Prayer – Lord, You see everything I do…and know everything about me. You know about my enemies and my feelings. Open my eyes, heart, and soul to Your wisdom and grace. Rescue me and be gracious to me—that I would bring You glory.
A psalm of David.
Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my plea! Answer me
because you are faithful and righteous. Don't put your servant on trial, for no
one is innocent before you. My enemy has chased me. He has knocked me to the
ground and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave. I am losing
all hope; I am paralyzed with fear. I remember the days of old. I ponder all
your great works and think about what you have done. I lift my hands to you in
prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. Come quickly, LORD,
and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don't turn away from me, or I will
die. Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Rescue me from my enemies,
LORD; I run to you to hide me. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. For the glory of
your name, O LORD, preserve my life. Because of your faithfulness, bring me out
of this distress. In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies and destroy
all my foes, for I am your servant. Psalm 143:1-12
Meditate.
David was paralyzed with fear, losing all hope, and
depressed because of his enemy who had chased him. Once again, he is
praying, pleading for the Lord to help him…to rescue him…and for the Lord to
teach him to do His will, and to preserve his life. Small things for the Lord
to do since David trusts the Lord and wants to bring Him glory. Are our lives
like that? Are you fearful, hopeless, and depressed? That seems to be pretty
common now as it was throughout the time of COVID. Anxious, hopeless, and
discouraged. How can we get beyond those feelings? As David wrote…God’s
faithfulness will bring me out of this distress because of His unfailing love. God’s
love is just that: faithful. He is faithful to those He loves…the whole world…even
when they are unfaithful.
As Isaiah wrote in the verses in our Memory Verse for this
week…For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you
not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers
in the dry wasteland. Since I live in a semi-desert area with dry wasteland
and wilderness areas, daily I see rivers that God has created in this area.
Rivers…not just one river, but three. The great and mighty Columbia River, the
Yakima River, and the Snake River. They are each great rivers for transforming
the desert agricultural area into a desert oasis flourishing with plants like
grapes, potatoes, corn, wheat, alfalfa, pumpkins, squash, and onions. The
rivers also provide a home for salmon and other fish. Throughout Israel, God
has also transformed the land into productive agriculture areas. In this passage,
God has said that He is about to do something new. It will be
interesting to see what He does. What will God do next?
Verse of Salvation ~ LORD, give me your unfailing love,
the salvation that you promised me. Psalm
119:41
Memory Verse of the Week ~ "But forget
all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do
something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a
pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19
Friday’s Feast at the King’s Table
Most people have favorite foods that they like to eat on
holidays, like turkey for Thanksgiving. What are your favorite Christmas foods?
If I were to poll my family, there would be several—out of
our group of thirteen—that would say “sushi” since that is their favorite just
about any time of the year. Others would say Christmas Cookies—and who doesn’t
like a nice sugar cookie? My husband always like to have some fruitcake, so we
are always on the lookout for good fruit cake and I’ll try to make some, or a
batch of my Mom’s fruitcake cookies, this week. We’ve tried all different
Christmas Eve menus…and this year we are going back to a favorite Green Chili
Chicken Enchiladas, which is a tasty do ahead meal. We'll eat it at lunchtime so we can have a snack before we go to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at church. My favorite service for the whole year.
Our menu for Christmas Day actually changed a couple of
times and we finally settled on a family favorite that I’ve previously blogged.
Santee Stew is also known as Low Country Boil. Its tasty ingredients include shrimp,
crab, turkey kielbasa, corn-on-the-cob, baby red potatoes, and I’m going to add
some fresh cod meat, too, this Sunday. Of course, it is good with crusty
Italian bread and a simple green side salad. For dessert you could serve a nice
lemon sorbet, or the traditional pumpkin and pecan pies.
1
large onion, chopped
1
bell pepper, chopped
3
celery stalks, chopped
2
Tb. seafood seasoning
salt
& pepper to taste
Turkey
kielbasa - 6“ per person, cut into 1 1/2” pieces
Corn
on the cob - 1/2 ear per person
Raw
shrimp in the shells - ½ lb per person
Optional
additions:
Fresh crab in the shell – ¼ lb per person
Fresh mussels in the shell – ¼ lb per person
Other seafood in small amounts as desired by those around the
table –
large sea scallops
chunks of raw flounder, salmon or halibut
Baby
red potatoes - 1 to 2 per person or more as desired
Cook
onion, pepper, celery, potatoes, & seasonings in enough water to cover;
boil 15 minutes. Add sausage; boil 10 minutes. Add corn; boil 5-10 minutes. Add
additional seafood to suit the taste of your guests, cook briefly. Add shrimp;
boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat; wait 5 minutes; drain & serve with
cocktail sauce for the shrimp and butter for the corn. It is a casual meal and
takes time peeling the shrimp as you eat. Be sure to provide bowls for the
shrimp shells and corn cobs and lots of napkins or even a small towel for each
guest.
Enjoy
this time of Christmas preparations and Hannukah celebrations!
© 2022 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com
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