Looking Ahead...
It's fall! It's time for crisp days and chilly nights, an extra blanket to snuggle with, pumpkin spice lattes, well, actually pumpkin anything, and a time of bounty. A time of bounty is a time to harvest all of what God has brought forth. Harvest is a time to gather up all the goodness and heartiness of what was produced in the season before. Now we're gathering up homework, lunches and the kids and getting them to school. We're gathering up the summer beach toys and storing them away, we're gathering up wood to prepare for our fireplaces, and we're gathering up friends to go to Starbucks to get those wonderful seasonal pumpkin drinks.
If you're anything like me, I want to gather up my memories of the summer and remember the laughs shared, the meals eaten together, games played, and just time spent enjoying one another's company. I want to gather those sweet moments up and see Gods presence in it all. I'm so full of gratitude for a sweet summer season of rest and refreshment spent with those I love. God gave me a bounty of time, time spent with Him and with those He has put in my life.
He personally gathered me up to Himself, wrapped me in His loving arms, and whisked me away to a place where I could only find peace in Him, rest in Him, and my identity in Him. A place where heat meets you at every turn. A place of complete quietness. A place of no busyness. A place too large to keep up with at times. But in these places I was met each and every time by the Lord and His lovingkindness for me. I feel completely unworthy of such intimate meetings. The Lord most high met with me in my lowest of lows and always faithfully set my feet upon the Rock. There's such a great peace to know you're exactly where God has you and there's no need to fight your way out of it. Being still and knowing God...yes..please...give me more!
In this time of looking back, it's now time to also look ahead. Looking ahead with anticipation of what richness awaits in this next season and seasons to come. How the God of glory will meet each of us in our needs and desires.
I'm currently preparing my sandy, desert, Corona soil to plant bulbs that will arrive in spring, hope it works. This makes me mindful to prepare my own hearts soul to receive what God has for me that too will spring forth in due season. Praying each of us redeems the time given to us, resting in Him, being refreshed by Him, and renewed by Him.
May we all look up while looking ahead!
"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?"
Isaiah 43:19
Some of my summer pics...
