Day 1
There are so many things about fall that bring me joy. Driving through the mountainside, camping with my family, late nights by the fire making smores with the kids. Fall reminds me how small I am in the big picture of life and yet how important I am to God. With the fall season comes things that bring such great comfort.
I grew up in the hills of West Virginia…..I think besides Arkansas, where I reside now, there is no greater beauty! As a young girl I lived right next door to my grandparents. This was a dream come true. I have so many fond memories of family gatherings under the massive oak trees in our back yard and the hours of swimming in the pool my pap put in for us. It couldn’t be any better. Then what a child fears the most happened, my parents divorced. I was going to leave the only place I knew as home. I was leaving my grandparents and my dad and moving 4 hours away with my mom. And so my sister and me went to weekend visitations. This meant traveling through the mountains of West Virginia each weekend. There was one set of mountains that was my favorite especially in the fall. The Cumberland Mountains. They range in 131 miles long and in some spots 20 miles wide. They were massive on both sides and we were so small in the middle of them. There is a certain place in the mountains that you drive through where they literally tower over you on both sides and I can remember lying down in the back seat looking out the window and it seemed as if they touched the clouds.
Psslm 90: 2 “Before the mountains were born or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”
But the best part of traveling through these massive mountains was what waited on the other side. As we exited these mountains the hills were full of color. Red, orange, yellow, brown…the beauty was beyond words. Every part of every mountain peak covered with vibrant colors. One season would paint a picture of perfect greens shaded with all the right accents, this season would paint a picture of change that was full of vibrant color and warm tones. Even at 11, I could see the detail of his master hand on every mountain and I knew He was a God who created and turned things into indescribable beauty.
Ecclesiastes 3: 11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time..”
That’s exactly what He does to us. He is massive in size. He is great above all
Psalm 95: 3-4 “For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In His hands are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.”
He takes the heartaches, the hurts, and the messes and makes it all new, if we are willing to surrender. It means taking our eyes of the current surroundings and fixing our eyes on him. He turns our ashes into beauty.
Isaiah 61: 3 “…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair they will be called oaks of righteousness a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”
God is big and massive but yet He still calls us friend.
John 15: 15 “…I have called you friends , for everything that I learned from the Father I have made known to you.”
He still desires to have a relationship with us above everything else He has created. He is waiting each morning for us to meet with Him. He wants us to make our lives vibrant with color, His color, reflecting His name above all else. But this means total surrender. This means letting go of the “paint brush” and allowing Him to paint His perfect picture. Allowing Him to take the areas that are “shaded” and “hidden” and make them new with color. He promises us that through it all, His glory will be revealed.
Romans 8: 18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
You see the best part of your current sufferings is what is waiting on the other side. Its beauty….He wants to make you new! He is waiting for you to surrender. Are you willing to let it go?
