One past Christmas season, Kelita sent me pictures of her Christmas decorations. I fell in love with her wonderful display of vintage pinecones ornaments. I told her how lovely I thought they were.
Not too long after that, she sent me a beautiful green, vintage pinecone that year, to start my own collection, she said.
After that, each time I went into antique stores I would search for pinecone ornaments. They are extremely difficult to find, it turns out. Still, I treasured what I had been given by my friend.
This year, I decorated my mantle with greenery, lights and added my pinecones. It looked so nice. I was quite pleased with it.
One night I was turning off the lights and tragedy occurred. My green pinecone ornament fell from the mantle. It seemed to be in slow motion, I could see it falling but I couldn’t stop it. Slowly it fell until it hit the bottom of the fireplace and shattered. I almost cried.
Silly, I know. But it was a precious gift from a friend, and I loved it.
I shared my disappointment with Kelita as I removed the remaining few pinecones from the mantle and put them in a safe place, in a bowl on the table.
My wonderful friend sent me pinecones this week. As I received them, I put them in the bowl on the table. There was no way I was going to chance breaking another one, if I could help it.
I loved the new pinecones. They looked nice on the table, but I really wanted them on my mantle. Still, I didn’t want them broken. I shared my concerns with Kelita. She instructed me to put ties on the pinecones and tie them to the greenery. Aha! Why didn’t I think of that?! That’s what I did, and I loved the look.
Once I was all done, I shared the picture of my mantle, decorated with my pinecone ornaments with Kelita.
When I sent her the picture, she said something to me that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. She said, “like faith, those vintage pinecones are fragile. Sometimes our faith breaks in a fall, when it does, we learn to anchor it to something to prevent it from happening again.”
Oh, how true those words!
I have had times in my life when I put my faith out there and believed for something. It seemed my faith fell and shattered in that season. The next time I needed to walk by faith, I was afraid to put my faith back out there. I was afraid to believe again…even though I really wanted to believe again.
During one season, God showed me I had faith in my faith, not in His word. I have learned since that time to anchor my faith, just like I anchored those precious vintage pinecones.
I now make sure I have the word of God to back up my prayer request. I declare HIS word over my situation. In doing so, I am anchoring my faith to His word, which cannot fail.
Hebrews 6:19 says; This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.
His word, His promises are sure and steadfast. We can anchor our prayers to Him, and His word and rest assured that He will not lie. He will bring to pass everything He has promised.
Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God’s word will not return void, but it will accomplish what it was sent to accomplish.
Do you feel your faith has fallen and shattered? Are you afraid to believe again? If so, I know that feeling. But friend, our hope is in God alone. We must choose to believe again. We must do, as I did with the little pinecones, anchor our faith to His unfailing word and believe with everything inside of us. 
I love how the Passion Translation shares Hebrews 6:19; We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God Himself.
Wow! When we anchor ourselves to the word of God and His promises, we are anchored to God Himself. There is nothing stronger and more unbreakable than that.
Today, anchor your faith and trust in His word and believe. It is, after all, the season of miracles! And we serve a God of miracles.
Meditate on this:
He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. Isaiah 33:6
