A Treasure in Wood Chips

I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the Lord, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. (Isaiah 45:3 NKJV)

A Child of the King

Before taking the youngest three grandactives to the playground a few weeks ago, I suggested Sydney leave her mood ring on our kitchen table. She assured me it stayed on her finger. So I didn’t press the issue. The kiddos played for a couple of hours on the swings, the teetertotters, bouncy animals, and the jungle gym. Finally, they decided they needed something to drink, and we headed home. Sydney looked a bit moody. I questioned her.

“Eli lost my ring.”

“What was Eli doing with it?”

“We were playing a game. I gave it to him. He put it in his pocket. It fell out.”

We took the other two grandactives home. Pap got them drinks, while Sydney and I headed back to the playground. I told Sydney to pray that Jesus would help us find her ring in the wood chips that covered the entire playground—yeah, finding a needle in a haystack.

We searched the ground below the swings. Sydney climbed through the tunnels in the jungle gym. I scanned the ground beneath the jungle gym. We looked around the teetertotters and the bouncy animals. No ring. Sydney went back to the swings to search again since that’s where Eli had hung upside down. I paused by the slide and whispered another prayer.

“Lord, please show us where that ring is. It sure would mean a lot to this child…and to that one.”

I reached for a glittering object. My hear sank when I realized it was a wrapper off a pack of cigarettes. “Why can I see things like that and not the ring?” I turned, searching. Another object sparkled in the sun at the bottom of the slide. I picked it up and twirled it between my fingers then raise my hand.

“Sydney, look what I found!”

She ran to me. I gently pushed her ring on her finger. She sobbed as I said, “See how much God loves you.”

We never would have found that ring without the Lord’s help. He knew exactly where it was. But finding the ring wasn’t the important thing that day. Sydney found a treasure I pray she never forgets—God loves her and wants to show her priceless treasures that last for life.

When we go through cancer, it may feel as though we’ve lost something very important to us. Our hopes may dwindle with our health. But God wants to restore our sense of wellbeing. He has promised to give us treasures in dark places. We have to enter those places to find the treasures, just like Sydney and I had to return to the playground to find her ring.

We could have prayed all night and day for two weeks and never would’ve found it if we hadn’t gone looking for it.
God desires to help us, to comfort us, and to restore what we’ve lost through cancer. But we have to do our part. We have to seek the treasures He has for us. They may not be what we think we’re looking for. They may be treasures of far greater value than health. They may be treasures for eternity.

How about you? What has God helped you find?

See you in a twinkling,
Brenda K. Hendricks.

Sifted

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

As a small child, I played in my sandbox for hours. I dug and sifted the sand, hoping to find buried treasure, too young for understanding pirates didn’t hide their valuables in a child’s sandbox.

Long after growing out of the sandbox stage of life, I visited my uncle in Massachusetts. He took me to the Cape Cod Sand Dunes—miles and miles of unbelievable, white-sand mountains, a sandbox-child’s paradise—which offered an opportunity to sift sand for treasures. Not hidden pirate chests bursting with precious gems and gold coins, but weathered glass smoothed by years of shifting sand awaited discovery. Shades of brown glass popped up frequently. An occasional blue or green nugget remained in the pan after sifting. And then, if the “glass gods” favored you, your pan captured the rarest of all—reds and purples.

Without walking miles, searching, and sifting, we had no hope of discovering the rarest and best pieces of glass. I remember finding a couple brown ones, a green one, and a blue one. I never saw a red one or a purple one, but my uncle assured me they did exist.

Likewise, Jesus assured his disciple that Satan not only existed, but desired to sift Peter like wheat. The enemy knew Peter held very valuable spiritual gems.

Read More

Next Week:

We’ll take a look at what it means to be the light of the world. Prepare by studying Matthew 5:14-16

See you in a twinkling,
Brenda K. Hendricks

Pirate Princess

Soul Detox

Part 24

For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:8)

Like imaginative children, we sometimes sail through the Bible, dig up verses that seem to promise prosperity, and claim all the wealth this world has to offer as though it were God’s intentions. We run the risk of treating God’s promises like a pirate’s treasure when we pick verses like Matthew 7:8 and  demand God complies to our every whim.

That philosophy only exists in our minds. Realty doesn’t work that way and neither does God’s word. Search the Scriptures. Find the apostle who sought worldly treasures after Pentecost through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Read More

See you in a twinkling

Brenda K. Hendricks