Necessary Food

It fills my lungs with nourishing refreshment.

It heals my wounded heart.

It shows me I'm not alone.

I cry out and here's where You answer in loving, soothing tones.

When heart is full of joy, You dance me through Your words.

When sinfulness exposed, You slather on the balm.

You comfort and keep me close in these essential words of old.

My life is led to rest and my heart You lovingly mold.

Tender Lord, Your words alone give life and strength for the trials that grip this little one needing desperately to curl up into the lap of the Creator of all things......and cry~Jules

Weathered Purpose

The trees stand strong in the storms. They face the rain, the driving wind, the drying sun almost unemotional. Appearing dead, they unexpectedly blossom with joy in spring and become shade to the weary traveler. Life hidden beneath earth covered in native grasses and rocks. Roots going deep in the droughts of time, unseen. Waiting for water, nourishment. Completely in the Maker's hand. Each cell performing it's life's work, unnoticed. Each slow change in girth, unmeasured. Branches reach toward heaven and birds make nest in it's crown. Providing shelter, a place to hatch new life, a home.

Psalm 84:3 (New International Version)

³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—

a place near your altar,

O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

Rings of growth unknown until it's cut to it's death to give life to a fire place and warmth to a family, another one's home. It's quietness seen, appreciated on walks taken by nature lovers, identifying type......realizing it's name. The tree. Has a name. Has a purpose. Has a life.

Isaiah 55:12 (New International Version)

¹² You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

The wonder of creation in the old, knotted tree. An unappreciated life. Yet, full, beautiful and lovely as it's purpose is valuable, essential, perfect.

Thank you Creator God for the wonders of your earth so perfectly created~Jules

Let's Getaway

It's that time of year. I start thinking about vacation....where, when, how long. I'm ready! I know it's mainly because it's getting toward the end of the school year and we are having to dig deeper to get it all done. Some probably call it spring fever....I've called it that myself. But the bottom line is......I am just ready for a bit of a break. =) This is where the rubber meets the road. Pressing in. Doing what we need to do even when we want to be blogging or playing in the spring sun, and taking pictures of the emerging bluebonnets. It's not Texas summer-hot yet and we want to be outside. This is when we start dreaming about a bit of a get away and some rest and play. I'm ready. I wanna play with my 3 guys in the ocean of life and splash the happiness of family with them! I love my guys......life is good.

Thank you Lord for my family, for the times that we need to press in and do the mundane with excellence, and the opportunity to walk this life with 3 amazing men~Jules

Tiny buds

Throughout the winter months, I look at the trees and imagine what they looked like with leaves. I anticipate the leaves emerging. Since we moved almost a year ago, I've been watching the face of this town I live in change. I like it. It's a bit flatter than were we used to live, but still intriguing to me. I love little towns. Watching the different moods of the area, I keep coming back to the Bradford Pear tree in my front yard. I've never watched the life of a tree such as this. It's fall colors captured me and I gazed on it often. The fiery leaves danced in the cold wind. After all the leaves coated the ground with color, a skeleton remained. For months, I didn't seem to give notice to the tree that seemed to greet me with it's splendor and I marveled at. I began to wonder when the leaves would return. Time passed. Bare tree. Nothingness. Has my tree made it through this drought we've had? Then, before I realized it, these showed up. Proof that the tree was still alive, thriving. I just didn't know it. Dormancy fools the onlooker.

This is true in my life. The things that seem dead maybe dormant instead. I have to wait and see what He will do with these things. Trust that He is working. Moving. He's for me. Allowing painful time to pass and be Protector, Provider, Perfect. I just feel the length of all of it. I feel the loneliness. But I'm not alone. I just forget what the leaves of His fruit looked like in the winters of life. The hope of spring is still there. The waters to nourish new life fall fresh. My plants desperately need rain. My heart desperately needs the rain of His mercy, grace, love falling and sinking deep into my soul. I drink it in. I am refreshed. There are tiny buds in my life.

Gardener of my soul, thank you for the delicate care You tend our lives with.~Jules

Time

"And he shall bring it to pass" (Ps. 37:5).

It takes God time to answer prayer. We often fail to give God a chance in this respect. It takes time for God to paint a rose. It takes time for God to grow an oak. It takes time for God to make bread from wheat fields. He takes the earth. He pulverizes. He softens. He enriches. He wets with showers and dews. He warms with life. He gives the blade, the stock, the amber grain, and then at last the bread for the hungry.

All this takes time. Therefore we sow, and till, and wait, and trust, until all God's purpose has been wrought out. We give God a chance in this matter of time. We need to learn this same lesson in our prayer life. It takes God time to answer prayer. --J. H. M.

Author: Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
Source: Streams in the Desert

Time heals........if we let it.....if we let Him. ~Jules

Picture says it all.....

That's the way I feel about this week.......I'm spent. Can't seem to get in a groove. It's like this when my hubbie is gone. I just miss him. Started the week off with a sick boy and although he's better, this week has just been goofy......that's all. It's pretty much done. I won't get anything else house and school wise done. What to do with this weekend? Take a step back. Look at the overall picture of our school and schedule, then refocus. Of course, I'll be praying about all that is in front of me. Most of all, I'm looking forward to seeing my hubbie Sunday afternoon at KAIROS closing ceremony.

That's all~nuff said.

From the Outside

I love old churches. I love the architecture, the history, the purpose. I've always loved stained glass and the colors coming alive as sunlight radiates through carefully pieced glass. From the outside most stained glass seems flat, dull, almost like a mistake. Once inside the sanctuary, it's a world of glowing artwork full of life and light. I think people are like this. Outwardly, they seem cold, plain, existing. Yet, if time were taken to see, be allowed inside, we could see the shattered pieces of glass actually making artwork of a life. It's only when the light is shining in that it makes sense.

The Light of the cross, that is.

Our Creator scooping up the shards of glass and delicately piecing a life together in hope. The glass makes no sense to the onlooker, but to the Creator, He sees the picture, the life. Loving fingers sliced from the task at hand, purifying burning fire, and steady time in faith, a new creation emerges. Different in appearance, yet, all the original bits in new place. A smile emerges, the sin that once gripped and strangled this little life, now is broken, crushed. Freedom. To shine. To radiate life. The Light of life. Though pieces once were, peace now reigns, alive.

Lord, create in me a new heart that will radiate your love to other shattered, hurting lives that they may hope in You.

Learning to Play by Heart

My hands know these keys, but not their names. I hear their tones. I feel their notes. But they are unfamiliar in name. I struggle. I plunk. My form is cumbersome. My smoothness needs work......but I am making music. I am getting out the song inside this heart that has been bottled up for too long. Sometimes this song seems overshadowed by doubt. But I press on in the wrong notes and finally have to stop, regroup, focus on the music...."where did I go wrong?" Play by heart, Beloved. I hear the soothing words. I wince. "I don't know where I am." What is this song I'm trying to play? I forget. I hear it daily in my heart, my mind, the depth of my soul. But I can't seem to play it. My hands won't work together. I can't read it either. I want to stop. Shrink back. Quit. Play the easier song I learned in childhood. Why can't I play this? Is there a wall of sorts? Keys stick. Notes stop. And yet, I still hear the song. Others play this song so easily....I struggle with the courage to play it in spite of the wrong notes. Somehow, through all the sour sounds and aching hands, music is made. The song my hands are playing is becoming more like the one in my soul. It's becoming more free. Happy. Easier. It's becoming more me. Play by heart, Beloved. I hear again. OK, Lord. I'm listening. I'm playing. I'm fumbling, working through sheet music that challenges my abilities, my courage. I'm living. Play by heart, Beloved. I close my eyes and play. I feel the music inside. I play what I hear, what my heart longs to say. And I can see........when I play by heart, my heart is happy.

Grace Like Rain

When all my days seem dry and I thirst for something more, I look off in the distance and see the storm clouds pour. I am once again drenched with Your mercy and Your grace as I feel the love and kindness of my Father wet my face. I must only look upward to change the view I see and once again remember it is You that makes me free...........