I originally wrote this a couple of years ago for my personal blog. I’ve been praying for the right season to share it here. I hope it will bless and encourage your heart today.
She stood at the edge of the cliff. With the sun beating down on her face, she could feel the cool breeze as it brushed against her checks. The smell of evergreen filled her senses as she took a deep breath. She stared ahead of her, eyes fixed on the other side. Her heart filled with passion, longing and desire. Yet she stood, at what seemed like the edge of all things.
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photo : flickr cc/ shoothead
“Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need.” – Matthew 7:7 The Message
I shuffled the kids into the park just before dusk. It was a little too late in the day and a little too cool to stay long but we went anyway. It’s beautifully designed – big enough for all my children to enjoy and small enough so I can see the entire park.
I took a well deserved seat on the bench. And off they ran. Tire swings, for the moment friends and structures to climb. I’ll remember this summer as the first in a long while that I’ve actually been able to sit at the playground.
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“Just as I am…” If you grew up in the kind of church that ended almost every service with an invitation to “come forward” to invite Jesus into your heart, you know this song. You could hum it along with me right now couldn’t you?
The song was about how much God loved you…
just as you were…
warts and all.
He loved you before you started reading the Bible every morning. He loved you before you found a church to go to every Sunday. He loved you before you joined that Women’s Bible Study on Wednesdays. He loved you before you completed the New Believer’s Class.
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My posture corrects as its familiar tune begins. With back elongated and chin outstretched, I sing along and submit to worship. My hands raise instinctively as my soul stirs with praise.
Yes, Savior, I do find You in the mystery. I do find rest in Your embrace…
There’s a reason this Worship Song is taking sound waves by storm. It’s message portrays a feeble heart clinging with faith. Daring to be stretched for His glory; attributing where strength and peace truly come from: Our Savior. Always. And I enjoy the reminder that though my feet may fail, He is there.
Then the dreaded plea comes.
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One step forward, two steps back.
That’s the way it seems to go sometimes, doesn’t it? I’ve just recently been there, and it is so frustrating. The encouraging buildup to change becomes short lived. Progress is fleeting, and patience is in short supply.
So, what do we do when our slow movement forward quickly slides backwards?
Remember the positive change we did see. Change takes time. Whether we’re waiting for emotional healing, improvement in a health condition, a job offer, changed attitudes, an ease in difficult finances, or whatever it might be, it often usually takes more time than we would like.
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September has always been, to me, the season of new beginnings, even more than Spring. Maybe it is because the end of Summer brings with it the crisp freshness of cooler air. Or perhaps all of the hopes for the first days of school are forever etched upon my memory. September is a season of fresh starts, second chances and renewed vision. New school supplies, the end of loose schedules and the return of routine can be simultaneously sad and exciting.
Maybe you are sending your oldest to college, or your youngest off on their first day of preschool, maybe a grown child off to military, or your only kiddo to their first day in a new school; Maybe you’re Homeschooling for the first year or sending your children off to Public or Christian schools, maybe it’s your first season with an empty nest.
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I’m currently struggling through a season of uncertainty. It’s not just one thing, but several things that are threatening to move me out of a place of security and into a place of full dependance on God to bring me through. I believe that He will. I know that He promises to never leave me nor forsake me. His plans are to prosper me and not to harm me.
But every now and then I fall out of trust. I doubt His plan while worrying about where the next dollar will come from. I fret over change and the unknown. It’s uncomfortable.
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My dad loves hiking and taking extended walks. I have an early childhood memory of taking a long hike with him while our family camped one year. I can hear him singing with us kids as we turned another corner on the winding path.
“What’s around the corner?…Just another corner!”
We laughed as we came around each bend and sang the little song again and again. As I think about that scenario now, I wonder if we were actually lost and my Dad was just being very successful at distracting us!
In May of this year, just three short months ago, I had no idea what was around the corner for my family and me.
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