"Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom." - Psalm 90:12
Isaac learns to tell time on an analog clock.
It's been quite a Spring! More ups and downs than we ever could've foreseen in 2017. Just when we thought things would settle down into a new "normal", changes on the horizon quickly closed in on us.
Several family members have been diagnosed with cancer; some for the first time and one after a lengthy remission. We followed a heartbreaking, transparent blog written by the wife of a fellow firefighter brother who recently succumbed after a courageous battle with cancer.
We've watched friends get rid of nearly everything they own in preparation to leave for the mission field. We've entered into a season of change as our church is seeking a new lead pastor. There have been new baby announcements and new houses.
The restructuring announcement by State Farm eliminated nearly 1k jobs in our community; disrupting the sense of job security many friends of ours have enjoyed for years. Several have taken the option to leave the State for work; many don't know if they will still have a job this Summer.
Transitions are always challenging! Health concerns spawn anxious thoughts. Young death and cancer fears jar our natural bent to take health for granted. The reality of our human frailty reminds us this world is not our home! Helping friends unload their possessions teach us how burdensome our "stuff" can be. Everything we own, including our lives are temporary!
When all of the new challenges and distressing news threatened to overwhelm me, Luke gently drew my attention and focus back where it belonged: to the One who securely holds all our futures in His capable hands.
Luke reminded me to familiarize myself with Who God is... and who I am in Christ. My prayer life has been heavy lately with the burdens around us. What was the purpose of this wave of suffering and bad news? I've been going through a Kay Arthur Precepts Bible Study on the book of Revelation with a wonderful group of girls for 3 years. (Yes! We've been studying Revelation for 3 years!!)
This intensive study has given me such encouragement: God wins in the end!! Death & suffering will be defeated forever... the cares and concerns of this present world pale in light of our future HOPE!!
Psalm 90:12 keeps coming to my mind like a theme for the season we're walking through. It's caused me to rethink my priorities and focus on what's truly important: growing ever closer to my Savior, growing in His likeness, and leading our children on the same path.
By the end of March, we realized we needed to get away to find some respite. A week at our friend's cottage in Holland Michigan sounded delightful, so we headed up here the weekend following Easter.
It'd been about a year and a half since our camping trip at Holland State Park. This visit felt very much like a luxury with running water and indoor plumbing!!
The vintage cottage nestled in Waukazoo forest was just what we needed to slow down and enjoy family time.
It's as if time stands still in this oasis of winding pine tree lined lanes and colorful beach houses with rows of white picket fences. We played boardgames and read books on the porch; enjoying nearly every meal circled around a white table with sweetly mismatched chairs over teal painted floor boards.
Of course, the highlight was walking the beaches along Lake Michigan. The little ones were content to scoop and dig in the sand... while Isaac joined me in my beach combing excursions. He inherited my love for scoring found treasures... we attempted to disassemble a rusty old boat pulley for our future tree house... to no avail. (You win some and lose some, Isaac!)
One of the "treasures" I discovered walking the beautiful sandy lakeshore was a wrist watch: a symbol not lost on me, given my thoughts on "numbering my days"... It was just like God to renew my sense of perspective by the reminder that He has every one if our days numbered... before even one of them came to be!
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So glad that you had some time away to be together and enjoy soaking in God's creation. This sounds like a difficult season, and I resonate with getting overwhelmed by the suffering and grief around us. This word from Ps. 90 about numbering our days is a needed reminder to fix our eyes on God and just take one day at a time. Thank you for sharing these bits of what God is teaching you as you cling to Him and live for Him despite the challenges along the way.
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