Waiting In The Winter

I am sitting on my pink prayer couch listening to worship music. I need some time in the Presence of the Lord to be refreshed—a sabbath rest. I feel drained—I need this time desperately.   

It’s bitter cold out but the sun is shining brightly. Snow is falling from the trees in the chilling breeze—giving the appearance of snow-fall. The twirling flakes glisten in the sunlight. Capturing the beauty on camera eludes me. I am not familiar enough yet with my camera to know how to capture the beautiful scene happening just outside my window. I remember that I snapped a couple of photos the day before while it was snowing. God’s creation is amazing and beautiful. It gives me peace.

Winter. I feel as though winter is my perpetual season—naturally and spiritually. I am awaiting Aslan to arrive and break this curse of winter over the land. My beloved lilac shows no sign of life; I long to see the beautiful lavender flowers waking up from their cold slumber. I long to see fruit blossoms on my apple and apricot trees. The past few years we experienced mild winters that fooled the trees into blooming, only for the blossoms to be lost to one last frost that rears its head and destroys any hope of fruit. Where I live, it doesn’t matter if the grand groundhog sees his shadow or not—there are at least six weeks left of winter to be had.

The thing about seasons is that though it seems that they will last forever—they do change. They are a constant in the laws of nature. I have found that there is little one can do to make the natural seasons change. It is also true that spiritual seasons will last as long as the Lord needs them to last. You can pray, read the Word, and fast but if the Lord wants you in that season there is little you can do to break from the cocoon of winter and spread your wings and fly into spring.

There is a time and purpose for everything under heaven {Eccl. 3:1 NASB}.

Winter may last longer than you or I want, but God promises that He will never leave or forsake us. Though it is hard sometimes, we can rest in His promise. Winter is long, dark, and cold but He will not leave us in those hard times forever.

Every seed buried in sorrow you will bring forth in its time.[1]

After I have prayed and stood on the Word and believed and I find myself still in winter, I have to rest in the Lord and know that He has me there for His purpose. So, I pray some more, I worship, I cultivate a grateful heart, and I seek the beauty in the season that I am in and rest, knowing God cares for me and is working out everything for good. There is always a reason to worship and praise Him for all He has done—all that He has created.

Before I know it spring will be here and I will soak myself in the warmth of the sun. And it will be His timing and for His purpose. Look for the beauty in every season.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end {Eccl. 3:11}.

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[1] Elevation Worship, There Is A Cloud 2017. 

Happy Monday: Breathe On Me Oh Breath Of God

Happy Monday...I pray that you are strengthened by the Lord today. May He awaken you by His Spirit today. May you have peace and joy today. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love the way you love, and do what you would do. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure, until my will is one with yours, to do and to endure. 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with you the perfect life for all eternity. 

Breathe on me, breath of God, Edwin Hatch (1878)

May He awaken you to His beauty all around you. May He breathe life into your soul and spirit today. Let us pray for an awakening...in the Church and in the world.  

 

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Happy Independence Day!

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” John 8:36 NASB

“We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.” Samuel Adams

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 

“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” John Adams

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight'
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream;

'Tis the star-spangled banner: oh, long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that has made and preserved us as a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust";
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The Declaration of Independence

The National Anthem

Happy Independence Day!