Tag Archives: winter

Withered

My heart has been pierced today with sadness, withered and dry. It doesn’t help that blizzard conditions exist here in Chicago – 40+ mile per hour winds, snow on the ground and bitterly cold temperatures. Still I know that God is up to something. There is change in the winds and I want to be in the middle of God’s plan.

My husband and I are taking the day to clean out some long-overdue places within our home. I’m tired of the junk pile. I grow weary from the long-forgotten things that somehow remain hidden deep in the closet where no one can see. I wish that the snowplows outside my door would just whisk all the junk away so I wouldn’t have to deal with it.

My emotional junk causes me even bigger problems. Cleaning out that would lead to an even bigger mess. Yet, God sees my personal failings and He is not afraid to deal with them. He sees the pain and the baggage from my past. And despite all that He comforts me and gives me strength to grow beyond the ugliness in my heart.

That’s because it is in these cold, stinging places that I hear God’s softest voice. In the heaviness of the heart, God is there to lift me up. In my loneliest hour, I sense His closest companionship. In this season of winter, that I sense His gentle, warm touch; in the harshest rejection that I know His deep embrace.

I have several decisions that are weighing me down. Some life-changing; others significant, but less dramatic. An internal voice feeds my insecurities…my inability to lean into God’s plan. I want to be obedient to Him, yet sometimes I stay stuck in my messiness unsure of where to go next.

Still, God sanctifies me; He ordains me to do His work. I take comfort in his words, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

I don’t know where His great love will lead me. I do know that God does not mean to leave us in defeat. And so while I feel withered, I know that He will lead me through this current storm; He will take me through every storm. So as the snow piles up outside, there is really only one path: trusting in Him.

Electric Blankets

For some unknown reason, my family never used electric blankets when I was a youngster. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I was introduced to the magic of an electric blanket. I love their luxuriating warmth on a cold winter’s day; the ability to lose yourself in the tender coziness is almost beyond words. I inherited my husband’s old electric blanket, well loved when I received it and getting even more loved as time goes on.

When I snuggle deep within the folds of the blanket, I can’t help but think of God’s tender warming touch to my cold, foreboding heart. When His spirit entered my heart, it changed me offering comfort and contentment – much like my blanket. Hearing the truth that “God loves me” is like turning the heat on my electric blanket – I feel excitement, anticipation and contentment will soon be coming my way.

Just as I struggle with the cold winters of Chicago, I resist fully understanding the depths of God’s love for me. I pray consistently that the Holy Spirit will sweep into my soul and reveal to me the greatness, completeness and fullness of God’s love for me.

God’s love is one of the most exciting and life-changing truths I’ll ever know. I want to wrap myself in the breadth of it. I want to feel the length of His mercies and the depths of Christ’s sacrifice. I never want to go anywhere unless I am blanketed in the red hot fire of His love for me. How could I not love a God who cares for me so deeply?

On those cold, winter nights when I’d rather be lounging on beach than snuggled up in my enchanting blanket, I thank God I’m covered by His love. I nestle safe and secure in the tenderness of such an extraordinary God…one that moved heaven and earth to rescue me from the coldness of my own heart.

Triple Threat

Often, it is impossible to avoid a storm. This week, Richard and I learned that as we hit a killer one during our trip to California. From the west coast, it cut through a wide swatch of middle America with the triple threat of freezing rain, blinding snow and bitter cold. There were only two options – face the storm or wait it out putting our dreams of California on hold.

Decisions like this are never easy. The storms of life cause us to leave our nest of a comfortable spot to face fickle winds. We have a choice – to fly or cling to our frozen, soggy nest.

Tenacity is an important characteristic when we’re asked to alter our course to meet our dreams. It causes you to grow through discomfort towards your passion area. In Oklahoma, we faced closed roads, treacherous, ice-covered open ones and downed power lines. Literally we were left to our own devices amidst the blackness of an unlit prairie night. We certainly didn’t feel like we were soaring like eagles (Isaiah 40:31), yet we also knew that God has not abandoned us, either (Deut 31:6 and others).

I sometimes feel as if God sends storms as a way to push up beyond where we’d push ourselves. That’s the only place we see results. The Holy Spirit leads us through the tempest; by the process, we become more refined.

Nervously driving through that awful Oklahoma night, I experienced the sovereignty of God in a way that I never thought possible. He controlled the ice, the snow, the temperature and all I could do is revel or curse in His power. That night in the car, these stirring words of Amy Carmichael comforted me, “Joys are always on their way to us. They are always traveling through the darkness of night. There is never a night when they are not coming.”

When my journey isn’t happening to my satisfaction, I stop, wait and consider. Am I learning contentment, tenacity or patience? Am I resting in the fact that God has me on a vastly different journey that anyone else? And most importantly, is there rejoicing in the sovereignty of God to use the storms of life to refine me?