Winter 2014

Some days are just particularly off, and mine starts out that way.  It's been a long winter, and I hear that Billings has broken its all time record for snow.  Doesn't my skin know it?  Doesn't my heart?  I wake up needing to touch God's face in the face of all that is cold.  I grab my camera and head out to chase the living God.    I know I will find Him.  He tells me as much.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 28:13

 
Even so, when I stop to take a snap shot of the broken ice on the road, I get a living response from Him that I wasn't expecting.  I see my life in the broken ice, and my heart bears witness; something beautiful here.  I look up and out into the unknown, knowing that Jesus sees me, and that He is making beauty out of the broken fragments of my life.  

I look to my left, and am speechless.  A broken widow.  A shattered, dirty window pane that is framed.  God frames me in Himself.  He holds all the torn, filthy pieces inside Himself, and I am secure in a Savior Who washes me whiter than all this snow.  He holds me.  Together.  Beautiful.

And when my life feels stretched thin, and I am pricked by inadequacy, insecurity and fear?  He makes all things beautiful.  He sees.  He knows.

"The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."  Zephania 3:17

A burden shared is a burden divided.  A few good friends can help you stand strong in the storm while you wait for spring.  For flowers.  For sun on your skin.  For the truth that the deepest of winters can't stop spring from coming.  It can't keep new life from springing up out of the dead.  And bless the Lord for my dear friends:  I am not the lone tree anymore.  I am not alone.  I stand with friends whose arms reach out to worship this Jesus even in the depths of killing cold.  We stand together in joyful hope, waiting for something bigger to come.  And He is, friends: Jesus is coming again soon.

"He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon.'  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus."  Revelation 22:20

Winter loses her icy grip on my heart, and I am warmed by Him.  The God of the elements is the God of me.

Amen.  Come Lord Jesus,

Bernadette