A friend recently made me aware that I might be able to encourage my blog followers with some of the experiences that I've recently gone through. So I've decided to do a series of posts to update, explain, encourage, and testify about the results of our recent "leap of faith."
Many of my readers are in ministry in one form or another, so I hope you can benefit from these next few posts or at least identify and add a hearty "Amen!" to my words. If you are not in some "official" ministsry, I hope that you will be blessed and uplifted in whatever your calling in life.
The picture I chose today reminded me of spring and the hope that this season brings. Here in Michigan we have little evidence of the change of season as yet, but today for the first time, I noticed some of the spring flowers' stems peeping through the ground. Tulips we planted in faith last fall were finally popping up! That's a sure sign that it won't be long until the promise of our hope, at least in the form of blossoms, will be coming. I saw the first purple crocuses in my big English garden today! Yet, our weather is still not very warm and the sunshine is sporadic.
As most of you know we recently resigned our pastorate with little to no idea of what our future would hold and about as much idea how we would make a living. At nearly 50 years old, (my birthday is this Wednesday), we weren't sure how wise it was to take such a risky step, yet we were sure the Lord was leading us. We are still in the infant stages of this move and can only testify to what we have already seen, not the complete working out of God's will as yet.
As spring approaches I am reminded of the long winter we've just come through and how it's not quite over yet. This seems to mirror our own experience in some ways. We have the sense that all is not yet shaken and sifted to "settle out." I keep getting a picture of someone panning for gold and the pan has a screen in the bottom. Water and sand are shaken through the screen to sift out the treasures. Some of the "water and sand" in our situation is still being shaken out, but we expect to find a gold nugget before it's all said and done. Does that make sense to anyone? I hope so. Or think of a glass container filled with half water and half dirt. When you shake it up, it looks muddy, but as things settle, the dirt settles to the bottom and the clear water rises to the top. It eventually becomes so clear you can see through it!
Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Like the coming spring, Clint and I are living with our eyes directed toward our future and hope in a way we haven't exercised in a while.
More thoughts tomorrow on how this "leap of faith" is working out! Blessings, LORI
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