He Will Quiet You With His Love

This past month has been full of heartbreak and hope. Despair and mercy. Critical moments of pleas to the Lord and quiet moments of simple gratitude.

This past month my four year-old nephew was diagnosed with Leukemia. And not that anything involving children and cancer is normal ... but his last four weeks have not been normal. My heart doesn't know how to reconcile the events and my brain wants to block it all out. But in this all, we still see God.

My brother-in-law and his dear wife have been amazing through all of this. Their care for their son, their dependance on the Lord, and their straight-up grit in managing a nightmare situation. I am in awe of them.

Our own little bright spot in this has been in the care of little brother. He is the most delightful, charming two and a half year-old ever. Having him in our home, has been blessing and a constant reminder of what to pray for and what to rejoice in.

The journey has just begun for this sweet family. Our prayers are maturing as is our faith. I have no words to adequately speak to recent circumstances, but grateful we serve a God who is always enough.

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, 
He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." 

Zephaniah 3:17

A Wink and A Smile

This last year I have endeavored to take on a less-is-more mentality. The purging has become rather addictive. So freeing to have less stuff to not only clutter my home but also the recesses of my already cramped mind.

The natural by-product of this outlook is to be purposeful in what I buy and bring into our home. This is a more challenging discipline, I confess, but necessary and worthy nonetheless. But what is lovely, I'm finding, is satisfying my "I'd like something new" desire with temporal items. 

This week we've spruced up the dreary, bedraggled pots and planters that haven't already been tossed in the bin. The happy, budget-friendly violets that have found new homes on our front porch and back patio feel like a little wink and a smile every time I see them. I can't think of one thing in my garage rafters that has the same effect ...

Curious About the Harvest

This last year has been such a tangled vine of growth. So many challenges that seem to stretch on and wind their tendrils around anything it moves past. This scandent behavior has felt overwhelming, at times. It's easy to become weary ... of feeling weary.

Yet, the interesting thing about growth is that the intent is to bring fruit. Off of the woody, invasive vines, those tendrils latch on to provide security, to develop a base in which fresh green shoots can launch forth with an astonishing growth rate of their own. After a winter of seeing only barren stalks, the green bursts forth yielding vibrancy and the promise of a harvest.

This last year my health has presented itself as a forerunner for our attention. However, there is now a springtime of activity in our lives that is bursting forth in a most dramatic show. Some opportunities for our family that we have prayed about for years now seem to be unfurling with remarkable haste.

It feels strange moving forward into possibility rife with the unknown ... particularly since I have not yet wrapped a bow around the box of my health challenges and set it on a back shelf to collect dust. But here we are. And we acknowledge the issues of the day and press forward into the promise of the yet to come.

It's a bit terrifying. But it's exciting. I don't want to prune off the new growth from the old. Summertime is coming and I'm curious about the harvest.

I am the vine; you are the branches. 

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; 

apart from me you can do nothing. 

John 15:5