Ezekiel 47:12

Ever since making the pendant on my birthday, parts of Ezekiel 47 have been coming to mind, almost haunting me. In a conversation with Trevor yesterday it was made clearer to me that there's something happening within my heart, albeit small and slow. Services at Central Vineyard have been good for me and the messages Jeff brings have hit home. I'm meditating on Scripture for days at a time and now here I am blogging about this. For some reason, these verses are really powerful to me this week. I've been fighting it too, thinking 'Kelli, you don't read the Bible anymore. Why would this matter to you?' or 'What? Scripture is actually speaking to you?! Who are you and what in the world is happening?!' Yeah... I 've been fighting it, but the words are too strong, too meaningful, too True. I can't believe I'm typing these words, but I glean hope from this passage and I'm choosing to place some belief in its words. 


When Palmer was sick, the passage below from Ezekiel was really meaningful to him, and in turn to most of the Landing Place family. It led to him getting his first tattoo and then several others followed him in that action. My own husband got the same tattoo that Palmer got and now we both have a visual reminder of the journey we shared with our friend and the hope we placed in the Father. Sometimes I see his ink and its painful as I remember the hours of praying and weeping and agonizing over Mark's sickness that we all spent together. Sometimes though, I see it and I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I envision Blinn telling Zachari the story behind why he got the tattoo and what its meant to our family. I mean, we named our firstborn child based off the image that's now embedded in my husband's skin. I'd say it holds some meaning for us. Hope, even. 


Maybe one day we'll all know a place like this. A place where dead things come to life, old things are made new, and fruit grows in abundance brining forth healing and renewal. Maybe one day...


The River of Healing
⁸ Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. ⁹ There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim, the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean. ¹¹ But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will still be salty. ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”