In His Hands

We tend to want to be in control of our lives. Sometimes, we believe that we are in control. My personality tends to lean toward wanting my life organized and orderly down to the smallest detail. My family graciously reminds me that this isn't always the way life is. 

This year, God has been teaching me flexibility and spontaneity. These lessons first came through the weakness, fatigue, and pain that overtook my life and schedule through the chronic illness. Planning was impossible as fatigue crashes could happen at any time and last for long periods of time.  Oh, how hard these lessons were. Yet, I began to give my days to God each morning and watched as He structured my day. He was teaching me priority with very limited resources. These lessons were precious.

Consider these verses.

Proverbs 16:9 "The heart of man plans his way,   but the Lord establishes his steps." (ESV)

Isaiah 55:8-9 "8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. "

Psalm 31:15a "My times are in your hand;..."

God, in His sovereignty and for His glory, allowed me to have my health back with a new treatment. It was His doing, not mine. He was in control. He is in control. He continues to teach me to leave my life in His hands. (He does a much better job of it than I ever could!")

My new condition has also been used of God to teach me that my life is in His hands. My health continues to improve daily. Yet, this condition means that my body will not handle acute illness or severe injury without quick medical intervention. It reminds me daily that my life is truly in God's hands. What a wonderful reminder!

His hand is a good place to be. He loves me.

Jeremiah 31:3 "3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

John 3:16 "16 “For God so loved the world,[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

As I daily see that my times are in the hands of the one who loves me, I see that I also want to use it for his glory, to get to know Him and His Word, to love Him, and to serve Him. When He takes me home, I will see Him face to face. 

Philippians 1:21-23, "21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." 

1 Corinthians 13:12 "12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

I submit to His will for my life. He is a wonderful Savior even when I don't understand all His ways! He loves me and holds me in His hands. That is sufficient!

New Every Morning!

In the first days of treatment, the difference in energy level was amazing. Each morning, I woke up and doubted the energy would still be there. Mentally, I prepared myself for another bout of fatigue, weakness, and pain. The strength was a pleasant surprise.

It made me think of the verses in Lamentations 3:22-24. My Lord is faithful every day and His mercy is new every morning!

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]

    his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

Gardening

I love to garden. There is just something about getting your hands in the soil, nurturing the plants, and watching them grow. It makes me feel closer to my Master Gardner. I don't always have a green thumb, but I love making the effort.

Spending time gardening this weekend made me once again think about our Master Gardener. He is described in John 15.

• My garden and lawn had been neglected for a long time due to my illness as my family and I kept up with basic needs. It is going to take more than a weekend or two to get it back to what it should be. It made me realize how sometimes I neglect my walk with God and just slide by with only what seems necessary. It takes spending quite a bit of time with the Master Gardner to get my life garden back in order!
• God sometimes has to prune my life in order to bring more fruit just as I had to prune bushes to allow them to bring more fruit. Sometimes this pruning hurts, but it is necessary to let His fruit show through and grow in our lives. 
• As we pulled weeds which were overtaking the garden, I mentioned to my young helper that although the weeds seemed pretty at first, they quickly were crowding out the good plants. Sin does the same thing. Weedkiller was needed to help completely eradicate the weeds. I could not get rid of all of them myself. Sin cannot be eradicated without Christ's blood and resurrection power. This blogpost has an interesting analogy of weeds and sin.
• Each plant in the garden and yard needed different types of gardening assistance. Some plants needed a bit more breathing room and had to be thinned out. Some had little life left in them and needed to be completely cut back. Some needed to have the weeds removed. Others needed to be pruned back to allow them to bear fruit. They are all at different stages, have different colors, different types of leaves, and different needs.
  Isn't that the same with us? We often wonder why God is doing something different in someone else's life or question the preferences (not doctrine or sin issues which do need to be addressed) in a brother or sister's life. It reminded me of my nieces and nephews. I hear "It's not fair." frequently. Couldn't the plants cry the same "Not fair" statement? I was convicted that sometimes I may cry "UNFAIR" to God not remembering that He knows best or question why He is the Master Gardener and knows what is best.

My garden brought me face to face with the garden of my life. How is your garden growing? Have you spent time with the Master Gardner recently?