New Season

Every day I see God in everything.

It’s been a month and a half since I moved from California to Upstate New York. The leaves have gone and bare branches now have their arms stretched out catching snowflakes. We’ve had snow storms, warm days, winds and fog. The deer have paraded their families then hid for days. I’ve seen fox shoot across the yard in a gallop and other days they stand and stare for the longest time. Some days the bird feeder outside the window is a local hotspot whereas other days all have flown the coop for fairer estates. Every day brings changes not only in my surroundings but in my heart and life.

I have suffered the pain of exhaustion and the peace of stillness while here. The flu has visited yet I know now that it will move on. Today I realized that I am not the same person that left California. My journey has crested the mountaintop for now and I feel the cool breeze and momentum of the downward ride. My hopelessness and sorrow have been cremated and from those ashes my spirit has risen. My mind is filled with assuredness and praise even when I see depression passing by my door. Everything is new and so much change brings anxiety but now it knows its place. Hope is the icing over my realities and it tastes so sweet.

Are there the old things waiting? Right there, but I don’t accept the ride anymore. My choices are clean and precise like praise over pain and gratitude rather than complaints. The cold feels refreshing and not lonely and my heart is above my body breathing in the air that I was deprived of for so long. Was it kept from me or did I choose not to breathe it? I don’t know except that I’m breathing it now and I feel alive. The stale, still presence of hopelessness is cleared and every cell is awash with refreshing hope! I love my new life. I love that the sadness has dissipated. Deep, deep within my soul I have joy and hope. For the first time I know He loves me! Shameless, guiltless and loved. All is well.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV), Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

I don't know why things happen in our lives that don't make sense. I do know that we have a choice of how we will accept them as they come though. Most of my pain came not from my circumstances but from my fight against accepting them. It was never about God being mean or unfair....it was all about me not surrendering and trusting Him with everything. Now that I live in the middle of nature at its finest....I see more clearly now what it means to rest in our Creator.

Broken Branches

As I prayed this morning I praised God for all that He is. Loving, caring, full of grace and mercy, kind, strong, giving... then I thanked Him for all my blessings that are seen and unseen. As I entered His courts with praise I began to confess areas of my heart and life that I struggle with and He gave me a vision. I saw the effects of previous sins and how they bore bad fruit in my life now as an adult. Choices that I made as a young woman that have caused stains in my life that now have to be dealt with. God showed me that those bad choices need to be pruned off the tree of my soul. I asked the Holy Spirit to track my current struggles back to their roots and with my eyes closed I asked God to saw off those branches, cutting off the flow of my past sins. As I watched the branches fall to the ground I realized that their existence ended and the sin that flowed from them lost its power over my life.

Where in your life do you need to prune? What past choices are still flowing their sin into your life today? Did you at one point harbor a hatred toward someone and you let it stew till it turned to rage? Did you once make the choice to view pornography and that choice has spilled into a secret sin in your heart and life now? Is there a burning contempt that can still be triggered even by the innocent? Does your current impatience cause your loved ones to suffer a life of vexation? Then sit quietly and alone with your God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal those areas. As they come to your consciousness hand God the saw and tell Him you want Him to cut those branches off. Visualize the flow of sin being cauterized at the root and watch the branches that have held you prisoner lay on the ground and wither. Embrace your new freedom and claim your victory! Freedom is only found in Christ and He is the only One that can set you free. You are what you hold on to.

Isaiah 40:27-31, O Israel, How can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? How can you say God refuses to hear your case? Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of His understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out, He offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up.  But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.