Saturday morning I sat on my front porch steps in my pajamas drinking a cup of coffee, Queen Esther, as usual, close to my side. I stared all around me with a measure of awe at these humble woods. Humble, not because I’m being modest. Humble, because they really are. We think they’re beautiful but they’re simple. God got us good and ready to appreciate this place by not letting a single tree flourish in our in-town yard of 27 years. We transplanted a young oak from Keith’s grandmother’s woods into our front yard early on and it had grown a whopping six inches by the time we moved. We finally had the greatest-ever river birch in our backyard, birdhouses and feeders hanging from its gorgeous branches, and Hurricane Ike kindly relieved us of it.
So these woods out here are not wasted on Keith and me. Still, we are well aware that the beauty that surrounds us is in the eye of two grateful beholders. The view in the picture you see below is tidy because it’s closest to our front door but the rest of these woods are pretty wild and viney and, when it rains, our low land is a good deal swampy. Mosquitos eat us alive if it’s wet and hot and, more often than we wish, it’s both. We can’t take a walk without snake boots since these gracious acres are prime habitat for breeding water moccasins, coral snakes, and copperheads. Each of our dogs have been snakebitten, one of them twice. That’s just life in the country. But you couldn’t budge us from these woods with a heavy bevy of bulldozers.
What moved me Saturday morning was that all I could see was green. Every shade possible. Lime green, olive green, kelly green, emerald green, foam green, sea green, myrtle green, you-name- it green. Foliage of countless kinds and textures. Oak leaves that look like the soles of feet. Sweet gum leaves that look like the palms of hands stretched wide-open. Spiny pines, bristly red cedars, and lacy foliage of cypress trees, dreamy and ethereal, growing straight out of the waters of our tiny natural pond.
Nothing dead in sight.
I put on my boots (still wearing my pajamas, otherwise, what’s the good of living out in the country?) and I went for a walk. If you’re inclined to like the color green, I’ll take you with me. But take your Claritin. You’re going to need it.
I wish you could hear the chorus of frogs, come evening, that meet for choir practice in this straw-thin creek bed.
The white trunk you see below in the middle of the frame is a Sycamore. Not exactly the same kind Zacchaeus, a wee little man, climbed with all his might for the Lord he wanted to see. All the same, when I walk past it, I don’t mind thinking of Jesus saying, Zacchaeus, you come down from that tree, for I’m going to your house today and Zacchaeus countering, Well, it’s a long, long way to my house – I fear I’ve wandered far from home – but why don’t we just stop off at the Moores? That girlfriend can stir up a fine pot of chicken and dumplings. And they do.
You did take your Claritin like I told you to, didn’t you? Because one of us is really allergic to this right here but, still, there’s no saying it’s not pretty.
And these. Well, these make Texas Texas. We just had a few bluebonnets the first year we moved in but every Spring God adds a a handful more because He knows good and well we’re going to brag on Him like nobody’s business. And He loves that.
What burned in my lungs on Saturday was that, everywhere a soul could see, there was nothing but life.
Somebody might shrug and wonder what’s new about that. It’s Spring. That’s what Spring brings. But that’s not all of our story out here. Three years ago, Texas suffered the worst drought of its history. The ravages of it did not peak until a year or so later when century oaks and towering pines all over our beautiful State begged our forgiveness but they just couldn’t recover. I asked Keith this morning how many trees he estimates we lost in these few acres alone. He said the smaller trees were innumerable but the painful losses were the fine, stately trees, some of them absolutely enormous. We said a sad goodbye to somewhere around 100 of those.
We were sick at heart. We’d walk round and round them, studying them carefully, trying to decide if they’d died or gone temporarily dormant in an effort to survive. When all was said and done, we’d lost many of our very favorite ones. After both Old Moses and Isaiah gave up the ghost, Keith swore and declared (and swore again as he has a mind to do) that he’d never again name another tree. It’s too painful when you have to see them die. I never imagined wanting to cry over a tree before. I may have laid hands on Old Moses and prayed. It didn’t work but he didn’t mind. We stared at their deadness and mourned for awhile then Keith began the slow grueling process of cutting them down.
It’s taken all this time.
I thought that was all there was to it but I was wrong. Next came the process of piling them up, waiting for really wet weather, and starting to burn heaps and piles of deadness. Day after damp day, Keith and a few helpers watched over a dozen bonfires.
But, Saturday, I sat on my front porch and beheld the breathtaking sight, forgive the redundancy, of nothing but life. Because, here’s the thing:
We’d finally given up what was dead and not coming back.
I wish I were not just talking about trees. We Moores and Jones have had some hard things to let go of over the last several years. Droughts, dying, death, grief. Of course, embedded here in this soil where thorns and thistles prosper, we earthlings will always have those things nearby to remind us that this place in no permanent home. We long for a better country.
I could not help but think about the contrast of all that is happening in these woods in the wake of our recent Resurrection Sunday celebration. I love Easter so much. If I believe in anything at all, I believe in God’s shameless felicity in raising to life what is dead. We Moores and Jones have experienced His resurrection power in ways no blog post could adequately boast. But I thought of a second theological principle as I stared all around me, not a dead branch in sight. I thought how sometimes we have to accept what has died or refused to come to life or produce a whit of fruit…
…and we have to let it go.
Instead of staring at it for months on end as a monument to our loss, we sometimes need to cut it down, pile it up, move it out or let it burn.
While we cry.
Because often God chooses to resurrect something that has died.
But other times He wants us to call it what it is – dead – and let it go, knowing that He is good. He cannot fail to be good.
That’s what Jesus said He does with what, over the proof of time, does not remain. It is “thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up.” (John 15:6 The NET) He “takes away every branch that does not bear fruit” and He “prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.” (John 15:2)
He’s all about the fruit.
What doesn’t bear fruit, what fails to resurrect Spring after disappointing Spring, finally needs to go. That doesn’t mean you forget. Some things are too big to forget. Take Old Moses, for instance. He blessed us with a lot of shade. And spectacular beauty. And he’s so big, we’re not even sure how to move out what’s left of him. But we’ve quit begging him to come back to life and we’ve pushed him back where he’s not so easy to see. Trying to resuscitate what’s not coming back to life just leaves you out of breath.
But this is the miracle of the whole thing. The drought stole life from these woods that bore roots in this ground for a hundred years. It was a terrible shame. But the sun rays and showers blocked so long by their enormous branches found their way to the fertile ground and the space that was bare gave way to new life.
God will not leave us comfortless. He will not leave us alone. He will not leave us fruitless. He will either resurrect the dead or grow something brand new.
I say this to you with a tender heart and deep compassion and empathy. If it is gone, let it go. If it is possible to move the deadness from your sight where it has become a monument to your sadness, pile it up and carry it off.
And know with all your heart and all your faith that something new is coming. Hope preferred for your hope deferred. Give it space. Sunshine. Water. Inspect it with great expectation. And you will surely – as surely as God is faithful and Jesus is the fleshing out of life itself – live to see new trees sprout out of that soil. Something you couldn’t have expected. Something Old Moses could never have given you.
We’re here too brief a time on this finicky soil to spend days on end grieving what could have been. We’ll talk to Jesus about that when we get Home. We’ll have forever then. For now…
Let it go.
So something new can grow.
Water it with your tears if you must but release your fears that nothing but nothingness is ahead for you. Is God your God? As sure as He is, new life is coming.
All the deadness did not manage to kill you. You are stronger than you thought. Stretch out your arms like mighty branches even if, for now, they’re as thin as sticks. It is to your Father’s glory that you bear much fruit.
Oh, Beth! I was just in Texas this weekend for the first time since I was 10 and all I could think about was how beautiful, and flat (I’m from northwest Arkansas) everything was. This just spoke to me in so many aspects. I’m a country girl stuck in town, and I’ve been whining, but this reminded me, as did the trip, that there can be beauty in all things because God is so good.
Beth,
We who live in the country are most blessed as we live close to life. I marvel how everything green thing grows upward everything reaches to the heavens for that is where life and light are.
In the grips of depression years ago Spring did little for me it just reminded me of what I felt I lost. Something died and I kept hanging on to it. Thanks be to God that has past and new life is here. I see our newborn calves frolicking in the sunlight these days and the prairie crocuses growing out of dead ground once again.
For me now it is explaining to kids in Sunday School who are seeing a young uncle of theirs growing ever weaker from the ravages of cancer and being able to tell them why Jesus died and our surity of life with Him forever in Heaven. That is why we can rejoice because death has lost it’s victory and there is no sting in it. As surely as the crocuses spring from a dead looking ground, so our hope in Christ has us grasping and holding on… To Him.
I loved that walk! I can only anticipate when the frogs start serenading us up north soon!
Have a Son-shiny day!
Betty M
Those are beautiful lessons to teach those kids you serve, Betty! I love how nature speaks so many spiritual lessons. Bless you!
This is absolutely beautiful… and true.
Wonderful. I think I’ll go check and see if there is any garlic poking through the straw.
This is so beautiful! Thank you.
This post is nothing but beautiful. The analogy you used – well, I will think of it often as I stare at the trees around me.
Choosing to trust in His goodness can sometimes take every ounce of human strength. It comes naturally in some areas of life and in others, it feels like it’s a muscle that never fully blossoms…. never fully learns to carry the important weight of believing. And maybe that’s where the problem is…. its’ not about human strength is it? A stubborn place in my heart and the relentless pursuance of my Jesus…. I am thankful that He is bigger than my stubborn heart. A decision to obey and a leaning into Him as He carries the weight and shows me how to use the muscle. It’s been a season of physical dying around me. I’ve been watching God bring His people home. Acts 17 has been my muscle builder. Their deaths are not a reflection of where they live (or don’t live), but HIM bringing His children home. And He is bringing Life to those who were impacted by their lives. I let the tears come, remember who they were, and celebrate that they are with their Jesus. And I continue walking….
thank you for sharing your heart with us.
Hi Beth, that was so beautifully written. The same thing happend to me a couple of yrs ago. As I believe the Lord was preparing me as he uprooted me from every thing comfortable to me. But I had 2 beautiful umbrella trees that gave beautiful shade in the summer heat. They were both infested with Beatles. To no avail I prayed and prayed over them and they died. Blume you I grieved. Well we moved to another state it’s been dry and bitter I’m waiting for that new thing to spring up and I m weary of waiting. This article gives me new hope. Appreciate you so much Beth Moore! God bless you
Your sister In Him
Renee
I sure wish I had read this post back in college a time or two or eighty. If I had to sum up one of the biggest lessons God has taught me over the last few years, it is absolutely “IF IT IS GONE, LET IT GO.” I clung to all kinds of things and just could not let them go — an old boyfriend, teenage foster children that I deeply loved, etc. I lived so much in the past that it is a wonder I didn’t completely miss my future.
My cousin Cate and I would often look at each other during our early and mid-twenties and, in our best southern accent (which is really just our normal voices), quote Madea: “LET FOLKS GO!” It sounds funny, but I really did have the hardest time with separating out people in my life for a season and people in my life for a lifetime. So many of my lifetime people were so unstable that I wanted to make my seasonal people into lifetime people. It took a lot longer than I would like to admit to learn to let people — and seasons — go. It took age and maturity and God not giving up on me.
About a year ago, when we started fostering two little girls, I would stare at the ceiling at night, completely unable to breathe at the thought of them potentially leaving us. We had been in the middle of fertility treatments when my husband and I felt like God was calling us to foster. All I wanted was a child to love that wouldn’t have to leave my home. One day, when I searched the words “foster care” on Pinterest, I came across a simple quote that made such a profound mark in my mind:
“If a train doesn’t stop at your station, then it’s not your train.”
Incidentally, this particular train is stopping at our station and we are adopting these two little girls in a few weeks. But the train didn’t stop for the first eight children I cared for under my roof and I had to learn to just let it go. Didn’t mean I didn’t care, didn’t mean I didn’t want things to be different, didn’t mean I didn’t try. It just meant it wasn’t my train and, instead of trying to chase that train down, I might ought to just stay at the station and watch for the next one.
Thank you for today’s post. I really loved it.
This is good, Amy Beth. So happy to celebrate these two and their upcoming adoption! Blessings!
I love this! Love the train analogy. Letting go has always been hard for me.
Amy Beth,
Thank you for sharing those words about the train. I’m going to write that one down. So happy for you that God is answering your prayer for two girls that you get to love and raise much to His wonderful grace and glory! Praying rich blessings upon your sweet self and your family.
Thank you, Beth! I sooo needed to hear this message! You speak to my heart!
Miss Beth this post coincides beautifully with Session 7 of Children of the Day which my Bible Study Group from the Central College Presbyterian Church just watched last night: “we only have a little while longer…” let it go. I’m Melissa Day TRA in Delaware, Ohio!
Beautiful! I love nature and admiring God’s amazing beauty! I have been outside as much as possible this Spring because all too soon we will be cooped up inside during the HOT Summer months around here! I had to say goodbye to a beautiful Mulberry tree in my back yard several years ago! I LOVED that tree!! It provided the best shade for my kids when they were little! I grew up in the Woods and miss them sooooo much, BUT I find the beauty God has given me in my own backyard! I also marvel at every shade of green I can see! We would get along great Beth!! 🙂 Thank you for this beautiful message! I am letting go and looking forward, with anticipation, of what God is going to surprise me with next! 😉
Thanks for the book, LOOKING UP DEVOTIONAL. It was delightful to have a package at my door. I had forgotten that it was coming. Loved your comments today…just what I needed. Praises! May God bless you.
AGAIN–God has spoken to my heart and encouraged me through this writing, Beth. My husband has been diagnosed with dementia (probably Alzheimers) and I am “letting go” of the man who was my husband and loving him in new ways. All the while feeling a fresh growth sprouting in the dead places —what a mysterious, magnificent God. Love and prayers!
Beth,
Thank you for a quiet restful walk this morning.
The Spirit had our Pastor speak with the same focus yesterday. Today I read three different devotions on rest and not filling the empty spaces but pausing and letting God fill them. I Felt Him sparking life as we meandered through the fresh moist air. Thank you for using your gift to bless others. You we’re His gentle soothing voice to me today.
Sincerely,
Tammy
Great food for thought, Beth. I’ve got something that hasn’t borne fruit for a long time now, and I’ve been wondering for a while how much longer to hang in there with it. Maybe it’s time to let it go. Definitely something to talk to the Lord about again. Thanks — and keep on enjoying your woods in your pajamas! 🙂
Hi Beth: Like many have posted. I also needed to read this today. I am going through some changes. I never like change so I think God is teaching me. Thanks for sharing. Blessing to
You.
Thank you for this. It has been a struggle for 4 yrs. Moving back to TX after 22 yrs in SC. My mother passing & year later mother in law passed away. We raised 2 children, and were in the empty nest phase when we stepped up to care for our great nephew, he was 2 weeks old. A year later he became adoptable and in Oct 2014 we adopted him. The journey of letting go has been one I have not done so well, but it is time. God blessed us with this little one, we are changing a long history of bad things. He has a chance to do it different.
New life begins with letting go.
Beautifully written, Beth…thanks for sharing your love of God and life through so many visuals! I remember reading your blog when you were writing from your back porch (in your home of 27 years)… when we purchased our little acre of land we are now living on, I invisioned being able to sit on our back porch for my time with God! There are 70 acres behind us that was supposed to stay ‘natural’ with the possibility of one home in the middle of all that, so we have loved all the critters that wanders in and out around us. Now we are losing that peace to 22 homes being built where one was to stand!!! We’re sad but now working on landscaping the inside of our yard to keep that peace…the peace I saw in your yard, because it’s really what’s in our hearts that gives us peace…”the God of Hope will fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in Him…”. We love our trees and have only named one…a large stately oak that reminds me of my Daddy…the papaw tree! Its funny how a tree can remind us of people! Thanks for reminding me to look for God in every creation of HIS… in people, plants, trees, clouds…He’s everwhere! He’s SOOO alive in us!
Thank you the wonderful message. It was the touch I needed today!
Beautiful thoughts and some fabulous truths. There are some things I held onto for years, decades even, and it was so freeing to finally let them go.
Much love and hugs,
Adrienne
Isaiah 43:19 came to my mind while reading this post. “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall he not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Our Lord is teaching me that I need to see a lot of dead things through His eyes..
That was truly beautiful. Words I needed to hear. My tears may flow as I thought over this, but this I know…we have a God who is with us, for us and will never leave us. Thank you Beth for the inspiring words. Blessed are we.
Thank you for this posting, Beth. I believe God had a word for me today. I will respond in obedience and know that it is not wasted but will be fruitful in His time. No matter the drought, God does bring things back to life in the springtime with a fresh dose of living water, all things are made new in His time! Blessings to you and your ministry for the work God does through you!
Thank you for such beautiful encouraging words. God bless you
I can see what you see, I can hear what you hear and smell what you smell. There is simple things in life that bring LIFE to this soul. Thanks for sharing and caring. All this just stirs my affections for Him. I love finding Him there and in oh so many other sweet ways out in His creation.
Funny thing… I was gearing up to do some writing this morning. And it would seem that what I really needed was some reading. Thank you, dear Beth. I shared it with Joanne just now, too. She is one, who was the tree cut down… And resurrected. Yes indeed. Fruit cometh!
My, my…how timely I find this blog posting to be. 🙂
And, it also causes me to miss Texas something awful.
This is such a timely word in due season! Oh how I needed this reminder today! The words spoke to the depths of my heart! Thank you so much Beth for being obedient to His leading and to His voice! You are such a blessing!
Hi Beth- Had to smile- at “I will not leave you comfortless- I will come to you- John 14:18………….my siesta scripture for the end of march- God always makes me smile when he brings it back around to me !
Love you
Amen
Thanks Beth.
What doesn’t bear fruit, what fails to resurrect Spring after disappointing Spring, finally needs to go.
That’s hard to figure when its a person. Cause as long as there is life there can be LIFE. And so I pray for LIFE to come forth but thus far the dead remain dead.
Trouble is being alone….
God will not leave us comfortless. He will not leave us alone. He will not leave us fruitless. He will either resurrect the dead or grow something brand new.
Just haven’t seen it happen. Tried to seed it and nothing. Waited and got very little (relationally)–cause I’ve got a lot I never dreamed of otherwise. So if its a new thing: I guess trees don’t grow real fast.
But now to my date with the Lord. I stayed home from work (but dressed nicely anyway) to have a date with Jesus. So on to it. Maybe He has an answer.
Tanya
Wow! Perfect timing! Your blog really spoke to me this morning. I have been holding on to things that I know it’s time to let go. I know, in my life, God is wanting to do something new but the “if only” is in the way. This morning I decided that I want to let it go and let God do something new. I realize that this life here on Earth is so short that I really don’t want to live one more day in the “if only”. Thank you Beth. You are such a blessing in my life.
ty Beth, for those words of encouragement
Oh mannnnnnnnn…this was just a fabola read. Felt like I was walking right along with you, Beth. Great pics and descriptions. You sure know your greens! LOL!!! I say yes and amen amen amennnnn to resurrection power from the dead. (Since I am an artist and night owl and NOT a morning person, I can DEFINITELY testify of being raised from the dead should something come up in the morning hours).
I found great comfort when you shared about death. Like Amy Beth who commented earlier in this post, I’m also from the south and sometimes I can almost hear the Lord saying in a southern comfort accent, “Look, yall, the joker is DEAD and I ain’t raisin’ it up. K?”
All righty then, Lord. Thank you for DEATH that brings LIFE. I’ll take it! And all of God’s folks said amen, shouted from the back, waved a hankie and did a Jesus jig. Come awn!
Thanks for this message Beth. I really needed to hear this and as God would have it, made me sit down and read before launching into my day. I have a lot to pray about while putting my garden in this morning.
Bless you dear Beth,
Hilly from Castle Rock, CO.
I needed this today! Thank you so much!
Dearest Beth,
Thank you for a word so timely I am slackjawed. As I have written previously on this blog I lost my best friend in a workplace shooting. This 5 am I had a nightmare that I was in a restaurant and someone started shooting and suddenly I was laying on the floor next to a multitude of people bleeding to death. I woke up shaking. Can we say PTSD? The worst part about that is that nightmare for my beloved friend Keith was real. I have been weeping on and off all morning feeling like it had just happened yesterday. I thought this loss would kill me. I could not imagine living on a planet where he did not exist. But I am still here. Blood is still running thru my veins. I pray God will give me the courage to let him go. What great comfort to know I don’t let him go to air and space. Keith is in the arms of Jesus. After Keith’s father passed away, someone said they had a dream that Keith welcomed his father into heaven dancing. I pray God will give me the courage to let go and embrace the new life He has as spring blossoms all around me. If I am reading what is on the horizon correctly I think God is bringing a new thing, um…”person” into my life..I am being very prayerful about this. Saying Lord, if it’s not of you, not your plan I don’t want it. Thank you Beth for a wonderful word and the beautiful pictures. Thanks for reminding me there is new life out there. I want to breathe in all of it. Love,Mary
Oh Mary, I’m so thankful to hear your words of hope after experiencing this loss of your friend and coworker. I am so very sorry! May Jesus be near, bearing your sorrows.
WOW and thank you!
Beth: I too absolutely LOVE EASTER! That joy has come because of the death of my 25 year old daughter, and grandsons ages 3 and 2 that died in a head on collision July of 2012. Grief is so tough when you have lost your child and grandchildren. But I too believe that God is good and they are in the presence of the one that is full of grace and truth. But oh how I miss their physical presence here…..I’m not sure that ever goes away. But as Isaiah 61:3 says, there is beauty from the ashes and I have seen God work through our family to tell a story of his grace and glory that I am so thankful.
Thank you for this analogy. It describes my grief journey so well……
Blessings!
Oh Julie. Your loss you have incurred is heartbreaking. So thankful to hear hope on this side of your grieving. Glory to God for His goodness, and nearness.
Oh Beth. ..these words….I paused from chapter 34 of Deuteronomy the death of moses…I’m finishing up your law of love study….I was bawling…thinking how I want to know God face to face…and when I die…I want him to carry me…and as strange as it seems….it stirred up old hurts of the past …to get my bearings I distracted myself with checking emails….this blog has spoke life….I need to let it go….I need to chop up the dead things….and trust God that new life will grow….thank you for the gift of words…beth….PS even the tree was named moses!!! Loved it!!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Letting go is hard to do, but so necessary. God bless you and keep you.
Sallee Bonham, Belle, MO
thank you, Beth. God is calling me out step by step from a mainline church where I have loved, lived and served for 20 years. The blasphemies against God and His Word are too great to bear any longer. Your words are so well timed. Questions haunt in a situation like this. Can I hold on to the good parts? Am I doing the right thing? What about the kids?
But dead is dead. Although my prayers and tears may abound, it’s time to accept that an evangelical cannot be a main liner, nor can a main liner be an evangelical.
Pray for our churches across America, ladies. Battle lines are being drawn in the spiritual realms. And no matter what you call yourself, no one in the church universal will be immune.
Beth, I so enjoy your teaching. Saw you in Atlantic City where our marriage continues to recover and we continue to see the Watermarks day by day.
Thank you Beth…as always your wise words were just what I need right now ..my girls are grown with families of their own and I adore my grandchildren…but I have had a hard time letting go of my mothering years. I do not like my empty nest!! After turning 60 last year I have focused more on the past and what has been than on the fact that while I am still here God has plans for me!! “release your fears that nothing but nothingness is ahead for you. Is God your God? As sure as He is, new life is coming.”
Love and prayers for you and yours!!
Oh I so smiled when I read this blog post. We spend so much time trying desperately to breathe life back into things that are dead and meant to stay that way for whatever reason, God knows. Spent 2014 in a wilderness of sorts. Just me and My Jesus. My friend. I had been hurt by ones who were supposed to love me and me them. Then I turned around in my hurt and pain opened my mouth and hurt a dear friend deeply with my words because well, “hurt people hurt others”. Long story but I am witnessing after a long time of loneliness where I saw not one juicy piece of fruit born…now I am witnessing Jesus bring that relationship back to life. But have also witnessed the cutting away and burning (dying) of things that will never bear fruit – the kingdom kind anyway. Thank you for this post. God is doing a new thing, do you not perceive it? That has been my verse for two years. He has spoken this newness over my life and I have received it, embraced it. Brokenness is a good place to be isn’t it? Letting go of the old so I can catch just a glimpse of the new. What a way to live. As a Mom of four almost grown kids and now three grand babies have had to do lots of “letting go”. Hard but oh so necessary. It’s in the letting go that I step into new territory, new dreams, new life in Jesus name!
Psalm 91:1-2
Renee Peebles
Your sister in Christ in NC
Dear Beth,
Once again the Lord used your wisdom & beautiful words to pierce my heart! After 50 yrs living in same part of WI, my husband got a new job 2 hrs north. I left behind my daughters, mother, sister, friends, church & precious Bible Study Ladies. Since August we have become empty nesters, daughter getting married in June, moving, 6 wks of bronchitis/pneumonia….. Since I’m not working due to ongoing health challenges I’m home by myself all day. I went thru health issues all by my myself, no one to call for help. I haven’t been able to embrace this new season, but long for my old life again. It feels like the loneliness is going to kill me most of the time. THANK YOU for being God’s mouth piece to me. I’m going to dry my tears and look for the next direction He will have me go.
Bless you sweet Beth xo
Thank you for the reminder to let go of dead things. I’ve put most of them out of the way, but occasionally I find myself going back and grieving over what was lost. I will look for the new green life. Hmm…no… actually, God has shown me new life, and I truly rejoice… but I guess there are still those times when I go back and grieve. Must stop that! I think it ties in with that whole captivity thing for me. (And pits… and insecurity…)lol
EXACTLY what I needed to hear on this tearful day. God hears and answers every prayer. Thank you, dear Beth.
Just what my heart needed to hear. Thank you.
Beautiful!!! Possibly my most favorite blog!! Tears and love!!!!