A Verse for the Year: 2013 and On

Some people make New Year's resolutions.

Some choose a theme "word" for the year.

And some of us choose a Bible verse for the year.

2013 was the first year I really narrowed down to one verse to keep in mind all year and wrote it in the front of my Bible. Isaiah 40:28-31 - especially vs. 31

How neat to also find my verse in an envelope that I had picked up when sorting Grandma's apartment after her September 2011 death. The worn envelope was full of index cards with her hand-written memory verses. Grandma was even memorizing more scripture on her final days in the ICU after a heart attack. She was 90 years old.

Here is the verse in context:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 

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 be faint. 

2013 was the year of fading strength for Elsa and me. (We can now look back and see it had been waning ever since an illness in 2005.  Likely when we picked up Lyme.) I held onto this verse as my body grew more and more tired and weary.  Daily life became harder. Extra activities had to be cut. We spent more and more time lying in silence on the couch to recover.

One day as I sat on my bedroom floor reading my Bible and praying, I needed hope. For some reason I suddenly looked up at the window and was given an amazing gift. A huge, bald eagle flew straight at me, its 6-7 foot wingspan filling the window's view as it soared up to clear our 2nd story rooftop! 

I have never seen an eagle fly that close - before or since. My family probably couldn't understand me right away as I came racing down the stairs gasping out the news! And of course, my verse came to mind... with renewed hope.

Little did we know how much more of God's hope and strength we would need in the months and years ahead.

That summer Elsa and I made one more trip to visit and work with our dear friends in Russia. When we came home, we were determined to return the following year. But we never recovered from "jet-lag." Our bodies began to seriously stumble that autumn, and in early 2014, they fell.

But in that very dark time, God graciously gave us more hope to hold onto. He clearly told Elsa that "this would be harder than we imagined, but He would get us through it."

We are still in the midst of "it" and wait for more of that promised renewal. When we feel like giving up, He reminds us again in various ways.  And He keeps using His glorious creation of eagles.

Our doctor is a six-hour drive from home. That certainly has its challenges as we travel every 3 months for appointments. But each time we look forward to counting the bald eagles along the Mississippi River bluffs. In 2014 we counted at least 50 on one winter trip. Elsa spotted more than a dozen in an hour on our last drive. And we remember this verse. A gift!

In 2014 Elsa was given some delicate origami paper and learned how to fold eagles.  Here's the one she gave me.

One of our regular drives passes a local bald-eagle nest. We always crane our necks to look for the resident pair and miss them for the few months they disappear each winter. We were amazed at how quickly they rebuilt the gigantic nest after a storm knocked it out of their dead tree.

Then in 2015 we watched as the parents diligently guarded and fed not one, but two fuzzy, black eaglets.  The newspaper (where this picture was printed) explained how very rare that is.

Even though 2013 is long past, the verse for the year continues to bless us. And we continue looking for God's reminders of hope and relying on His daily strength.

Topic continued in later post
Also see Verses for the Years: 2014, 2015