You’re invited to join me today over at http://www.inspiredprompts.com for an interview with Betty Thomason Owens. I’ll tell you more about my past as a teacher and how I got into all this writing business–you’ll even find out what my favorite color is! (You might be surprised.)
If you haven’t read Desire’s Promise, this new edition is even better. Revised and expanded, the new title is A Perfect Fit. It deals with the dilemma of how to find a godly husband in our modern culture. Should you just take whomever you can find or wait for God’s best?
Instead of a dating site, ask God to be your matchmaker. As your designer and author of life, He knows you better than you know yourself. And He doesn’t just bring anyone. His choice is always a perfect fit.
I hope you’ll want to read Carlie’s story and see how she found her perfect match. If you leave a comment on the Inspired Prompts site, you’ll be entered for a chance to win a free eBook copy. Just scroll to the bottom of my interview and that’s where to enter. Great for a cozy read in front of a crackling fire or give to a romance reader on your Christmas list!
When life gives you lemons, make … lemon meringue pie. What? Kind of a strange flavor for a Thanksgiving table. More along the lines of a Fourth of July picnic or a summer tea party, wouldn’t you say?
So, how does lemon pie relate to Thanksgiving?
Lemons have significance for me this year. Learning how to cope with that sour, seeded juice has been my most important lesson. If I strain out the seeds and add lots of sugar, water, and ice, I create a lovely, refreshing drink full of healthy Vitamin C. And I enjoy Every. Last. Drop.
When life throws us a sour curve ball, how should we handle it?
Prayer. Take everything to the Father, and He will comfort us. Have a good cry in His arms, and you’ll feel better.
This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me ~ Psalm 119:50
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’ ~ Matthew 5:4, NASB.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,who comforts us in all our affliction ~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4a, NASB.
Praise. He is worthy of our worship and our praise songs that honor Him. Sing to the Lord–it will renew your spirit.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms ~ Psalm 95:2, NASB.
I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving ~ Psalm 69:30, NASB.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name ~ Psalm 100:4, NASB.
Thanksgiving. Of all days of the year, we have been taught from childhood to celebrate this day and give thanks to God. But let’s thank Him from our hearts, from the depths of our being. He alone is our all in all. Let’s lavishly thank Him for every blessing and be truly thankful.
‘He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God’ ~ Psalm 50:23, NASB.
I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my enemies rejoice over me ~ Psalm 30:1, NASB.
Wait. What do we do about our hurts? How can we be thankful for them?
When we run to the Father, he heals our hurts. He wipes away all disappointments and soul wounds and lovingly replaces them with hope and joy. In time, He turns life’s sour lemons into sweet lemonade.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight ~ Psalm 3:5-6, NASB.
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones ~ Proverbs 16:24, NASB.
For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands ~ Psalm 92:4, NASB.
Have you suffered hurts and disappointments this year?
Here’s the remedy: overcome them with God’s forgiveness and grace. Leave them at the foot of the Cross. Then thank the Lord for the sugar and the lemons. There’s nothing better than heaven’s lemonade.
And while we’re expressing thanks this Thanksgiving … you’re invited to join me for a piece of lemon meringue pie.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Noah’s Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky, located halfway between Lexington and Cincinnati. Although I had read the story in the Bible many times, I could never have imagined just how awesome this wooden ship is.
As our tour bus approached its destination, a huge structure loomed in the distance. Just the very size of what I saw shocked me. The ark stood 51 feet high (or seven stories tall), 510 feet long (or 1.5 football fields), and 85 feet wide. To put it in perspective, the ark is about two-thirds the size of the Titanic. A 747 jet plane can fit inside with plenty of room to spare.
The front of the ark gives an idea of how gigantic the ship is.
The astounding thing to me is how Noah, at 600 years of age, and his three sons spent one hundred years constructing this monster ship in that ancient day. That alone seems to be miraculous. Here’s the story from Genesis:
13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.16 You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks ~ Genesis 6:13-16, NASB.
Inside the ark, there are three levels to explore, each containing world-class exhibit bays. How Noah’s family operated from woodworking, to cooking, to feeding and caring for the animals—hundreds of exhibits show and explain what their lives may have been like. Each level concentrates on individual themes by showing educational movies in a small theater, and there is even one museum area dedicated to children for their enjoyment. From perusing cages with all kinds of animals and birds to an in-depth study of ancient history surrounding the biblical account, the Ark Encounter offers an experience for all ages and interest levels.
A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say. Come inside the museum and let me show you around.
A weaving loom; a kitchen with preparation tables; a living room where the family gathered to eat.
On Level One, there were rows of animal cages. Yes, there were even small-sized dinosaurs on board!
Blacksmith shop for workbench for construction; family living quarters
Noah and his family worshiped God daily; woodworking area
Noah sending out the dove; the Noahic Covenant made with God after the flood.
An entire museum section devoted to ancient bibles in many languages telling the story of Noah and the Ark
The door represents salvation
The family lineage of Noah
The doors of the ark
What does Noah’s Ark represent to us today?
Do you see a parallel between the ark and salvation? Jesus is the door of the ark. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me” ~ John 14:6, NASB.
The ark represents our lives, kept safe from the floods and tempests of life. “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses” ~ Psalm 107:6, NASB.
The entire ship , inside and out, was sealed by pitch, which represents the power of the Holy Spirit to seal us from evil. “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” ~ Ephesians 1:13, NASB.
As Noah fed and cared for the animals, so God cares for us, feeding us from His Word. He will bring us safely through the storms of life and will deliver us into His eternal kingdom.
Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.2 You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.4 For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.’5 Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him ~ Genesis 7: 1-5, NASB.
‘I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth’ ~ Genesis 9: 11-13, NASB.
