A Place to Stand
by Peggy Fry
As this year comes to a close, I was pondering everything going on in our nation, along with all of the “good” counsel and advice we are getting on every side — and these three words came to my spirit:
1. Thankfulness
• I am thankful for His ongoing presence.
• I am thankful for His everlasting love.
• I am thankful that He is there for us in all of the circumstances of life.
• I am thankful that He is an all-seeing and all-knowing “Daddy” God.
• I am thankful for my grandchildren who each, in his or her own way, have reached out to love me through notes, emails and phone calls. What a blessing all of them are!
• I am especially thankful to Shannon, Candace, Greyson, Emerson and Ellery for the sacrificial care they gave to their Dad/Papa for the last four years that he was with us.
• I am thankful for the many times the Holy Spirit has been my comfort, my strength, and my song in the long nights when sleep never came.
2. Gratefulness
• I am grateful that “unto us a Child is born and a Son is given” to the world to give His life’s blood that we may have eternal life! And not only eternal life, but also here on this planet an abundant life filled with His blessings! O what a Savior! O Hallelujah!
• I am grateful that He never leaves us or forsakes us, and never, never, never gives up on us — but either takes us through or takes us out of the difficulties we all face. Through it all, He sees every tear and hears every cry of our hearts.
• I am grateful for all the ministries, intercessors and friends that have prayed for and held our family in their hearts.
• Lastly, I am grateful that the Lord allowed me to walk for 68 years alongside a husband who truly lived a Spirit-controlled life every day. He was my mentor, and by example helped me become the woman that I am today.
3. Hopefulness
• We serve a perfect, unwavering Father: “...God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
• Our hope is in Him. Our hope is anchored in the fact that what He says, He WILL do. His word is sure and all of His promises are “Yes” and “Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20).
• So how can we live our lives hopeful and expectant? I think of a piece written by our son Steve in his devotional book, Safe in the Father’s Arms, entitled “A Place Where We Can Stand.” In it, he recalls God’s invitation to Moses in Exodus 33:21: “There is a place near me where you may stand” (Ex. 33:21). Steve writes:
We look for a solid place to stand, while life shifts and quakes beneath our feet…Eventually, we look at ourselves and realize that what we are trying to be and who we really are stand miles apart. Ultimately we have to abandon all attempts to stand in our own strength and ultimately find that place by God where we can stand.
That place is in the cleft of the rock, where we are covered by His hand. To know God, and to know that our lives count, we must seek for a glory that is not found amidst the accolades of the crowd, but in a private place with God.
So, Steve continues, let this be our heart’s cry:
All praise and glory is Yours, God, for being that rock — not only the one on whom I stand, but the one in whom I am hid. Hide me away in You, Father — and let me see Your glory...let me know Your heart.
• He is our Source and our Resource. Truly, He is all that we need. Our greatest source of comfort, enjoyment and satisfaction is the time we spend with God. The Psalmist reminds us, “You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fulness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
That, dear friends, is how we stand in the face of everything the devil throws at us. And remember, the way we think becomes the way we feel, and the way we feel becomes the way we act. The more we think about something, the more power we give it!
So as we begin a new year and a new journey in every area of our lives, let us choose to depend wholeheartedly on God and trust Him to give us favor. We are His precious concern: whether it be our future, our security, our disappointments, our circumstances or even our ministry,
Blessings for a merry Christmas and a hope-filled, expectant 2022!