Sunday Afternoon Tea - The "Word" is Anchored

The anchor holds
Though the ship is battered
The anchor holds
Though the sails are torn

I have fallen on my knees
As I faced the raging seas
The anchor holds
In spite of the storm*

I began praying about a "Word" for the year quite awhile ago, at least seven or eight years have passed.  It has proven much better than making a list of resolutions.  For I have found He gives me a word that proves to be the center of much of my pondering and writing that year.

Oh, I still make short resolutions.  This year one is to "eat more vegetables".  Not change my diet or stay away from chocolate or anything else that requires a lot of planning.  Simply to eat more vegetables.  I figure that alone will improve the diet.

I had a sense upon entering December that I knew what the word would be about but not the word itself.  Images kept whirling around my mind.  Thoughts and pictures of the world as it had been in 2015.  Concerns in my own life.  Wondering what will happen in the next year.

The Mideast is about to explode.  Only the hand of God is keeping it from doing so.  Will this be the year He lifts His hand?  I'm a big believer in Bible prophecy... albeit the first to admit I am not understanding every jot and tittle.  But I get the big picture.

Isis is threatening.  Everyone.  Terrorism is not only possible but those in the know tell us it is probable.  Even here in between two oceans.   I live within an easy drive of three major U.S. cities and all three have sections where violence and shooting and death are in the news on a daily basis.

The economies of the world began a slow downturn last summer, took a big plunge for a week or two last fall, and now are once again in free fall.  Will it all continue or will we once again get a respite from a complete collapse?

In the midst of all of this, I have been praying as I am certain many of you have.  I feel as if there is no sane person in leadership of any country.  How in the world are they making the decisions they are which affect the very survival of you and me and our children and our grandchildren.

I told God I felt... untethered.  There was a day when I was praying... most likely while doing dishes... telling Him I felt as if the world was in a storm with hurricane force winds blowing around us each day.  All I could envision were storm clouds and wind and lightening and seas raging and wondering if we should move to a safe place!  Like Antarctica.

It was during such a prayer that He gave me the word... anchored.  No matter how the storms of life rage... no matter how out of control I feel... no matter what the world looks like... I am anchored.

We are anchored.  You are anchored.

Many years ago now (it seems like yesterday), when I was going through years of intense trials... I would lay face down on the floor and tell Him that I could not live one more day unless He gave the grace.  I had this mental picture of Him standing calmly in the midst of a raging storm and I had my arms around Jesus (or his ankles), holding on for dear life. 

He did bring me through and restored much of what I had lost.  But I came away from those years with more than when I started.  Like Job, I knew of Him before that period of time.  I had followed Him since my teens.  Since the Jesus People days.  But clinging to Him for my existence those years caused me to know Him.  Jesus.  The Person, not the religion.

So this is where you and I are going to spend some time this year.  Especially in the first few months.  As I prayed about what to write this year, I told God that I wanted Coffee Tea Books & Me to be a safe place.  A cozy place.  A happy place. 

However, I felt Him say that He wants it to also be a place where Truth can be told.  I felt as if there were a lot of people reading who felt all alone.  The media and television and movies and talk shows and even some preachers tell us that the world has moved on... there are few who still hold on to old fashioned Christian values... and those who do are stupid or at the least uneducated.

No.  They are wrong.  Don't believe it!  There are plenty of other people who sense something is really, really wrong and still hold onto the Truths of the Bible!

For you see, there are a whole lot of us who feel the world is falling apart and it cannot be put back together like it was.  Well... it was never perfect you know.  Not since Eden.  So I will not turn away from Truth. 

But at the same time, there will be no talk of presidential politics or social media stars or such.  You don't have to be concerned about underwear ads popping up on the sidebar.  We will pray for an answer to the refugee crisis but we will not debate how to settle it.  For good people have definite opinions on all kinds of things.

We will find ways to be anchored in Jesus.  There will be more book talk.  You can rest assured there will be photos now and then of a certain Maine Coon.  I hope to show and tell some creative projects.  There will be photos of thrift store finds and the tweaking of various places in the house.  We will chat about the importance of our surroundings as the storms of life rage on.

This year I will be anchored, this blog will be anchored, and my prayer is that you will be anchored... whatever storms come our way.  If necessary, hold on tightly to His feet!

Photo:  The Son of God movie
*The Anchor Holds by Ray Boltz