The Trees Are Going to Clap Their Hands!

“For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and the trees of the field will clap their hands”  (Isa. 55:12).  Lord I want to see the trees clap their hands!

Hey Gang:  In this day when everything that can be shaken is being shaken- so that only those things that cannot be shaken will remain, it is, Oh, so important to keep your powder dry and your encouragement in the up mode at all times.  One of the neat fringe benefits that I receive, personally, in my research for ‘gramps morning messages’ is that I frequently run into neat stories of people who have been overcomers or achieved success over the evilness of our world.

This morning I felt that God would have me share some of these neat ditties that I found in little pieces of paper, three by five cards and a note scribbled in the leaf of my Bible that have brought encouragement to me – even in those times when the alligators were nipping at my back side.

Sheila Walsh wrote the following when she was at the bottom trying frantically to get up:  “I did not understand that God’s most precious gifts come in boxes that make your hands bleed when you open them.  Inside is what you have been looking for all of your life. Only God can do that.  Only His love is as fierce and relentless as our deepest pain and unspoken fears….I longed for rescue, He gave me relationship.  I wanted deliverance, He gave me companionship in the ruins.”

Does that not sound reminiscent of the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10).

Oswald Chambers prayed, “O Father, pierce a hole in the darkness so that I can behold the face of God.” Wow, is that not neat?  Lord, I pray you will pierce a hole in the heavenlies so each one who reads this epistle can see your glory and your majesty and the absolute wonder of what awaits your children.  

We have been abundantly blessed with eleven great grandchildren.  They are each beautiful and fabulous in their own right and take after their great grandpa (Just joking of course). The Word tells us every human being is wonderfully made and unique in their own way, I love each with all my heart, but I confess, Colton is special to His great grandpa.  Why? Because we have been priviledged to care for him in his home have him in our home far more than all of the other ten combined.

There is much I would like to say about him, such as the day he went to his Mom and said, “It is time for me to give my Heart to Jesus”.   Now, I ask you, is that not awesome?  You see Colton was dealt the terrible blow in his young life when his daddy lost his battle with cancer and went home to help take care of God’s stallions with his uncle David in preparation for His coming to take His children home. 

This is one of those thoughts that could on and on and on, but let’s put it to bed for today and finish it the next time we get together.   Don’t forget to pray for Franklin Graham and his entourage as they visit every capital in America with their Decision America Crusade.

Blessings,  

Gramps