Filling Jars and Being Shipwrecked...All Part of the Plan

Last summer was the first attempt at a garden and I think we were super successful.  We ate produce from it for a long time.  This summer we had so much rain our garden was completely drowned, puddles everywhere.  I grew frogs, not vegetables!  We ate some food, but mostly beans, cucumbers, a few tomatoes, a little lettuce and peas, but that's about it.  All the herbs died, none of the carrots or beets made it (that was also partly due to an escaping bunny that we always found in our garden!). So, a little disappointing, but I also learned I can't make it as big next year.  I lost my garden crew to jobs and school this summer.  The younger ones helped, but not nearly as much as my older ones did last summer.  I may just have to cut back a bit next year.

Yesterday, I shared my "water into wine" story with my friend who is staying with us until today. One thing she and I have in common is the large number of children we both have.  She has 7 and I have 8.  However, we both have only 6 left under 18 years old.  I found that particularly interesting in light of the story from John 2.  In the story, Jesus tells the servants to fill 6 large jars with water.  These were no small jars.  They held 20-30 gallons of water each.  How did they do that?  Did they move the jars?  They would have been so heavy!  Or perhaps they went back and forth to the well to fill them up with smaller jars.  That would have taken so long and would have been so tedious!  Either way they were filled and the miracle of turning the water into wine happened.

Hmmmmm.....I started to see a parallel in my life and my friend's life.  We both have 6 jars, too - our 6 kids each.  They seem impossible to fill with godliness sometimes.  It is soooo much work!  I can hardly lift them!  I can't seem to get any "water" in them!  I told her this amazing thought that came to my mind, yet, God can take our feeble attempts at filling them and turn them into wine.  How I pray this for my remaining kids under my care.

In all the dreariness of this past year where my friend has struggled financially, emotionally, physically, we, too, have struggled alongside her.  What a long road it has been and though there is light at the end of the tunnel, we really have no idea when we will see resolve in her situation.  I sat in church this past Sunday and completely related to Paul in all the many storms he went through.  Yet God saw him through again and again.

As the pastor spoke from Acts 27, I started to see more parallels to my life and hers yet again, this time with our "storms" not just our "jars".  Paul set sail for Rome, not knowing a storm was ahead for him.  Soon into his voyage, it says he "put in Sidon...And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for..." (Acts 27:3)  Though there was a storm about to rage around him, there was respite before the wind began.  He was treated "kindly".  This has been our experience in all the storms this past year.  Even yesterday, my friend woke up with bad news.  She found out she had a surprise raise in one of her bills meaning more financial strain. Talk about a storm in your head and heart.  But we sat there and continued to talk and I explained, "This is just a small setback.  You'll find a way to pay the extra money."

Then, later on that day, she couldn't find her keys.  Her kids had taken to playing with them and lost them in the process.  Gone for good.  Still can't find them.  We turned the house upside down.  She called the person she had bought the car from asking her for a certain code she needed in order to get a new key made and to her shock and amazement, this friend said, "I'll pay for a new key to be made whatever it costs."  Sure enough, she showed up a few hours later with cash in hand and it was no small amount.  I looked at my friend and said, "Water into wine!  Don't you see?"  She was treated kindly in the middle of her storm.

As Paul went on in his journey, it says, "We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone.  Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens..." (Acts:27:7,8)  The pastor pointed out that even though there was difficult sailing and that the wind was fighting them the whole time, there was again, a break in the storm and they were able to get more respite at Fair Havens.  I know of a camp called Fair Havens and now I know why it is named that...to give respite to the weary families that come there.  That same camp is exactly what my friend's camp is like.  Though she is still in her storm, she has been able to live in a type of "Fair Havens" all summer, surrounded by God's beauty in nature, on a lake, with birds, green grass, tall trees, blue sky....a little oasis in her storm.  It was even able to be enjoyed by all of us when we went up, so we, too, got a bit of a trip to "Fair Havens".  Did God know our kids would need a little respite, too?

My personal respite is coming.....!  Every year we go away on our anniversary.  Even in our cracking down on our finances, this was one area we didn't cut back on.  One night, all out, close by.  I look forward to it all year.

Even this week, we had a new friend of the kids come by for a few days.  It was a completely unplanned visit, but I looked at his stay with us as respite for our kids - A new face, tons of personality, lots of laughs, spiritually refreshing as he comes from an amazing family with a really cool story....I loved having him here and thanked God for bringing him to us.  Respite doesn't mean sitting around doing nothing all the time....it could mean just a refreshing break in the form of friendship!  He was respite to us!  But, it takes eyes to see it.  And I'm always trying to see what God is doing.  Always trying to see how He's working.

This Fall will be a new challenge for us as RM is taking on full-time work as well as part-time work. In the olden days, full-time hours meant many more than they do now.  Nowadays, full-time work is seen as 35 hours a week.  He'll be putting in 50 hours a week, but entrepreneurs know 50 hours a week is child's play, so he probably won't even bat at eye.  However, it will still be a challenge, so I'm praying there will be respite in the storm of all the new things he's taking on.

Finally, Paul reached shore, but not before being shipwrecked.  This has to be my favourite part of the story.  He had been told by an angel that he would make it to shore and that no one would die.  And then, a shipwreck? To me, it is a perfect ending....God tells us, "You''ll make it!  I'm with you!"  But then, we see shipwrecks in our lives!  We get shipwrecked all the time!  How can this be God working?!  But it is. It was like the pastor said, "He'll get you where He intends you to go, but it won't always be how you think.  You might be shipwrecked in the process."  But that is actually a part of the plan sometimes. Seeing Paul get shipwrecked was actually a real encouragement to me.  Here we are on our debt-free plan and it just isn't going how I hoped!  I really thought we would make it to shore and all the crew would live.  But, we are often finding ourselves in storms and nearly shipwrecked and yes, we're all still alive, but it just isn't going how I planned!  It tells me that God is still helping us get to shore, but that sometimes a shipwreck or two is part of the plan.  Ok, fine.  I'll try to be happier in my ship, wrecked or not.

Wow.  The word of God is so alive.  Today, I'm finishing off schedule-making and school planning. Trying to get my head around the fact I have to dive in to the books in a few days.  I'm so glad snow isn't right around the corner!  Although I should watch what I say and write....maybe there's a snowstorm coming!