I have always loved cranberries. Our family wasn't big on sweets, and rarely had desserts while we were growing up. One of the few desserts Mother made was Cranberry Dessert Pie. She had found the recipe, which she altered, of course, in one of her Feasting Naturally cookbooks. Her alteration made the dessert healthier, but still incredibly delicious!
Cranberries add vibrancy and richness to Thanksgiving and Christmas feasting tables and plates. The deep red color of cranberries seem to shout, "Joy to the world! The LORD is come! Let heaven and nature sing!" Cranberries are absolutely one of my favorite symbols of the most wonderful time of the year!
Cranberries became the signature touch of my Cozy Christmas Coffee while at the Cozy Christmas Cottage on the Lake! Instead of ice, I would add cranberries to a drink for a festive look, and would often add a few to my Cozy Christmas Coffee, to take it from too hot to drink, to just right.
I have dreamed of having (2) 7 cubic foot freezers filled with cranberries. When cranberries came into season this last fall (2023) I was gifted the opportunity to buy as many as I could fit into the top freezer of someone who knew my desire for a stash of cranberries and supported my dream. The cranberries I bought were almost $4 for a 2 lb. bag at Sam's. The total cost of a dozen bags with tax was $49.25. I bought a dozen bags at a time, and each of those receipts for $49.25, was a confirmation of the promise of Isaiah 49:25, given to me on the evening of December 18, 7 days before Christmas, 2015.
Isaiah 49:25 says: But this is what the Lord says:
“Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,
and plunder retrieved from the fierce;
I will contend with those who contend with you,
and your children I will save."
Do you remember the story, "Exactly Seven Hours"? You may not remember the times that marked the 7 hours, so I will remind you: 11:52 am to 6:52 pm.
The fall of 2023, it was uncanny how many times I saw 6:52. I would pick up my phone for the first time in a few hours, and it would be 6:52! I would wake up at 6:52 am with no alarm! I would walk into the kitchen of someone's home and the stove clock would blink back at me 6:52! A few times, I would return to ASLAN, my Subaru Ascent, turn on the ignition, and the dashboard would show the time was 6:52! It was truly astonishing.
Sometime in late November I realized the 52nd anniversary of my parents' wedding day was coming up on December 6, so, 6:52. Hmmm.
Then, on the evening of December 6, I was at Sam's with Juniper and Linden to pick up a chicken and vegetables for a pre-concert meal. While there, we noticed the fresh cranberries were marked down to HALF PRICE! We happily piled a couple dozen bags of cranberries into our shopping cart.
When we rang them up, we were surprised that they were only 51 cents a bag! I immediately thought of my upcoming Christmas Eve Birthday! It was my 51st birthday! These were Christmas Eve Birthday Cranberries!
When all 24 bags had been rung up, the subtotal came to $12.24. I couldn't believe it! Not only was I was going to be 51 in 24, and my birthday written day-month-year (1.2.24) looked like Christmas Eve, but my age (51) times the year (24) equaled 12.24! I was blown away and filled with wonder!
Now I had Isaiah 49.25 Cranberries, and Christmas Eve Birthday Cranberries! What beautiful confirmation of God's promises to me!
The children spent the night with me that night, and while they slept, visions of cranberries danced in my head. I was fasting that week, and praying for a couple people in our family, in particular. Sometimes I fast and pray because it's a good thing to do, and sometimes I fast and pray because I am led to, and this was one of those times I was being led to fast. For 89 hours. As I was fasting, the Holy Spirit showed me that this FAST was "Part 2" of a 78 hour FAST that I did on the same dates in 2015! Both FASTS began on December 6, 8 years apart! Both FASTS were announced to me "last minute"-- the 78 hour Fast which began December 6, 2015, was an Esther Fast for 78 hours with no food or water. The FAST that began December 6, 2023, was an 89 hour water fast, so I drank water the whole time. I was shocked when I added 78 and 89 and discovered 78 and 89 equal 167! The book of Esther has exactly 167 verses!
The morning after we found the 51 cent Christmas Eve Birthday Cranberries, I was gifted the purchase of the last (2) in stock and on sale 7 cubic foot freezers from Best Buy, and all the rest of the cranberries from Sam's! I took Charley Oak Linden with me to make the purchases. We had so much fun with him tucked in between 134 bags of cranberries! I was about to burst when we counted the bags and they totaled 134! There are 15 Psalms of Ascent, Psalms 120 - 134!
Psalm 134 is just 3 verses,
1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 134, the last Psalm of Ascent, is exactly how I felt as I walked out of Sam's with 134 bags of cranberries, joy'full and triumph'aunt, and loaded them all into ASLAN, my ASCENT!
The first freezer filled to capacity with 84 bags of cranberries. I was ecstatic! Psalm 84 mentions the highways to Zion! I was on an 89 hour fast, and Highway 89 is one of the highways to Zion National Park in Utah!
That left 50 bags of cranberries for the second freezer! I was overjoyed! 50 is Jubilee and I was 50!
So many bags of cranberries and so much confirmation of God's promises for my family! Isaiah 49:25, The Psalms of Ascent, the highways to Zion, and Jubilee! The biggest delight in all of this is that none of this was planned by me! It was all being given to me! You can't tell me that full price cranberries just happen to be $49.25, or that there just happened to be exactly 134 bags of cranberries on sale for 51 cents a bag, which I just happened to discover on the 52nd anniversary of my parents' wedding on the 6th of December, after seeing 6:52 so many times beforehand, which itself was a reminder of a 7 hour miracle that led me to the Cozy Christmas Cottage on the Lake, signaling the beginning of my Christmas Calling and the Adventure of Faith I was now on---and that I just happened to be gifted with the last (2) 7 cubic foot freezers in stock and on sale at Best Buy, and that one freezer filled to capacity just happened to hold 84 bags of cranberries, leaving 50 bags for the other freezer, which opened my eyes to realize that Psalm 84 and Jubilee equal the Psalms of Ascent and the Highway to Zion! Or, I guess you could tell me that, but I wouldn't believe a word of it! I know GOD did this all for me, and I receive His goodness and fellowship in my life with exceeding great joy!
GOD is faithful and true, He gives promises and He keeps them, and He still speaks to His children in some of the most beautiful, if strange, ways!
I hope you, too, are holding on to the promises of GOD and trusting Him with your family and your future! You may not have freezers filled with cranberries---but I hope your eyes are wide open to see the goodness of GOD and His promises in ways that speak to your heart! I believe GOD gives us the desires of our hearts so that He can give us the desires of our hearts! It is His delight to do so! To plant the desire in us, and then bring it to pass, His way, His time, which is always perfect!
