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Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed… Isaiah 40:4-5
Today is November 17. Twelve years ago yesterday I lay in the ER becoming increasingly helpless as paralysis overtook my body. This used to be a very hard day for me. It was a day that I really had to fight the enemy just to keep my head above the waters of discouragement and sadness.
It’s different now. If I really think about it, I suppose it is emotional, but not like it was. I have twelve years of perspective on my side. Things look different from here. I have twelve years of watching God meet our every need and twelve years worth of incredible testimonies. I have twelve years of being held so tight in the arms of God that my tears are tears of thanksgiving! I have new and more pressing challenges than what happened in the past, and I have twelve more years with a faithful God to help look to the next twelve with hope and faith.
Incredible things have happened both beautiful and heartbreaking. I’ve learned to allow God to even out my path, and not allow the low places to bring me too far down, nor let the high places carry me away. It is in remaining focused on His face that our paths are made straight and when we hold onto the Rock we remain stable. It is then that He is able to reveal His glory to us, in us and through us. And isn’t that everything we ever wanted anyway? Suddenly, it doesn’t matter how we got there, but just that we are there, in His glory.
The last few weeks have been trying. It seems that it is just one thing after another! Tight schedules, sick kids, my husband in a different city every day and me living in my car just trying to keep up with kids and appointments! Seriously, when I call my friend Dianne, she just answers the phone, “So which parking lot are you in now?”
Since Ryan was out of town last night, Josiah slept in my room. It’s easier to get him up in the morning that way. That was the theory anyway. As it turned out, he woke up at 1:00, 1:30, and 2:00 a.m.. Barfing!! So I got up at 6 and ordered crackers and Gatorade from the store, got everyone in the car and took Alexa to school.
After a few errends, we arrived back home. My friends Frank and Eileen called, so I was talking to them when Josiah handed me a DHL Express package. I tossed it into the passenger seat assuming it was documents for Ryan. A few minutes later, I glanced over and noticed that the sender was Tate Publishing. It was for me! The manuscript for my book was with Tate Publishing awaiting its fate. I ripped open the package and pulled out its contents to find an acceptance letter and a contract!
I was blown away! I am still blown away! God has this uncanny way of stepping into our lives right in the middle of our everyday chaos and absolutely interrupting everything! He did it when I met my husband. He did that when I got paralyzed. He did it when I became pregnant with Josiah. And He did it today. I think I’m still in shock, and I can’t quite get my brain around it, but I have a sneaky suspicion that things are about to change and that this is just the beginning.
For now, though, I’m going to bask in the moment. God gives the visions and the strength to do the hard work and then he brings it to fruition. It so so much fun (among many other things) to be on His team!
I love November! The air is crisp and the trees are really starting to show off here in North Carolina. The leaves are having their last hurrah before they die and fall to the ground.
God loves seasons and changes. He’s seems to always be doing a new thing. He blesses, things grow, and if tended to, they flourish and become beautiful. Eventually they die, fall off, and there is a waiting season before the new thing emerges. It is essential for us to be in tune with the times and seasons of God. If not, we are likely to waste a lot time trying to hold onto something that was truly of God but whose season has past, or fretting and despairing in the winter season because we don’t recognize it for what it is; something that will pass. There is even danger that if we don’t understand seasons that we will come to expect eternal springtime or get so caught up in the joys of summer that we don’t use that time to prepare for winter.
Each season has its own beauty. I lived in Ohio for a few years. The winters there are exceptionally long and are, at times, hard to endure. I remember one time, though, that the barren trees were sparkling with the ice that had covered them the night before. I felt that the Lord was speaking to me through His beautiful creation that even in the most barren seasons of our lives He makes things beautiful when we make room for Him to work.
As the seasons are changing in the natural, take time to discern what season God has you in spiritually. Sometimes just knowing the season you are in brings peace and a deeper understanding of your circumstances. Most importantly, remember that God is in control of all seasons and times. The seasons may change often, but He remains steadfast in His character.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (Whole Chapter)
He has made everything beautiful in its time…
