Tagged: Audrey Frank

The Lord bless you and protect you; the Lord make his face (pāneh) to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance (pāneh) upon you and give you peace.  Numbers 6:24-26 The Hebrew word pāneh is the word for face and countenance. Its meaning includes appearance, presence, to be shown honor, to be under direction, to be under blessing, to be under supervision, watched, favored, to be given audience.  One small word with so much meaning for the people of God. The New Oxford American Dictionary (2021) defines countenance this way: (v) to admit as acceptable or possible (n) a person’s face or facial expression (n) support The rich words of Numbers 6 describe the outcome of the atonement for every person who… Read More

Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession. And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted! Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.  Genesis 13:14-17 Visionaries are impossible thinkers. They see and imagine things outside the bounds of circumstances, resources, and time. Visionaries get a God-glimpse of what’s possible beyond limits. Visionaries have the gift of seeing. Blessing, generation-changing, history-making visions originate with God. Abram was the first visionary. His vision began with God’s invitation. Look. Look… Read More

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.  1 Samuel 1:28. “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.  Luke 2:49-52 Gifts are best when given over to the Lord. Every good gift comes from God (see James… Read More

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:10 Our secretary thought it was a joke. Head down, busy with work, she was annoyed with the interruption when a man entered the office demanding everyone’s attention and announced with a flourish the arrival of a gentleman just outside the door. When no one responded, he repeated his lavish introduction of the crown prince of a nearby country in the Middle East. Suddenly everyone was scrambling to show the honor due to their unexpected guest, a man who would one day be king. My husband spent the rest of the day (in a proper suit… Read More

This is an updated version of one of Audrey's most-read Christmas posts. For those who feel inadequate, you’ve got a friend in Mary. One Christmas in a land far from home, I was expecting our third child and my sense of smell was working overtime. Nauseated and homesick, my attitude was anything but joyful. I was pretty sure I was inadequate for the tasks in front of me and a sick pregnancy was not helping me feel courageous or motivated. Bundling up, I sought solace and fresh air outdoors where I could ruminate alone with my thoughts. The small dirt path behind our bungalow wound up and over a hill, inviting me to explore. I climbed slowly, avoiding the mud. Rounding a bend, I came… Read More

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  Isaiah 11:2 Calling all ye foolish, all ye confused... your camel is ready! For all who would be wisemen, Christmas is your holiday. At Christmastime, Wisdom and Knowledge came in person. Do you wish you had the wisdom to make the right decisions about your future, wisdom to know how you should respond to the throbbing pain of a broken world? Well, your wish came true at Christmastime. The wisemen rode over 700 miles on camels to meet Wisdom. To fall at His feet and worship Him. To give Him the best gifts… Read More

The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. Exodus 14:14 The holiday story is told of a little boy, face sticky with peppermint, cheeks punctuated with two clean streaks of tears caused by his big brother. The big boy wanted the little boy’s candy and made a grab for it. But the little boy held fast to his sweet, refusing to let go.  Big brother then had an idea. Punching the air with two fists, not much bigger than his opponents’, he offered to duke it out. The winner gets the candy. But little brother, smaller though he was, had bigger determination. Nope. I’m holding on to mine. Go find your own. Mom intervened, little brother got to keep his candy, and… Read More

My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. Lamentations 3:17 To be bereft is to be deprived of or lacking something. In particular, it describes the sadness and loneliness accompanying the death or departure of someone dear. We who follow Jesus have the peace that surpasses all understanding available to us through Christ, indeed (see Philippians 4:6-7). But loss can blot out the truth; grief can loom between us and that marvelous, available power, for a time. Like a sudden blackout dashing us into complete darkness, unexpected tragedy and loss can temporarily blind us from the light.  The blindness may be artificial, it may be temporary, but it is real. May we have grace for ourselves and others in the family… Read More

This is what the Lord says: I will fill this valley with pools of water. 2 Kings 3:16 God could have created the world’s surface flat and smooth; He could have made it impenetrable, transparent, polished, sleek, silky, solid. Yet He allowed the surface of the earth to be pliable, malleable, whippy, springy, bendy, impressionable. Some say ice age glaciers created the chasmic valleys of the earth today. Once-level land lies ruptured, wildflowers spilling over its ridges, rivers filling its winding paths. The broken surface of the earth has become a tapestry woven with threads of beauty and life. The Hudson River Valley is one magnificent example of beauty after breaking. Flowing from the highest point of the Adirondack Mountains, the river reaches a depth… Read More

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.  Genesis 2:7   As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed,  he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:13-14 You and I are made of clay. Our origins are dust. The breath of God brought this humble material to life. Humility and humble originate from the Latin word humus. The original Latin humus means “soil,” and has modernly come to mean the organic component of dirt, formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms. The organic component means the part which is derived from… Read More