looking back...

Things have been quiet around these parts lately, friends.

I'd like to say it's because we're intentionally taking time to 'cease striving' and be still in a season so hectic and hurried.

But, instead of a refusal to strive,

it feels more like a failure to thrive lately.

Don't worry this isn't the part where a mournful violin plays and I whine on... but, this blog is a direct reflection of my creative spirit.

If it's vacant... so am I.

The last half year has been a series of challenges for our family.

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It's also been a time of much learning, growing and encouragement.

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The beauty of God's grace shines brightest in trials.

Lately this path we're on has me looking to what anchors my heart.

Sometimes we put our trust to deeply in people... forgetting they are broken just like us.

Sometimes we put our joy too deeply in things... forgetting they can be lost.

Which is not to say that I thereby don't trust others, or find joy in things... but that I hold them loosely, yet love them deeper in the knowledge that they aren't my true anchor.

As I look back I see how God's been teaching me this over and over.

Each trial shows His comforts clearer.

Each blessing shows His care brighter.

I remember learning it while swimming with our daughter this summer, and the image of standing on the true ROCK when everywhere else feels like drowning.

I remember way back to the beginning of this almost expired year, where the idea of 'let it go' was working it's theme into my heart (long before Elsa's song went there!).

When I read that word SURRENDER.(blog post here).

When I see all my goals for living in that perspective... I'm encouraged.

By God's grace I've seen growth in these areas.

A growth that comes from a hard year in many ways.

Like the gardener who prunes away,

cutting deep,

clearing the clutter,

so that more fruit may abound.

Looking back, I'm still learning to wave that white flag to His work in my life.

So this is my hope in the midst of a sleepless stupor.

A creative vacancy.

A challenging chapter.

He's still working on me.

What's being worked on in you?

Mel ;o)