Monday, September 5, 2016

It is the gift of God


Just a week has gone by.  Now the deep green of the Soy Beans has begun to turn lighter and they have yellowed. The corn is golden rust across the rows of rolling hills.  It is lovely.  

Autumn is coming.  We have had cooler days this very last week, although this week has a hot, muggy wind from the south scheduled.

I am thankful.  The LORD is my safety.  He is my shield.  Another spring and summer has come and is almost gone.  

I use to worry.  I worried about everything.  Eventually, in my young Christian days I learned to trust in the One and Only.  The LORD is my rock and my deliverer.  It has been a new and different life now that I do not worry as I have done before.  

Even so, with every new year, with every new season my agonies bring on such new grief, and old griefs also.  I always pray.  I always cry out to Him, but this year I preached to myself.

Spring began to emerge and it was wonderful, but my inner person trembled.  I was worrying deep, deep within me. 

I grieve and I have real reasons to grieve.  So, like always, I gave my grief, sadnesses, agonies, and traumas to Him over and over.  Soon enough summer began which was much sooner than normal.  My inner struggles of fear, worry, dread ~ whatever it was, quietly nagged at me.

This sounds silly, seems silly, but it is a real struggle for me. 

The LORD holds me, and I do not need to be afraid.  I live every day.  I continue to do next things for Him, and because of Him.  I did not want to just live another summer where it just went by.  This is when I began to preach to myself.

So, including the LORD, I said to myself, "This summer is going to happen, and each day I am going to live fully.  I do not need to be dreading each day as it arrives, even in my inner most being.  I can live and enjoy each day knowing that soon enough it will be autumn.  There is no need to be fearful."

And so, today, I realized that the summer has gone by.  Last week the Soy Beans were deep green, but now they have changed.  Autumn is upon us.  

I have lived each day. I may have struggled here and there, but I was not fearful like I have been.  I had often reminded myself that the LORD was with me, and that summer would continue until it was autumn.  Now it has come to fruition.  

The LORD is my provider in so many ways. He can be your provider also.   Ask Him. 

Praising the LORD!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
There is an appointed time for everything. 
And there is a time for every event under heaven—
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? 
I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.
He has made everything appropriate in its time. 
He has also set eternity in their heart, 
yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice 
and to do good in one’s lifetime; 
moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—
it is the gift of God.

*


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jill,

I'm not sure of the grief you speak about, but it has made me start praying for you. I already feel like we have much in common! The pictures and stories you post, the hymns, your love of God's wondrous outdoors, poetry and sewing - all are things which I love, too. Your description of the fields of soybeans and corn turning their autumn colors paints a beautiful picture in my mind. Iowa must be a beautiful state! Reminds me of the old State Fair movie with those great Rodgers & Hammerstein songs!

We serve a wonderful Saviour! May he bless you!

Kathryn

The Piper's Wife said...

Kathryn, how very kind of you. Your prayers are so precious to me! Thank you. The LORD hears our cries. We can trust Him in all things.

How special that we like the same things :o) Finding joy in what we do, and what we can do is a blessing and glorifies the LORD.

Thank you for your encouragements.