Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime; it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone. Zechariah 10:1 (NIV)
It’s winter here in the panhandle of Florida. ‘Winter’ is a relative term, especially if you are reading this in Canada or Norway. However, wherever you live in the northern hemisphere it is probably colder now than it will be in July. I love spring and fall so when winter and summer come…I have to choose to be glad!
Note: The phrase, “I choose …†has come more frequently in my life. A very wise 93-year-old friend of mine gave me a word of truth one day when she said that every day there are choices to make and how the day goes may be determined by those choices. Her example is that she has “aches and pains†and she chooses each day not to dwell on them.
So even though I do not like the cold and gray of these winter months I look beyond that and see the beautiful winter sky that seems as crisp as the air that blows on my face. I see the rainy days as God sowing into His creation. The weather has always been a picture of God to me. The clouds, the rain, the quietness of snowfall, and the wind – gentle breeze or hurricane force winds – are characteristic of the POWER and the LOVE of God. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone else but it speaks to my spirit.
It is also in the winter that I learn how God is growing (or moving or doing) even when I cannot see it. There is so much going on behind the scenes! Seriously, God may seem silent but He is right here and ‘spring’ is coming. That means when I pray and I am crying out to God for His wisdom and His guidance and I do not ‘hear’ Him answer…there are things happening and the fruit of His work is going to bloom if I will stay faithful to our prayer time together and faithful to what I do know are His principles.
The fields of where God plants will harvest abundantly! God is about abundance and He uses His resources wisely. He does not waste. And He will not waste the gifts He has given me. I am in a ‘winter’ in ministry right now. I am very much behind the scenes. I am not teaching every week. I am not actively writing a book right now. I am in a soaking time where I am not to waste God’s time of sowing into me. I am trying to listen and watch with expectation at what God wants to say and show me. I have begun to journal again as I did in 1995-1998. I am also in a time to encourage others. I have been writing emails and notes and calling people to uplift and raise others to produce and glorify God as they see what He is doing in their life.
The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD; and his name the only name. Zechariah 14:9 (NIV)
