When the Harvest Comes

What has felt like forever of waiting, praying, lamenting, waiting, crying, waiting, waiting waiting ... God has been in the midst.  It can be so difficult to know that God is with me and for me in the middle of a season.  It has certain been difficult the last year and more seeing the hills and valleys in hindsight.   

We are not completely out of a valley even presently, but I can see what is to be expected in the weeks and months to come.  I can see how answers to prayers are coming and how I am no longer left in this season of not being able to see ahead. 

I have no idea what the season after this looks like.  I know there will be more seasons where it feels like drought and storms, only very quickly to feel like a flow of milk and honey. 

This season is bursting with God's goodness and mercy for me.  He is here in our midst.  He is here and has always been here. 

I wish I knew the why I have to wait so long to see Him at work in some of the big areas of my life, yet I am thankful that I have run the race of endurance and that while I wish my faith was less wavering, I know that God has been and is with me.  He will not leave me nor will he abandon me.  

There is still more waiting to be done, but I can rest knowing that God is holding me.  He is with me.  He is carrying me through.  He wants to give me good gifts.  Sometimes I am impatient and just want what I want now, whereas He is calling me to patience ... as He has something even more beautiful in store for me.  He has the best gift for me and He is apt to reveal that to me when I sit back and allow Him to show up.  

More of Him, less of me.  May my life be a testimony of complete surrender to the Lord.  I love how even when I am weak, He is strong.  He shows up.  He is in our midst. 

God Be with Me in All I Do

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him (Psalm 34:8).  A beautiful reminder of pressing into the Lord when life is a struggle.  God does not disappoint.  He is there, just waiting to be seen.  He is steadfast and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). 

Yesterday did not go as expected.  We had high hopes that God was with us and was going to show up in ways we have been praying for quite some time.  We had faith.  We believed.  We had some reservations because we have experienced rejection from people in this specific request before, but we knew from experience that God shows up.  

Then we waited.  And waited some more.  We prayed in the waiting.  We went for a drive in the waiting.  We cried in the waiting.  We questioned if we were actually following God in the waiting.  We questioned if we were missing something and if that is why we have been walking through this barren land without reprieve. 

Then we got the notification that the prayers we were praying were not answered in the way we had hoped, yet are perhaps actually answered in the way we have been praying.  

I am reminded of 1 Peter 2:2 that I have tasted that the Lord is Good.  He has shown up in areas I have been on the borderline hopeless about.  He has revealed His goodness to me and I am reminded of what he has done for me.  He led me to Deuteronomy 8 which talks about the Isralalites trek through the dessert - they were stripped of their pride and their hearts were tested to see if they would follow the Lord.  

This season gives me a glimpse of what Job may have been going through.  I pray I will never experience such turmoil and anguish to the magnitude he did, yet I also can relate to the loss he experienced and the well intentioned friends giving not so good of advice.  

Although life has not been as rich and joyful in certain areas as I have hoped for, I am reminded in Psalm 23:6, Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

What a beautiful reminder that God's goodness and love follow me all the days of my life!  So while I may feel disappointed that we received a different answer than we hoped for, my prayers are not in vain and my prayers are not for naught.  My lamentations are heard and God hears the cries of His people (Psalm 34:17).