I haven't been feeling as stressed about money as I knew money was coming soon. Some towers had been shipped (ones that RM had built), more were being shipped yesterday and even more will be shipped in the next few weeks. Each time towers were shipped, an invoice was sent. But you just never know when you'll see a cheque in the mail.
I am heading out on my weekend getaway in just over a week and definitely needed to pick up a few things before I left, plus I knew I would need cash while I was away to cover food and incidentals.... would the money come in time? We were quite sure it would, but I had to rest.... knowing God was in control and knew if I needed that money in time or not. Well, to our delight, it arrived in the mail yesterday and we were thrilled. It always makes us say many out loud, "Thank you, Jesus" prayers when that happens. It occurred to us later on in the day that maybe if we were completely financially independent we might not walk around with so thankful a heart. Being dependent on Him daily sure makes us count our blessings. It was definitely a "stand firm and watch for the deliverance of the Lord" moment. He delivered us again and we are so grateful.
We are nearly done pruning the little vineyard. I never thought in a million years we could do this, but we have 5+ rows left to do out of 23. It's about 2 rows a day if you have 4 people pruning for at least 4 hours (about 80 plants a row, I think), so no short amount of work. I've used this example multiple times in our kids' lives already when they think they can't accomplish something. I reminded my son yesterday as he has quite a bit of schoolwork to do now that he's at the vet hospital each afternoon. It's eaten up a lot of his school time. He was feeling overwhelmed, but I told him, "Remember how you felt when you stood at that first plant on that first row and then turned and saw how much you had ahead of you? It got done one plant at a time. Your schoolwork will get done that way, too." He actually took those words to heart as he knew it was true!
We remember how long it took to build our house and how overwhelming it felt when we stood in the basement of the framed house that had sooooo much ahead of it. The weight of the project we had taken on suddenly hit us like a ton of bricks, but we pressed on. Then, we got to the final list of things that needed to get done. I remember writing it with RM. It was at least 3 pages long. But then, one thing at time, we crossed things off and sure enough, the list got ripped up and the house was sold. I'm sure God has given us these tangible examples in our life to remind us we can do this debt thing, too. One dollar at a time. Knowing the grape plants get pruned literally one branch at a time has been so helpful to picture in our minds that it really is the Biblical principle found in Proverbs of "little by little".
I also love that we have so many little hands in our grapevines. Our children are in there each day alongside their Dad. He could never do it without them. Even the tired, grumpy oldest young adult we have who would much rather be in bed, comes out each day that she can. I told her on one of her most difficult days of getting up, "This is SUCH a great opportunity! Such a GREAT experience! Who gets to be out in a vineyard each day with their dad and brothers?!" She looked at me with these very sleepy eyes and said, "One week was enough experience and opportunity......."! What?! I laughed. But I tried to understand - they do have sunburned noses and sore hands from the pruning shears..... Oh well! So the principle is there, too. We'll kill this debt with the help of our kids. They work alongside RM each day whenever he needs their help.
Even yesterday, my 2nd oldest son was helping RM load some towers onto the shipping truck. The truck driver noticed the strength of my son, who is only 13 and said, "He is strong! Is he your son?" I'm sure it was a proud moment for RM as he answered, "Yes, he is my son and he is strong." They have definitely come by any strength they have through honest hard work and it is a benefit to RM nearly daily has he has them always doing something.
I spoke with my friend the other day who is staying alongside a husband who hardly notices her. I used the grape vine example again even to her, but this time in a different way. We often pray and think that God isn't answering our prayers as we hope for an immediate answer. Once again, Cowman puts it this way, "Often we fail to give God an opportunity to work, not realizing that it takes time for Him to answer prayer. It takes time for God to colour a rose or to grow a great oak tree. And it takes time for Him to make bread (or grapes, in my case....) from wheat fields. He takes the soil, then grinds and softens it. He enriches it and wets it with rain showers and with dew. Then He brings the warmth of life to the small blade of grass, later grows the stalk and the amber grain, and finally provides bread for the hungry. All this takes time. Therefore we sow the seed, till the ground, and then wait and trust until God's purpose has been fulfilled. We understand this principle when it comes to planting a field, and we need to learn the same lesson regarding our prayer life. It takes time for God to answer prayer."
What an encouragement to me and to my friend. I told her that God is answering her prayers, but she just doesn't see all the behind the scenes things that God must be doing in her husband's life. As she prays for him and continues to trust God for him, God is grinding the soil of his heart, softening it, enriching it, bringing warmth of life.... all things she can't possibly see, just like we can't see what our pruning could possibly do that is helpful to this plant that we appear to be destroying. But, even though she can't see the work going on in the background God is still trying to show her that He is real. So I told her to look for God in other ways that she can see. For example, she just signed on more clients in her business. "That is God trying to encourage you!" I said. For us, it was definitely getting the cheque in the mail, but that's an obvious one. A more subtle sign of God for me was how He showed me yesterday an image of my husband in the artist we saw play at the concert. That felt like a direct sign of encouragement that was only shown to me. The reason I know this is we went to the concert with friends. We saw the same guy perform. I walked out soooo moved and could barely keep my enthusiasm to myself whereas my friend could barely say a positive thing about it. Same concert, same artist, different experience. I'm convinced God had me there to speak to just me.
The difference is I'm begging God to show Himself to me. I'm asking Him for His encouragement! I want to see Him work in my life, but I must have eyes to see Him. That was what I was suggesting to my friend. Ask God to show himself to you, but then you must watch for how He answers those prayers. It isn't always how we think He'll show up.
If you need a tune to encourage you, download Crowder's "He Loves Us" song. I can hardly get through that song. He sings so powerfully with his distinctly unique voice. My favourite line is, "You are the Hurricane, I am the tree." We've all heard the metaphor that speaks of why an oak tree is so big and strong- it's because of the wind and the other weather elements that makes its roots so deep so it can withstand the hurricane and become even stronger. That is oddly how God shows His love for us, by sending hurricanes! It makes sense!
So, even though I've hardly set foot in the vineyard, I love it so much for all the lessons it is teaching us and how I can pass some of those lessons on to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment