A Few More Thoughts and a Reminder

We’ve had a busy week around here. We welcomed our fifth grandchild! A beautiful little boy who is already loved so dearly by all of us. What an awesome thing to watch his two older brothers meet him for the first time. What a bright spot in the midst of all this chaos!

I enjoyed a couple of days with my grandsons while mommy was in the hospital and was reminded why you have kids when you are younger. I enjoyed every minute of it but I am sure tired. You grandparents who are raising your grandkids are doing an amazing and self-sacrificing thing. But most of us will do what we have to when we truly love someone, won’t we? That’s what love does.

At any rate, I feel like anything I write this week would be…contrived. I feel a bit disorganized inside my head. So I am going to just write some of my thoughts down about the recent events.

I am overwhelmed with emotion at what is going on in this country right now. It feels surreal and I told my husband the other night it feels like we are just waiting for the next thing to happen to a country already weakened by a virus (with a less than 1% death rate, no less…) and now being destroyed by a religion called Woke that was started by the death of a guy who was a longtime criminal. (And some are even wondering if he’s dead, given the mysterious circumstances surrounding the incident.)

Something evil is at work in this country. There are too many questions. Too many things that just don’t add up. In fact, aren’t some of these things making you question your own sanity?? How can people see situations so differently? Where they see freedom in the future, I see bondage. Where they see abundance, I see hunger. Where they see life, I see death.

If we do a study of history, we will learn two things. First, we will understand that those promoting communist ideology have not studied history. They couldn’t have or they’d understand where this ideology takes any society that tries to implement it. I think we are clearly seeing that they have been fed propaganda in our schools and universities and they are brainwashed.

Second, we will understand that societies have gone through these kinds of times since the beginning of time. We are not the only ones to experience uncertainty or dread. We are not alone in our fears and our questions for the future. This world is full of sin and Satan has been very active destroying it and it’s inhabitants since the fall.

As Americans, we have been rather sheltered from the awfulness of this world in many ways. Until now. Now we are tasting it firsthand and we can feel the solid ground of the greatest democracy in existence begin to shake beneath us. It’s so disconcerting.

But here’s what isn’t shaking: God. God and His Word are still as solid as they ever have been. Some of us are starting to understand that we may have had our security in the wrong place. That we were trusting in something that never existed in the first place.

If this doesn’t make any Christian turn to the truths of scripture I don’t know what will. Throughout all of time, God has held and taken care of His own. Sometimes that meant a pleasant life here on earth and sometimes it meant death. Sometimes life was so hard and for others, not so much. But whatever our lot in this life, we know God is with us. He has promised and we know He always keeps His promises.

To me, the beauty of the sky is a daily reminder that God cares about each one of us. The sun will continue to rise and set, no matter what else is going on around us.

Many are the evenings that I will look toward the west and have to grab my iPhone for a photo. And every now and again, I will look toward the east in the morning and do the same. The sky is a beautiful painting every single day. Whether it is cloudy and gray or filled with amazing color, we are reminded that God is in control.

We may fret and worry, but He is sovereign and not one tiny thing is going unnoticed by Him. He is allowing all that is happening for His purposes and plans. And He never changes.

We, the remnant, have much to look forward to in eternity. We, of all people, are so blessed. May we remember to keep our eyes on things above.

I’ve created a short video of those shots I’ve been taking this year. I hope it is a small blessing to you as you process all that is going on around you right now.

Psalms 113:3 From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised!

Isaiah 45:5-7 I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’

p.s In honor of the 10th anniversary of Growing4Life, I am raising money this month to help with the needs across the world during this economic crisis. Find out more here.