WINTER…? OR SPRING?

Posted on by michellethurman2344

I see signs of spring all around me; buds forming, buds popping out, the green of new leaves, and of course, sunshine! But truly it is still winter. We have another five weeks of winter before the first day of spring; and spring is so schizophrenic that we could have winter like weather almost up to the first day of summer. In some years, and in some areas, spring is never completely spring like; then summer comes and it feels like we went suddenly from winter into summer. Some years spring seems to be humming along beautifully and then winter sends out a backlash and a freeze will hit that kills the blossoms on trees and destroys the abundant fruit that had seemed so assured.

NEW GROWTH PUSHING UP FROM UNDER THE REMAINS OF DEAD LEAVES, NEW LEAVES CLUSTERING AT THE END OF A ROSE BRANCH PREPARING TO SPRING FORTH WITH ABUNDANT GROWTH, PALE GREEN LEAVES SHOWING NEW GROWTH AT THE END OF OLD BRANCHES, A BRIGHT WINTER BLOSSOM ON AN ALMOST BARE BRANCH.

Nature can teach us lessons about life. Just when we think we have passed through the worst of some trial or period of tribulation and we relax and get complacent, the troubles we thought were behind us backlash and suddenly our spring disappears. Storms and setbacks happen at any time of the year, but when we relax and let our guard down and stop being vigilant then when they come we can get hit hard, be wiped out.

My youngest son called this morning. He was talking about how he had noticed things feeling less tense, more relaxed since President Trump’s acquittal. He said things felt more peaceful. I warned him not to get too relaxed. Elections are nine months away. The elements in our land and in our government that are trying to pull down our core values and our freedoms have plenty of time to overtake President Trump and beat him in the election. Just because God has given us a reprieve from those elements through President Trump’s first election doesn’t mean that we can now relax and stop pushing forward in the spirit. We are in a spiritual battle for the soul of our nation. We can’t get complacent about it.

It works the same way with our children and our grandchildren. We can’t wait until the crisis comes to pray. We need to be in prayer always. My middle son was in a terrible accident several years ago. He and the young man in the other vehicle that was involved were both Christians; but the other young man died. My son very nearly died. His sternum was broken, his chest caved in, his spleen torn, ligaments in his leg and hand damaged and his lip cut all the way through. He told me that he came to sitting in his car, the windshield shattered and laying on top of him, the steering wheel pushed into his chest and he couldn’t breathe. He said he knew he had to push back or he was going to die and so he did….even though it was extremely painful. The next time he came to there were people all around his car working to get him out. The only reason I can see that he lived and the other young man died was because I had been praying diligently for safety for him as he drove to and from work.

It was an hour’s drive and the road could be treacherous in the winter. I didn’t like him driving that road so I prayed for him on an almost daily basis. I have asked myself over and over why he woke up the first time. He was unconscious and not breathing. Why would he wake up? I know God woke him up and told him to push back and breath. The first 24 hours that my son was in the hospital they weren’t sure he was going to live, but he did and I praise God for it. Recovery was hard and painful, but he’s still going strong; has since been promoted in his job and moved to another state to take possession of his new position. There are some residual effects and I know the death of the other young man still hurts him, but my focus is that my son lives and I am truly grateful for that.

Paul told us we need to…“pray without ceasing.” I Thess. 5:17. And, whether that is for our country, our president, our elected officials….., or for our loved ones, we need to be diligent to pray always. (The wife of the young man who died in that accident told my son she was praying for him and his family. It humbled my son and daughter-in-law and caused them to know God’s hand on both families. Why one and not the other? A question that haunted my son. I only know that my son’s survival was a result of prayer.)

Col. 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving…”

Jer. 29:12 “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.”

I John 5:15 “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

It feels very much like spring right now in my part of the country, but it is still winter. In the midst of winter we can experience spring. In the midst of spring we can experience winter. Summer comes with bright sunlight and warmth all across the land, but winter can afflict our hearts even on the hottest of days. And just when we think we are ready to go out and harvest in autumn, it can all be wiped away in an instant. Life is uncertain, but when we build our lives on the Rock that is Christ Jesus no single event, or even multiple events, can destroy us.

Hab. 3:17-19 “Though the fig tree should not blossom. And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.”

Many Christians around the world are experiencing extreme and terrible persecution and yet they rejoice in the Lord. We, who have so many freedoms, need to look to their example and pray that we may not lose our freedoms through our own negligence and complacency. Pray without ceasing and build your house on the Rock which is Christ Jesus.

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Published by michellethurman2344

I was born in California, but both my parents were born in different areas of rural Oklahoma. My father grew up on a small cattle ranch and my mother grew up in the hills of eastern Oklahoma near the Ozark Mts. Both were born in the 1920's when Oklahoma was still more a part of the 1800's than the twentieth century so I like to say I was born of parents who were the last generation born during the old west. Their old west roots had a huge impact on my childhood. I spent the first three years of my life on my Granny's chicken farm. She was my father's grandmother and she owned 60 acres of alfalfa which she rented out and lived on three acres of barnyard where she raised chickens. There was some electricity, but no indoor plumbing outside of a faucet in the kitchen. The toilet was down the boardwalk in a small shed...in other words...an outhouse. The shower was a room under the water tank in the pumphouse. Granny's little three room house was the only painted building on the property. Everything else was raw, unpainted wood including the two room house my parents lived in. And I loved living on that little farm where I pretty much had free run of the barnyard and sometimes even wandered into the fields surrounding it. The town where I was born is along the Colorado River in the middle of the California desert and across the river from the Arizona desert and while we did live there for the first 12 years of my life, we moved a lot due to my father's employment. He was a big equipment operator and we moved to where the work took him, but usually only six months of the year then we moved back to our hometown. We moved to Northern California in 1958 and I have lived here ever since. I am a mother, a grandmother, have one great-grandchild and recently retired. I am divorced and now live with my youngest sister. My sisters and I like to cruise and take road trips. I am enjoying my life.

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