I must have desperately needed  yellow. That was awful. Maybe I should stick to premade backgrounds.

The author of the book of Hebrews spends quite a bit of time explaining how Jesus Christ is a better sacrifice and a better priest than the sacrifices and priests of the Old Covenant. In chapter 10 he writes

"But our High Priest offered himself to God as one sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down at the place of highest honor at God's right hand. THERE HE WAITS until his enemies are humbled as a footstool under his feet."

This thought grabbed me: JESUS WAITS!

He knows God's will and God's promises perfectly, but it is not yet God's time, so HE WAITS---perfectly content and perfectly within God's will to do so.

It's not a time of doing nothing, for He is ministering as my advocate (9:24), but He is still in waiting mode, actively doing what God has for Him now, looking forward to and waiting for that day when all His enemies are humbled under His feet. How His Holiness and Justice must LONG for that day! But HE WAITS, with this longing, without sin, in either the longing or the wait.

Who would have thought that I could be like Jesus even in my waiting? Only by His grace, because in myself I wait very poorly.

I was just chatting with a friend on Facebook about the darts of discouragement that Satan has been throwing at me/us lately. I wrote  "for myself I can really tell when I get too busy and don't spend time in the Word; my focus becomes the mountains instead of the Almighty and then I get really down." She had to sign off, so we said goodbye and I "happened" to click on an on-line acquaintance's new posted note.

It was the text of the entire 34th Psalm.

I needed that here, now, tonight. And right when I needed it, the manna came.

Psalm 34

1 I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.

2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

3 Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together.

4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.

5 Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.

6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.

7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.

8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

9 Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.

10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

11 Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,

13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.

14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;

16 the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.

18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

19 A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;

20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.

21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.

22 The LORD redeems his servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Well, I didn't get the dishes finished tonight, nor the cross-stitch for one of the two stockings I need to finish this week, but I did finish my final final exam. I stayed late to do it because it was a take-home test and then I wouldn't have to go back up on Wednesday. I finished it and the homework assignment from last Wednesday...to the very end I couldn't just take a "0" on an assignment, even though I could have passed the class without it. I stapled it together and walked down the hall to put it in the professor's mailbox, then back to the computer lab to post my success on facebook. Then I bundled up and headed out into the wintery, arctic air...fighting tears. It's over. I'm done. No more homework, no more tests, no more classes, no more juggling of rides and babysitters, and meals. Six years of slowly, steadily progressing and it's over. Thank you Jesus.

As I drove home I rehearsed HIS faithfulness through the last six years, through regular laundry and dirty dishes, through sports and drama events, through all the day-to-day normalness of life. But also through daughters overseas (3 or 4 times), sons deployed into combat zones (3 times), high school graduations (3) and college graduations (2), deaths of grandmothers (3), and close calls with parents (2), health issues of my own and those of Al (including surgeries for both and diagnosis of diabetes for him), job changes, job losses, unemployment, and adoption of sons (2). Through and in and around us all, God has been faithful; He has proven Himself strong; He has been good to us. To HIM be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

And I find some sort of irony in the fact that I got my first bifocals today too.

Well, I found out Matt isn't as clever as I thought. The line was from "The Office". But believe me, it was totally in character for Matt.

Busy weekend ahead: Grandma Gilliland's funeral is Saturday. We will celebrate a long life well-lived. The ripples of influence from her faithful service to the Lord Jesus won't be known to us until eternity. What is known is that she was welcomed with "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant. Enter into the Joy of your Lord."

Helen M. Gilliland, aged 104 years, 3 months, 3 days: lover of God, wife to Ward, mother to Esther, Grandmother to Al, Brad, Cal, Joel, and Mike, great-grandmother to Jenny, Kelly, Andy, Matt, Tory, Rayanna, Carmen, Ben, Erika, David, Darrah, Maggie, Delaney, Kiersten, and Brandon, friend and mentor to those with power and those without, and true patriot,  welcomed home to heaven, Nov. 4, 2008.