Gateways to Joy

I sn't it something how we can have plans, but God always has the best of plans for us? This morning I woke to plans of my own.  Plans that didn't pan out, plans that didn't come to fruition. As I sat back telling myself to, "Be still.  Be still to see how the moment would emerge" something beautiful happen.  First the Lord calmed my spirit.  He told me, "Let this be well with your soul for what you are experiencing is a good thing.  Go with this daughter." I decided to listen.  To be obedient to the leading, to let the happenings be well with my soul.   And so it is. And the reading and meditation of my heart has been upon these things: <A HREF="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?rt=tf_ssw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fhespetome-20%2F8003%2F398f6cb0-097a-4369-a75b-acdd06bcd03a&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.com Widge...

H e calls to say he's picking up pizza for the kids, and will go to the restaurant to cook us two chicken fried steaks.  That's when I hear it: exhaustion.  He's tired.   Today was his full day at the eatery.  He worked there for hours.  I thought he would come home to be with us after he left there, but he said, "He needed to go and knock on some doors." "Man working by the sweat of his brow, bless him and protect Him Lord. " I pray. I feel awful and guilty.  My back still pangs which limits my movements.  Today my ventures have been to the bathroom, bed, and computer.  Being confined Sunday to the bed wasn't the best of time, at least I had the time to help Husband with his test so I accepted the situation.  Today, however, I really need to get caught up on house work: sit at the table with the children to school properly, and be able to move around.  Where is the gift, hm?  I'm beginning to sense a strugg...

"B e still my daughter and see how the matter will fall." ~ Ruth 3:18 That is one of my very favorite passages in the Bible.  Wise words.  Are you in your waiting season?   How are you handling your wait?   What is your internal temperature?  Just as God was orchestrating the life of Ruth while she waited, He is orchestrating ... planting the seeds ... tilling the soil of our lives— preparing us in our season of wait.  Just because we are to sit still doesn't mean God is sitting still .  We can trust that He is in the back-drop of our lives working it all out for our good.  Bringing forth a harvest in its seaon. "At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." ~ Galatians 6:9

`I NEVER NOTICED until this morning the context of this command in the Epistle of James: 'My brothers, do not blame your troubles on one another or you will fall under judgment.' { James 5:9, NEB}.  The context is patience.  A farmer's precious crop comes up only as he waits patiently for autumn rains, winter snows, spring sunshine.  Anything worth having is worth waiting for.  Troubles are permitted in order to teach us many lessons, not the least of which is patience.  If we instantly assign responsibility for those troubles to somebody else, our energies will go into resentment instead of into learning God's lesson of patient waiting.  The Lord's coming is far more certain than even autumn rains and winter snows.  We can stand firm and patient no matter how others treat us, knowing that in the end our troubles will be transformed. 'The Lord is full of pity and compassion' {James 5:11}. Can we believe that, even when we feel sorry for ourselv...