God's beautiful timing.....

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to unroot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and time to build up,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."

Everyone knows these verses. I've read them many times, but never really read them. I always thought that half of these things were "good", like peace, mending, dancing and laughing. But God is saying there is a time for the "other" things too. Mourning and killing? Uprooting and tearing down? What about war and hate? Wow, who would've thought that God would move in these things as well. God will at one time or another, bring these things to us and ask us to not only watch these things but to walk them out.

He is with us in the storms......

Just as He is with us in the seasons of flurish and growth, beauty and wholeness..........

Now I don't know about you, but when I see a storm I run, foolishly thinking that my feeble little legs could outrun nature. Because I thought storms were bad, something to be avoided. It's only been in the last few months that I've been learning to find comfort in the storm. Did you know that in the eye of a hurricane the winds are calm?

I used to think that there was this big line between storms and times of rest, and that you couldn't be at both places at once. You were either in a storm, or things were calm. Well God's been teaching me that I can rest and be at peace in my storm. That blessings are found in any season, in any time.

I think it's so neat to watch the trees change in the seasons. And how in the winter, a tree looks dead and lifeless, when in actuality, it is very much alive. Most trees lose their leaves in fall but the branches already have buds which contain next year's leaves. It is so important that the buds do not break open before winter is over or else the new leaves will be damaged. The leaves are needed for photosynthesis, so if the leaves are damaged the tree will starve. Wow, isn't God neat!? How many times do you try and break open your buds? Or how many times do you try to keep your old leaves on? God's plan is so perfect, but we have to lose some old things to get fresh new ones. And He sends us into winter to withstand the utter cold to get us there. If we try to mess with the process, we'll damage our new leaves and starve.

There is a time for everything under the sun...............And God's timing is perfect. You don't have to know why when how or where, to know that He knows, and He IS. So wherever you find yourself today, be encouraged that you can be at rest and peace, with knowing that God is in control, and that following His way brings amazing blessings! Be still.......and know........