Greetings,
As I sit here in my study it is snowing outside. I have just made the 20 mile trip that it takes to get from church to my house. The roads were covered and so I decided to back my speed down just to be safe. Wouldn't you know it, there are cars who are passing me going over the speed limit that is set for when it's dry outside. I guess that is the way everywhere and not just Colorado. There are always people who want to rush things. Got to get there faster, got to cut in line to be served first, got to get mine before you get yours.
When I stop to think about it I am probably like that as well. I can't wait for winter to be over so that I can play golf and tennis. I don't know about you but I am ready for winter to be over as soon as the Christmas decorations are put safely to bed for another year. I found this attitude welling up in me today. Yesterday, I had the chance to play some tennis. The day was gorgeous. The temperature was perfect, just a hint of a breeze, just a few clouds. Perfect, I thought, until today I find myself putting on gloves and going out to clean the snow off of my car. RATS!
I wonder if our faith is like that. What I mean to say is this, are we impatient when it comes to God? On my journey home to God I found myself with no patience at all. After each brain surgery I, somehow, expected God to increase my time of recovery and when it didn't happen I found myself getting very angry with God. It doesn't have to be recovery from surgery but I will bet that there have been times that you have put God on the clock. It reminds me of the prayer that goes, "God give me patience and give it to me now!"
I think that there are times when our lives seem to exist within the cold and bitterness of winter. Light that might illuminate the darkest corners of our lives seem non-existent or limited at best. The bite of life's bitter winds cut to the core of our despair and we yearn for the warmth of life's summer. We have all been there. Yet, when we find ourselves there we do have a tendency to be impatient with God. He can do everything, why doesn't he rescue me from the darkness of my winter? I think I know the answer.
Everything that I experienced during my recoveries I needed to be the person that God wants me to be today. My time on the "anvil of life" or "life's winter" made me who I am today. God needed me to be who I am now so that I could do the work that He has planned for me. It can, at times, seem as if we serve a mean and vengeful God. We don't! Who we serve is a God who loves us enough to want to make us more than we are. The trials of winter are needed so that we can have even more in the summer.
Today, you might be finding yourself not only in the season of winter but in life's winter as well. If this is you then I want to give you great news. God is with you. He knows your struggles and you pains. When you weep so does He. Be encouraged with this thought, God is with you. I know it may not feel like it. Believe me, I know, I've been there. My life's winter was full of pain and disappointment, of feelings of rejection and abandonment. I have had my time on the anvil. The anvil is where God takes the metal of your life and pounds into the shape that makes it possible for you experience God more. It's not fun. It hurts like hell! But when it's over, when you have truly faced the bitter cold of winter and have patiently waited on God's timing, you will find that the warmth of summer will be greater than you ever imagined.
So, let us be a people of faith. Let us people who are more interested in God's timing rather than the world's timing. In the end, if we are patient, we will find that the darkness of winter will give way to the Son. It is there, in the midst of are waiting, where God truly makes us into all that He wants to be. Find patience in your and look for the presence of God. He is there we just have to find Him! Until next time may your life be filled with goodness of God's grace!
Blessings,
Derek
Thank you, thank you for posting Jessica's portfolio! She has officially been accepted to RMCAD (Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design). God has opened many doors for her along her artistic journey, and hopefully one more for the finances to keep her there! We've been holding our breath since she was little waiting for this moment.....that's gotta be some kind of record! I'm calling Guinness!! God's been pounding that metal of Jess's life...molding her into the young woman she is today, and will be in the future....we're very proud! Now, to your blog, brother. "There is no pit so deep, that He isn't deeper still". A quote from Betsie Ten Boom, as she lay dieing in her sister Corrie's arms @ Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. Fabulous book, "The Hiding Place", true story....you should read it. "I am not afraid to die", she told those women in that German death camp. When the darkness of that winter finally came for Elisabeth Ten Boom, she turned her face toward the light, smiled, & welcomed her Savior. Gods promises are kept. He's been lighting each day on this planet for a very long time. That's a pretty good track record if you ask me! Like you, Deke, I'm ready for the Spring & the promise of warmth & new life it brings. Great blog....love ya! Sis
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Deke! I was thinking about that myself as I drove back from La Junta this morning, there were a lot of jerks in 4wd vehicles passing people on the snowpacked highway...I have never seen so many people in such a hurry to get to their own funerals. I particularly love the line, "we will find that the darkness of winter will give way to the Son". I may just steal that quote from you sometime if yout don't mind :D
ReplyDeleteDeb, that movie/book sounds really good! It reminds me a little of Escape from Sobibor, another holocaust story about a group of people who planed and executed an escape from a concentration camp (also a true story). I will have to check it out.