to their family, making eight including their four biological kids. My daughter-in-law showed me a picture of one toddler that they will be bringing home soon. “Oh, he looks so healthy to have been in an orphanage,” I exclaimed on seeing the handsome little boy in the photograph, to which Tammy replied, “They always take extra good care of special needs children.”

“Oh, you mean he is special needs?” I asked, surprised. She said all of the children they have adopted have mild disabilities. When she said it is easier to adopt a child in that category, I wondered if that were a factor in their decision, or if they felt a ministry to special needs kids. I think she said, both. Their beautiful adoptive children I have met certainly seem happy and well adjusted, so it must be their calling.

Other testimonies, family memories, and ups and downs of everyday living had me smiling and grateful I had written it all down. I can’t wait to put them in my next book!