foretelling & now-telling

Today we drove home from the beach. It took 4 hours, the children stayed content the entire time & so I read! I read & read; I'm practically finished Isaiah. The last half of the book is full of promises. In particular the  promise of Christ's coming, to be born human, to die, & to raise from the dead.  Isaiah was written by a profit hundreds of years before Christ was born.  The Lord God says over and over throughout the book that He is the only God, the creator of everything, the one who makes it all work, the only one who can save... And He says, "Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save..." verses like this are declared over and over & I think of hearing so many atheists' quotes that reverberate the same message. The difference between God saying it and an atheist?  The atheist throws baby Jesus out with the bath water.
I love the verse Isaiah49:15b-16a, "...I will not forget you!  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands..."(NIV).  Christ's nail scarred hands are an engraving of us and His soul was pierced not just His body which is why they are still that way in eternity.  
Isaiah 52:13-53--Foretells Christ's coming & the words of God delivered through the prophet Isaiah; read the book of John to follow up :)...

13See, my servant will act wisely^b;

he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

14Just as there were many who were appalled at him^c—

his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man

and his form marred beyond human likeness—

15so will he sprinkle many nations,^d

and kings will shut their mouths because of him.

For what they were not told, they will see,

and what they have not heard, they will understand. 

1Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4Surely he took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows,

yet we considered him stricken by God,

smitten by him, and afflicted.

5But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8By oppression^a and judgment he was taken away.

And who can speak of his descendants?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was stricken.^b

9He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes^c his life a guilt offering,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11After the suffering of his soul,

he will see the light [of life]^d and be satisfied^e;

by his knowledge^f my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,^g

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,^h

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Today I got home, walked in the door, & my perfectionism overcame me all at once. yep, bombarded.  I thought, 'ugh! stupid hormones!!!' tmi? Don't all of us ladies blame them?  My perfectionism has nothing to do with my hormones, but sometimes it sure seems like it.  I ran an errand tonight and was praying in order to fight off the depression clouding around me.  He reminded me to be thankful... its seems with all this thankfulness practice I would've already been doing that, but no.  Thankfulness and depression brought on by unfulfilled perfectionism cannot coexist. So... I love the little periwinkle colored flowers growing in Chic-fil-la's drive-thru... I thanked God for them and continued to thank Him for all kinds of different things from the day. The depression lifted & I let go of my perfectionism again.  Sounds easy, but it was kind of painful.  Glad to have had a little more of this junk purged from me. Thankful for a God who Loves with an everlasting Love.