Genesis 8:22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
After a few days of below zero temps and trudging through knee deep snow, it really causes me to pause. And probably not the good kind of pause. I start thinking negative thoughts about selling all the horses, all the tack, and moving south as soon as possible. We have been very lucky so far in Iowa this winter, it held off for awhile. But when it hit, it hit hard (and below the belt). Frozen water buckets, frozen poop, having to cancel lessons and training sessions, and do not even get me started on the driveway of doom... it just puts me in a non stop anxious state of mind.
For the last several years I have picked a work to focus on... trust, peace, surrender, joy to name a few. My word for 2024 is "FAITHFULNESS". As I look back over my life, God has always been faithful. I have never been homeless or hungry, never without anything that I need. God has always been faithful in good times and bad, even though sometimes it is hard to see at the time. He is true to His word and anything He starts, He will finish.
Today I was reminded of the above verse... "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." We cannot have the good without the bad, whether you like cold and winter or you prefer heat and summer, we cannot enjoy the good without the, in my opinion, negative of cold and winter. Would I really enjoy sweating on hot sunny days, if I did not know the bitterness of cold toes and frozen snot in the winter? We have to work to plant seeds and take care of them in order to get the opportunity to harvest the good. Morning and evening, work time and rest time... they will not cease. God is faithful to give us work to do during the day, and faithful to give us night to rest and recharge.
So I am trying to focus on the fact that since we have winter, we will again have summer. Maybe it is not so bad in the long run. It does look like warmer weather is in the 10 day forecast. And this little break from lessons, even though I greatly miss my students, gives me time to catch up on my time with my family, as well as reading and house work. Before we know it the days will be filled with lots of riding, fly spray, and sun screen.
Dear Lord, Let me start out by apologizing for many of the negative thoughts and words that have come from me over the last week. And let me thank you for this winter season, a time to slow down, to be indoors with my family, to recharge and refocus. I ask that you keep us all safe and healthy. I pray that you send us all a little extra encouragement when it feels like winter will never end and help us to all remember you are faithful, so summer will come too. Amen.
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