My recent blog posts have been much about the trials of life. I don't mean to depress or use this as an avenue to complain. The last four months have been some of the hardest for us as we have worked through various trials and seem to continue in that direction for the time being. I read recently and was reminded once again about how we are to rejoice in our tribulation as God holds us "worth such testing". In the end I can become a woman who clings to my God and His word. This said, the following is just another meditation on the work God is doing in my heart and how He is working to draw me to Himself. It is meant as an encouragement for all who read it, to remember to turn to God, who gives to all generously and without reproach.
I was reading Psalm 63 this morning and specifically meditating on verse 1 which states "O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; My soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You; in a dry and weary land where there is no water." As I mused on this verse I pictured the hills around me the past few days and the "fall" that we have been experiencing here in Santa Clarita. Most of October was dominated by temperatures of the upper 90s and into the 100s. November has cooled off ot the upper 80s and into the 90s. "Is this fall?" I've been asking myslef for the last two months. Along with such temperatures have come extreme winds whipping through our valley, drying everything up even further and wreaking havoc on our yards. Here is a vivid picture of a dry and weary land. I am so tired of heat and dry and wind; I long for the cool relief of gray clouds in the sky, rain falling and refreshing this dry ground and cleaning the air of the dust and debris.
On the hills surrounding our home for the past three days fires have been burning. We are able to see smoke billowing out over the valley, patches of earth smoldering as we drive by, helicopters flying over dropping water in order to put out the flames. Thankfully, we have been spared any damage and the winds have proven helpful to us in blowing the smoke away from us, although damaging to others as it blew both smoke and embers the other direction. Can there be a more vivid object lesson for understanding Psalm 63:1? David too was in the wilderness when he wrote this Psalm. He was hiding. He, the king of Israel, was hiding in the wilderness from his own son, Absolom, when he penned this song of desperate need for the LORD. All around him he was able to see a dry and weary land, where there was no water and here was a picture of his soul. I sat this morning reading this and thinking on this and realized that Santa Clarita is a picture of my soul: dry, weary, thirsty, tired, scorched by the flames of trials.
And then I read it again and learned about how David refreshed his dry, weary and scorched soul. He didn't complain, he didn't even ask God to take it away. No, instead he turned to God, his God and earnestly sought Him until He was found! He knew that refreshment was only found in seeking God. He longed for God as I have longed for rain. He knew that by seeking God he would find a downpour of grace to wash over his soul and soak him so thoroughly that he would become saturated in the Spirit of God; and then he would find relief. That is my prayer. Today I will seek God earnestly. And this leads me back to a verse I was memorizing some weeks ago - "Be still and know that I am God". Today, I want to be still and let the Spirit of God pour down upon me, and saturate me with His grace, to soak into my heart and refresh my dry, weary and thirsty soul. It is that thirst for Jesus that is felt but not realized until you meditate on a verse like this one. Suddenly, this morning, I realized my thirst and that it wasn't necessarily for the baby to sleep or Isabel's work load to lessen or life to simply be easier, for for Jesus - for Him to carry my burdens, for Him to fill me with Himself and wash over me with the comfort of His Spirit.
And I pray for Santa Clarita too, for the clouds of relief to roll over our valley and pour out cool rain upon the scorched hills and the dry and weary land of our town.
Yesterday was a day of happiness and tears. We were privelaged to get to attend the adoption hearing for Gavin James, the son of our good friends Jeff and Christine James. He was born last February and has been in their home since coming home from the hospital. His adoption was finalized yesterday to everybody's joy. We thank God for placing him in Jeff and Christine's home as a blessing to them and an opportunity for him to grow up knowing Jesus. After the hearing Jeff and Christine invited us all over for a dinner celebration for Gavin. Our kids all had a blast playing outside in the park like back yard at the James' house. A most favorite item to play on is the trampoline. Thus, the tears: After many fun hours of jumping and playing on the trampoline there was a little accident and Isabel fell off, landing on her arm on the ground. She was quite upset, understandably, and we took that as our cue to head home. We debated as to whether we should take her to urgent care on our way home or wait it out. We opted to wait it out, but wound up having a rough night with Isabel waking up often complaining of the pain. With the coming of the morning we noticed a little swelling and so Jason took her off to urgent care first thing this morning. It was discovered that our brave little girl had broken her wrist. Isabel's first broken bone and the date will never be forgotten, Gavin's adoption day! And so we move forward with joy for the James' and a trial for us.
