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So, did you think I'd disappeared? HA! Nope, I've been here
all the time, but we've been having technical difficulties with
our website. I think we're figuring a few things out now, so
please... check back often as we're slowly learning how to navigate in
this new arena.
So many things have happened since I've last
posted. All of our children are now married and we have 5
grandchildren with more on the way. I'll keep you updated.
Being a grandma is so special. I have so many stories to share
with my little grandchildren and bedtime seems to be the best time to
pass on these stories because they are ready to listen to anything if it
means they can stay up a few minutes longer. The other night I was
snuggled up in the bed with my two little granddaughters. I had no
more than finished telling them a story about their great-great
grandmother, Petra Oliana Sundae, and her antics on the farm, when I
heard the now familiar words..."Tell it again, Grandma!" So for
the fifth time I repeated the same story and I had to make sure that I
told the story the exact same way each time. If I left out a part
or added a part, Emily would stop me and say, "No, Grandma, that's not
how it goes!" I have so many stories in my memory bank. They
are the stories that were told to me as I lay next to my Grandma in bed.
Stories of the family and the old country and even songs sung in my
grandma's old Norwegian tongue. ("Jeg er sa glad hver julekveld")
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses was speaking to
the next generation of Israelites. These were the children from
the wilderness who had no actual experience of being delivered from
Egyptian slavery. They didn't know the wonders and signs that God
performed for their parents. They needed to hear the old, old
story about their past. Moses stood up and told them so they would
know where they came from, whom their God was and what was required of
them. They were reminded of the covenant that God had given to
their forefathers. Moses did everything he could to teach them so
they wouldn't forget their God when they entered the pagan world.
Throughout the book of Deuteronomy I can almost hear Moses pleading with
the children to remember...remember the past, remember the consequences
of disobedience, remember God's command that there be no other gods in
your hearts, remember to take these truths and teach them to your
children.
As a country we are called to remember.
Remember the past...how we were founded on God...remember the
consequences of sin...remember God's promise to bless those who call
upon His name...remember God's demand that there be no other gods before
Him! And, God is calling each one of us to remember...remember
what He has done for us through His grace and mercy...remember who we
are in Him...remember our past and remember His promise to those who by
their own free will chose to live by Grace alone, thru Faith alone, in
Christ alone.
Moses had to remember to tell the story of God's
faithfulness exactly as it happened - nothing added and nothing taken
away. So too, it's imperative that I tell the True story of God's
grace and mercy poured out to all who chose to die to themselves, pick
up their cross and follow Him. It's important to repeat it often, write
it down, put it to music, sing about it, and live the truth to my
children, grandchildren and everyone I meet. "And these words,
which I am commanding you today, shall be on your hearts, and you shall
teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit
in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and
when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand
and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall
write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
(Deuteronomy 6:6-9). "Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart."
(Proverbs 3:3).
My oldest granddaughter performed in her first
Christmas concert this year. She is 4 years old. She stood
up in front of the congregation with the rest of her class and sang the
words of Christ's birth. She knew every word and had every little
hand motion down. This is the start...she will remember this
someday and I pray the words of truth will come back to her. When
our children were young we always played their favorite song, "I am a
Promise". As we are now playing and teaching these songs to our
grandchildren, our adult children remember them too and sing along.
The words and message never left their hearts.
There's a song that I remember called, "I love to
tell the Story." The lyrics talk about telling the story of Jesus and
His glory and His love, and then it adds, "I love to tell the story,
because I know 'tis TRUE!"
Friends, the Gospel story is not just "a" story
with a "happy ending"...It's the TRUE story with the "PERFECT ENDING!"
In Christ,
Linda
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