Treasured...

I appreciate each one of your prayers on our behalf as we once again battle some ridiculous illness. (one of the questions I'll have on my list when I arrive in heaven will be what purpose viruses serve. Because surely they must serve a purpose.)

One thing that I am trying to do differently this year as I read through my bible is to check more background and reference material. I want to try and see things from every angle. I don't want to miss a thing. (working in a christian book store makes it a lot easier to get my hands on all kinds of material. Woo hoo!) I recently checked out the Holman Old Testament Commentaries and I am absolutely thrilled with the material that they provide. They are set up like a Sunday school lesson with illustrations, breakdowns of the text, summaries and so forth. I think I'll be adding them to my list of "must haves."

Max Anders says that Exodus is a redemption story. Not just the story of the Israelites making an "exodus" from Egypt, but a picture of a loving God hastening to save His chosen people. This appeals to me on so many levels. As a person with "issues", nothing thrills my heart more than when scripture uses words like "treasured possession, delighted, chosen." Words like these add balm to a heart that has been hurt more times than I would care to count. I hold scripture like Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left it's place in front of the people (13:22) and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself...if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession (19:4) close to me. It brings me such comfort on difficult, complicated days. (and it brings a smile to my face on the rather ordinary days as well.)

I hope you know how God sees you. I pray that you realize that you too are His treasured possession. How He loves each one of us! I encourage you to keep reading. I know that we have some...um...interesting passages ahead of us as we listen to descriptions of cubits, curtains, and rings.

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I am taking a few days off work to a) begin planning my daughter's wedding (we are wedding dress shopping today) and b) celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day. I am planning on catching up on your posts these next few days as well. If you have a moment or two to spare, please remember our city in your prayers. We finally got every one's power back on from the ice storm only to have a wind storm sweep through and bring down more trees and power lines. Sigh. We like the dark. It encourages napping.