blessing box

I know, I know, I normally don’t do two posts in one day, but I just wanted to write this down. More for and well mostly for me (so forgive me if it’s vague still and rambly…some day these stories that are brewing will be told).  Though, in a way I want to just share a bit of my thankful heart with you all.  In reading through the Bible in 90 days (I just finished Deuteronomy), I see over and over that God tells the people to REMEMBER.  Remember what He has done. Remember the miracles, the blessings, the protection, and remember who God is.  So, that’s what this post is about. A reminder for me to remember God’s work.

Today, I saw firsthand the amazing work of God in such a clear distinct way after waiting to see it for almost a year.  He truly makes all things beautiful in His timing.  I have clung to that verse in Ecclesiastes for such a long time and still do.  Because the work is not yet done, more things are yet to be made beautiful.  As I wrote earlier, it’s a new kind of waiting, but it’s just that….it’s new, it’s right.

I feel like Esther. That I’m in this waiting and preparation season to be ready for such a time as this. I am so blessed to have a God that is not done with me yet.  Who still woos me over by singing to me (“He calls me lovely.”). Who shows me flowers on the side of the road that are for me. Who lets me catch a glimpse of a whimsical, carefree, yellow butterfly. Who turns my mourning into dancing. Who takes something meant for evil and turns it into good. Who covers me in prayer from across the US and the ocean.  Who reminds me that love endures long and is patient and kind and its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].  He shows me how far I’ve come and how much I have changed.  Yet, reminding me that there is building to do….

He blessed me by showing me a clear picture of this waiting and preparation season.  That we are like Nehemiah rebuilding the wall.  In order to build something right and something new, you need to work steadily and slowly (as in a marathon) and yet you also need to have your sword in your other hand.  The enemy wants to come in and take away the bricks you’re adding, but you must be armored up and ready to let God fight for you.  The victory has been won and you are fighting in that victory.  So, keep on building. Slowly, patiently while you enter this new kind of waiting.

All that to say, that God is SO faithful and BIG and in love with us.

So, please, tell.  Have you seen God’s blessings on your life recently?

a new kind of waiting

Letting go, she drops from the cloudburst into the sky.   Dancing through a stray sunbeam on her way, she learns to wait in the midst of saying both hello and good-bye.  Only then does she realize that this journey is not as it may seem.  Every ending is a new beginning; a new kind of waiting. Right when she thinks the wait is over then comes another.  She tumbles her way into the waters as they pound all around her.  Ouch. This twisting together and binding tight comes at a wrenching price.  At the edge of the water a flicker of twirling hope forms into an array of brilliant colors.  Slowly, He teaches her and helps her to realize that she must die to herself.  The more she learns to let go of herself, the more she can embrace Him and the less it hurts.  She catches glimpses of the abundant life.  Before long, she will find herself at the bottom of the waterfall a fully part of Him.  Swimming in His presence.

Waiting sometimes looks like a raindrop being tossed and turned into a waterfall.

Expectant. Hopeful. Tumultuous. Glorious.

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קָוָה qavah

gather together, look, patiently, tarry, wait for, on, upon A primitive root; to bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. Collect; (figuratively) to expect — gather (together), look, patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon).

Psalm 25:5 “Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You [You only and altogether] do I wait [expectantly] all the day long.”

Psalm 27:14 Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring.  Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.”

Lamentations 3:25 “The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God’s word].

*inspired by Greg Holder talking about how waiting was like his experience whitewater rafting on the Zambezi  during The Nines