"Not all those who wander are lost..."

I got to thinking in the night about the several devotionals I have written that refer to being lost somewhere and spending the hours trying to find my way.  Fortunately, God has seen fit to use those dreams as teaching tools for me and for those friends who follow my writings. In the most recent Advent devotional printed, I was inspired to recount how I see Jesus as my Mediator in some of these "wandering" episodes.  There I am always searching for my way through the crowds - looking for the exit that I know exists because I have been there before - and often a face appears somewhere close to me, obviously trying to catch up to me to guide me in the desired direction.  Usually the face is of a loved one or a trusted friend.  But as I sat to consider my contributions to our 2019 Advent Devotional booklet (the names and "faces" of Jesus), I suddenly recognized that the face I was seeing in the crowd seemed to be Jesus.  He was the One watching over me and walking near to me as I wandered, ever ready to re-route me if I veered off the path, or to keep the goal always in sight so that I did not give up!  He was serving as my guide to my desired destination - in effect, my mediator between God and me!  This realization opened up a whole new direction for me and you can see the result if you read our devotionals on our church website redcloudwes.wordpress.com/author/redcloudwes/ and I would suggest that. But let me tell you about some further thoughts I have had today about common threads in all these wandering dreams: 
first, in these times, I am never alone, and that speaks to me in two directions (God is always with me, and many others of my world are also wandering and searching); second, I know the way home because I have been there before, so I am not really lost; and third, these dreams often take place in the same area - am I re-visiting issues that have already been settled and decided? Or is there just further growth to be had and this is how the Holy Spirit chooses to direct my focus?  At any rate, I do know that dreams are often meant to help us deal with unsettled daily problems and I think I am glad that I have a Mentor and helper who knows just how I learn and grow best!  This is a wonderful and blessed Christmas season for our family as we await the birth of our newest grandchild (our 2nd grandson and our 7th grandchild) and we are extremely blessed!

Thanksgiving 2019

My first thanks this year has to be that that Dan was able to find a few minutes to figure out why I have not been able to post here for almost 2 years - we do lead a busy life in this small town :) and so I am most happy!  What a year we have had!  Seems like each day brings a new challenge or a new physical problem.  In spite of that, we are still in fairly good health and have so much to rejoice about!  One blessing is that we have had 2 new great grandkids in 2019 and now we know that we will have our 7th grandchild in early 2020 so we are very happy these days.  The second blessing was that we were finally able to have Rudy and Lisa come here to visit and we had a great time.  Lots of changes happening in our extended family and we are so grateful for our God and for prayer.  We continue to have faith that He watches over all and works on our behalf.

Seems like November has been a month of appointments to various doctors, and to the dentist, but we are thankful for all that help and especially for Dan and Stacy, who are so good and so willing to transport us and help us when needed.  Hopefully, December will be better, and 2020 also!  Another big blessing has been the addition of DV8 church, an evening church with a different look and a different style but the same desire to reach the lost in our area.  God is with us and hearts are being changed even before our official launch.  Soon I hope to sit down and write about so many other thoughts God has given me - but not today - they will have to wait for yet another dental appointment to be finished.  God is good and we are thankful!