What's It Going to Take For You?
Our first planting of lettuce waiting for the cold rains of April to stop. |
Each morning my husband blesses me with a pot of green tea with peach! This morning to combat the dreary day he even has a fire going in the fireplace for me to snuggle in front of while having my devotional time. He continually shows me what love is in action, and I am blessed!
The Bible describes itself as, "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword...and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 This morning my heavenly Father drew near and helped me see myself in the widow's life as I read through 1 Kings 17: 8 through the end of the chapter. This simple story of the widow's heartache and loss became my own story while the Spirit asked me pointed questions.
I ached with the burdened widow as she gathered "two sticks" to bake a cake with the handful of meal and a bit of oil. Her hunger had wracked havoc on her body as the famine lingered in the land. I picture her pushing herself to find enough wood to build a little fire to use the last of her hoarded meal. As she worked, she pushed aside the nagging thoughts of what tomorrow held. In the midst of the severe drought, she was resigned to her fate. This was to be the end of her story, but then God stepped in! (I love the word but in Scripture!) As she was gathering the few sticks it would take to bake the cake, a traveler called out to her with a simple request. "Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." With her task burning in her heart, she turned to serve this stranger. As she was hurrying away to get him his drink he made a further request for a "morsel of bread". I picture her quickened steps coming to complete halt as she contemplates the sacrifice of her last cake. Her thoughts churning, she began to share her weighty burden with Elijah. He spoke the words God sent just for her, "Fear not...".
Often fear cripples us from seeing the plan God has for us. It blocks our ears from hearing what the Spirit wants to say to us, and it paralyzes our bodies from action. These were the words from God she needed to hear at the moment.
I don't know for certain what was running through the widow's mind, but I can see her heart through her actions. She made a little cake for Elijah before she made a cake for herself and her son. This one action brought her abundant blessings in the days ahead.
This morning I remembered the hard-learned lesson of giving to others when God whispers to. I have struggled with this for years as I had 13 lil' mouths to feed daily. It took a few hard lessons to learn how rich I truely was, and that my "barrel of meal" would always contain enough. Living with this mentality is exciting once I learned it. Last summer I saw God make seemingly little produce from our gardens STRETCH to feed many families. Each time I rejoiced in my little miracle!
As I neared the end of the chapter (and my quiet time before the fire) I saw how sickness complicates the widow's emotions. She had obeyed all that was asked of her. But maybe she had only served outwardly. Nagging thoughts may have haunted her nightly as she laid down to sleep. Would there be another handful in the barrel in the morning? Sometimes like this widow a lesson may register in my head but hasn't rooted itself fully in my heart yet. Growing can be a painful process. When God took her son in death her emotions erupted! She may have spoken angrily to the man of God through her pain, "I've done all God commanded me to do, and all I reap is more loss and more pain!?" Ignoring God's lessons of surrender will only bring increasingly harder lessons until we embrace God's teaching whole heartedly.
Elijah tells her, "give me thy son." Have you heard the Sprit of God ask for a loved one? I have. It's heart wrenching! But by giving them to Him, He can accomplish His will, in His time, and His way. Through an ensuing miracle we see that heartbreaking surrender brought the power of God surging through her son and into her arms!
Her next words reveal the "Why?" that motivated the difficult lesson in her life and often yours and mine. "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth." 1 Kings 17:24. There was a deeper lesson God was working towards all along in the widow's life. Her eyes were opened to Truth. (God) For her it took the loss of her husband, the deprivation of drought and famine and ultimately the death of her son. What is it going to take in your life?
The widow had obeyed outwardly. No one saw her doubt, fears, and lack of trust. It took a heart wrenching loss to wholly enable her heart to believe and truly trust. What about you? Are you facing insurmountable difficulties, heartache, and fear? Like the widow's painful lessons that brought her to God, maybe He's trying to get your attention too. How low do you want to go? What will it take for you to see God's saving power?
As we can see there's a deeper lesson for this widow than her daily bread. She needed a relationship with the living God. In my last blog post I wrote about your ONLY hope. Please read it. If you already know Jesus Christ as your Savior, ask Him to open your eyes to what He is teaching you. There is sweet peace of surrender on the other side of the lesson!
My next blog post will be about demystifying sourdough. It's REALLY not as complicated as others have made it look. Join me next time by simply subscribing to this blog post. If you are blessed with these posts, please spread the word via social media, or word of mouth. Since I'm not able to do this anymore, it's up to ya'll to spread the word!
Since a picture speaks a thousand words here are a few to show you what we've been up to......
Lil' broccoli seedlings from early spring. (They're now in the garden!) |
Steve began work on the outside of our "new" home. We didn't have a back door, so he broke through the brick to install one. There are more pictures below. |
It's difficult to get a good picture in my seedling growing area, but I use these two shelves with a table to bottom water the flats on. |
Mass sown Red Amaranth. I pricked these out and potted them up. |
These are the Red Amaranth seedlings I potted up. Now a few weeks later, they are almost ready to brave the open field! |
I wish I could easily rearrange these pictures, but Blogspot is now a clunky outdated program. This picture shows the hole in the wall Where Steve put our new back door. |
My "handy-man". |
The view from our dining room and kitchen! |
The view from my chair in the dining room! I love looking out and seeing the pond's "mood", birds feeding, and the rolling pastures beyond. |
My new back door! It wasn't completed in this picture yet. |
Charity planting onions. |
Steve hooked up a mid-sized irrigation system. |
Dear Val, I love what you've written here, especially the lessons of the widow. Thankyou for that ❤
ReplyDeleteWow! My daughter said, "That's their small operation? We are nothing compared to that!"
We are trying seedlings for the first time this year. We did get our peas straight into the ground, but from what your saying, some of them never came probably because we actually had snow. Is your frost cover like just an old sheet?
Also, we have transplanted our tomatoes. What's the hardening off process?