DoorKeeper Ministries
  • Home
  • About Us / Contact Us
    • Bio
    • What We Believe
    • Contact Us
  • Ministries
    • Audio Teachings
    • Video Teachings
    • Missions / Testimonials
    • Links
    • Kelly's Music & Lyrics >
      • Simple Songs of Scripture Lyrics
      • Covenant with Israel Lyrics
      • Comfort, Comfort My People Lyrics
  • Music, DVD's & Books
  • Donate
  • Blog

DoorKeeper Watch Blog

I have posted watchmen on your walls O Jerusalem
​Isaiah 62:6

Touching the Pages

4/4/2023

0 Comments

 
For the past few days I have been noticing how much more often my husband has been sitting with his favorite Bible in his lap, moving his index finger slowly along the lines of text, an expression of deep study etched in his face. I know that he is not truly able to read the words or comprehend the meaning. Occasionally I will ask him to read aloud to me and he speaks about every third or fourth word. "Did you get what that means, John?" I inquire. "No. Not really," comes the hesitant answer. 

So I have been wondering what he does get out of these hours spent in this precious book, and then today I recalled something he has shared with me several times over the past few years.  He has told me about his days on the job at the power plant in Farmington, New Mexico, where he was an industrial mechanic. He would tell me about his coffee breaks and his lunch time. "Every day I would pour myself a cup of coffee and sit down with my Bible to read. I didn't care to hear the rough language all around me so I would shut myself in, so to speak, with the Word of God. And sometimes one of these fellows would get curious about what I was reading and then I could share the Word with them. That would be a really good day!"

As the Lord brought this back to my memory, I realized that John must be drawing great comfort just from having that familiar old Bible in his lap, touching its pages, feeling the onionskin with his fingers, perhaps picking up a word here and there that sparks a memory of a Scripture.  I must have been right about this because one afternoon after he had been sitting with his open Bible for about two hours I asked him, "How are you doing?" He answered me with one word: "Comfort."

Tonight after I cleared away the dinner dishes and found him again in his chair with the open Bible on his lap, I offered to read to him. He eagerly handed me the Bible. It was open to the book of Isaiah so I began reading right where he was pointing. He hung on every word. He kept asking me to show him where I was in the paragraph, so I started moving my finger along the lines, just as he does. I could see his heart getting so FULL and he would ravenously ask me, "read another chapter please!" It made me think of the passage in Amos 8:11:, "Behold the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD," when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."

Finally we both got tired and I got him into bed. Then I remembered that I needed to watch an old homemade video of our Betrothal ceremony from October 30, 2010. A dear friend of mine has asked me to sing a song at their 50th wedding anniversary celebration this summer. I offered to sing for them the song I sang to John at our Betrothal. So I found the video on my laptop and began to watch.  The pastor recited vows that we then repeated to each other. After this, John reached into his pocket, put on his reading glasses, and began to read aloud to me a long and very meaningful passage of Scripture, and some of his own promises, pledging his love to me. He was so animated, delivering his speech with great expression in his voice and he pronounced every word perfectly! I just sat here, stunned. I honestly didn't remember that he once was so eloquent. I knew from the beginning that he was an extremely avid reader as he had literally hundreds and hundreds of books in his home in Farmington and probably one of almost every translation of the Bible!

Dementia has stolen so much from him. It is such a cruel disease. And yet, it is The Word of God that still sustains him, still comforts him, still gives him peace. When his failed vision betrays him and his brain can no longer process the words, they are still so alive in his heart and his spirit!  And as I ponder this I think to myself, "We all need to be like this. We who can still see, still read and comprehend, should ask God to give us this hunger, this fire for His Word. Deuteronomy 30:14: The Word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. 

I pray for you all a holy and peaceful celebration of the Passover. I pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and God's protection over His people.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Kelly Ferrari Mills

    Picture



    Subscribe


    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

Visit DoorKeeper Ministries on Facebook and YouTube 


  • Home
  • About Us / Contact Us
    • Bio
    • What We Believe
    • Contact Us
  • Ministries
    • Audio Teachings
    • Video Teachings
    • Missions / Testimonials
    • Links
    • Kelly's Music & Lyrics >
      • Simple Songs of Scripture Lyrics
      • Covenant with Israel Lyrics
      • Comfort, Comfort My People Lyrics
  • Music, DVD's & Books
  • Donate
  • Blog