Friday, August 31, 2018

Comfort


Isn't it a comforting thought that the Lord is responsible for us?  Like a shepherd watches over his flock, He keeps us under His care.  What a relief!

Saturday, August 25, 2018

God Will Provide


I used to read a Russian folktale to my first grade students in which the main character says repeatedly, "God will provide."  In the face of hopeless circumstances, when there is no food on the table much less food to share, Tante Golda refuses to give up her plan to carry through with her traditional potato latke party, even though she has no potatoes at all.  If you love children's books and stories about miracles (along with a really good recipe for latkes) this book can still be found from third party sellers at Amazon, here:  Miracle of the Potato Latkes, by Malka Penn.

During this summer's drought in Kansas, I've thought about Tante Golda and her confidence that the Lord would provide for her needs.  I've clung to the certainty that God, who did not withhold His only Son as the provision for our greatest need of all, would not fail to provide for us whether fields provide grass or ponds continue to provide water for our cattle...or not.

During our 45 years on this farm there have been years when we had complete crop failures, the most notable being the year our daughter was born, when the corn crop failed so badly that we walked through a field carrying laundry baskets and picked up dried nubbins of corn from the ground to feed to the pigs we raised back then.  That was 1980.  It did not rain that summer, but in the fall we received a bountiful gift nonetheless: our sweet little girl.  And God did provide for our material needs as well.

But this year, it has finally rained. And miraculously, during the driest July in recent memory, we received perfectly timed, tiny rains that were just enough to keep our soybeans alive, if not thriving. And then, at the beginning of this week, we received a glorious, soaking rain that has caused green to return to lawns and pastures (I think of Tante Golda's one potato that somehow multiplied to many). A pond that we had feared would go dry has received enough runoff to keep us from having to haul water to cattle.

Whether through years of disease, as my mother has faced since her Alzheimer's diagnosis in 2004, or seasons of plenty, God does provide for our needs. I've found this to be so time and again, in good times and bad. Blessed be His Name! 

Thursday, August 16, 2018

His Enabling Presence


I snapped the photo above at sunset last evening.  I brightened it just a bit, but the pink rays of light were present in the original photo.  While trying to crop the picture I became frustrated that the light rays seemed to shine directly on an unattractive, grass-free patch, and there was no way to crop the rough portion away without losing the impact of the photo.

The thought came that light pouring onto an ugly part of a road is symbolic. Although I've certainly not enjoyed the grief of watching Mom fade into Alzheimer's disease, I've never been so aware of the Lord's enabling presence.  My mother often states the same sentiment; in the fourteenth year since her Alzheimer's diagnosis, she says,  "God is with me!  Jesus is right here in my heart!  I'm never alone!" Her anthem is the Gaither song Something About That Name so that she brings smiles to many faces as she is being wheeled down the hallway to meals, singing, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that Name!" 

Here is a youtube link to my mom's current favorite song, with an invitation to praise the Name of the One who sees us safely through every life challenge: 




Monday, August 13, 2018

Trust


God is the only one in possession of all the facts in any given situation. We can trust in His good intentions toward us and in His ability to make us a way through.