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and then rest in Him.

February 7, 2006

BIBLE VERSE FOR 2006

ISAIAH 12:2

Surely God is my Salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid,

The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song.

He has become my salvation.

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In 1977 a friend challenged me to ask God for a Bible verse for the year. The day after Thanksgiving I found a verse, claimed it, wrote it down and memorized it to use throughout the year.

I did the same in 1978.

Then Thanksgiving 1978 I started the search for 1979. I read my Bible but nothing seemed to speak to me. By Christmas I began to doubt the validity of what happened the two years before. Maybe I just thought God directed me—maybe the verse I chose was just good for the moment.

Still I didn’t give up. On a cold, snowy, down-in-the-dumps morning I decided to visit the Christian bookstore. I didn’t have any money, but I needed a quiet break away from the holiday pressure.

Within moments a verse leaped out from a huge poster and I raced home to describe it to my husband. He laughed at me like he still does when I get truly excited.

“Go buy it. I don’t care what it costs,” he said.

The next morning I raced up and down the aisle of the bookstore in search of the poster I saw the day before. I had written down the scripture, Isaiah 40:31.

Lord, you wouldn’t give me that verse and then sell the wall hanging, would you?

In desperation I gave up and asked a clerk for help.

“Yes, I’m familiar with the calligraphy verses. They are found on an end rack.” She steered me to the parchment sheets with old world burnt edges like I described to her. Only instead of being HUGE as I remembered, they were four inches by six inches with a ribbon and dowel across the top.

“But I’m sure the one I saw was larger.”

The young clerk smiled at me like I’d already hit those senior moments, “I’ll ask, but I don’t think we have that verse on anything else at the moment.”

I paid the $1.79 for the verse, told stories about the purchase to anyone that would listen. I also asked the Lord to let me see his purpose in the search.

Three months later our home life turned inside out and my husband left the ministry. We made a major move and all the while I repeated the verse over and again.

ISAIAH 40:31

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

They will run and not grow weary.

They will walk and not faint.

For five months we lived in an obscure little town where Gary worked in the secular world. We took time for each other and the Lord. Because I knew no one in that community I had more time that summer to study my Bible and to pray than I’d had in years. One thing for certain, I found God to be faithful then. And he continues to be faithful now. I’ve learned to trust Him, to find my hope in him, to find my nourishment for life in the Word of God.

That fall husband prayed, “Lord if you ever want me to pastor again you’ll need to make it very. very clear.” The next day a letter arrived asking him to pastor a small congregation in Idaho and he accepted the call.

Years have passed and each year I search for the next years scripture.