poetry

The Wind Chill Factor…

/ www.LivingLarger.life

Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. I spent my morning time with the Living God inside looking out with a hot cup of coffee and the best-selling Book of all times. The winds have been fierce around the farm lately and the wind has a way of making cold feel even colder than it is – what’s called the “wind chill factor”. The front porch takes a beating when the fierce winds come through and the flags become tattered and torn over time because of it. Sometimes rugs and furniture on the porch become displaced by the wind and most of the time the yard is filled with twigs and limbs from the trees that God pruned. Life can be like the wind…unpredictable and fierce with pieces that seem to fly all over the place. But it can also be as gentle as a summer breeze. It all comes down to how we see with the Heart…our very own “wind chill factor” gauge. The Key to Peace, when the winds pass through, is to NOT focus on the “wind chill” and all the tiny pieces getting blown here and there – instead, Focus on the One who brings the winds and who holds each Life in the Palm of His Hands…messes and all. It is fruitless (and damaging) to fret about the “messes” in Life on any given day because God is always behind the wind and He’s always in control of the “messes”. As for me, I choose to keep my eyes on Jesus at all times…”messes” and all…because I know that WITH Him, I can do all things and that WITHOUT Him I am powerless. Isn’t that the way you prioritize the winds in your life too?

I’ve never liked the wind much. I don’t like the hassle of having to secure my world from harm and I don’t like having to hang on to things around me to keep them from blowing away. I don’t like my hair blown over my eyes making it impossible to see and I don’t like sand blown into my eyes. I don’t like snow drifts that can make a little snow a big hassle or a little rain that can be impossible to contain. But regardless of how I feel about the wind myself, I’ve learned to have respect for it, and I know that it has many purposes when it comes to the Living God. It takes wind to blow the seeds across the fields and beyond so that God can plant them anywhere He wants to. It takes the wind to blow the clouds around so that He can make it rain where it wants it to rain. It takes the wind to dry the land after a heavy rain and it takes the wind to prune the trees. It takes the wind under the wings of the most amazing birds to keep them in the air and it takes wind to blow new weather my way. My flesh doesn’t like the wind so much but my soul embraces the will of my God in it all.

I can see and feel the wind around this old farm but the winds of life are an entirely different story. Just the same as God can kick up the wind around this old farm, He can kick up the wind in my Life too and I rarely see it coming at all. One minute everything is calm and the next minute something blows through that has the potential to rock my world and rob me of my peace IF I let it. Those winds could so easily do a lot of damage to my life if I didn’t know how to Secure my world from harm. Those winds surprise me, and they can temporarily knock the wind out of the sails of my Heart if I don’t understand where they’ve come from and if I don’t take cover. But just the same as I set aside the “damage” the wind can cause around the farm UNTIL after I meet with the Keeper of the Winds, I take my refuge in the presence of my God, and when I do those winds settle down and they change direction every single time.

It’s a little windy outside this morning and it’s a little windy in my world too, but I’ve got everything I need to take cover and to be Sustained through it all. I Serve the Creator of the wind. I Serve the One who scattered all stars in the sky and knows them each by name. I serve the One who Knows every hair on my head and Who treasures every tear I’ve ever shed. I Serve the One who Commands the clouds to open up to bring the rain and snow…the same One who can take Command over every cell in my body and call it into Submission to His Will. I Serve the One who can calm the storm with just the sound of His voice. I Serve the One who made the sun stand still. I Serve the One who caused the earth to shake and the Tabernacle curtain split when Jesus took His last breath. I Serve the One who is in control of the Care and Feeding of every little bird in the sky…how much more so for me? I Serve the One who chose me even before the foundations of the earth. I Serve the One who has a Job laid out just for me that will Prepare me for my Job in Heaven one day. I Serve the One who died for me and who has my Future all Planned out. I Serve the One who planted me in my mother’s womb at a precise moment in time to Fulfill His Purpose for me…and the One who already Knows when He’ll take me Home. With all that said, why in the world would I fret over the millions of “messes” brought on by the winds in this Journey called Life?

How about you?

A Different Day…But The Same Heart Still…

/ www.LivingLarger.life
No photo description available.

Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. I met with the Living God before the sun came up and I gave thanks for a warm dwelling on this cold day; a luxury many others don’t have. It’s 9 degrees this morning and the ice on the trees and the fields won’t be melting any time soon even though the sun is bright and beautiful. The temperature of the sun never changes, but even it can’t melt the ice if the atmosphere around the ice remains cold. As I stood there admiring the beauty of the icy limbs and the blazing sun, the Lord spoke to my Heart with a reminder of how this is what life will look like as we draw closer to the End. The Light of God will always be there and His “temperature” never changes…but there will always be icy ones that refuse to be melted no matter how Bright the Light of His Love shines. What an Amazing God to speak to my Heart through the icy limbs on a cold day.

It’s a dark world riddled with turmoil as the Spiritual war rages in the heavens. The more the Light of God shines, the icier the world becomes as the limbs relentlessly fight to remain just where they are with no interest in being warmed by the Son whatsoever. Sometimes when the Warmth seeps through even just a little, the icy ones fight even harder for their “right” to remain where they are. Jesus said “they will hate you because of me” and that’s true – but it’s not until we Shine the Light to Warm things up do we Understand just what Jesus meant by that. Fear of being hated will often silence Carriers of the Warmth so the ice keeps clinging to the trees like never before. All it ever takes for ice to melt is for the atmosphere around it to warm up, and when that happens the ice is powerless. I dream about what the icy world would look like if more Carriers of the Warmth were willing to Shine despite the hate they’d experience if they did. The “temperature” of the Living God never changes and He has the Power over all…BUT His people are commanded to Share the Warmth so we can change the atmosphere of the ice, and yet so many refuse to be hated because of Him.

The icy conditions don’t exist just because of the lost ones, they exist because of some Proclaiming to Know Jesus Christ too. There are lots of enemies in the Camp and they freeze over often when they hear things they don’t like or they choose to spread hate over Love. Sometimes they talk about Warmth, but the icy condition of their heart is what the world really sees, and the enemy rejoices to see one of God’s Warmth Carriers spitting out ice instead. We talk a lot about Revival but that’s a “be careful what you wish for” kind of thing. When Revival begins, the ice will rage even more than it does today, and those Willing to Share the Warmth of the Son will be hated like never before. The Good News is that One Day the Son will show Himself to the world again, and when He does, all the icy ones will melt at His feet and confess that He is Lord too. Now that’s a Good Dose of Warmth the icy ones need to hear and it’s what the Warmth Carriers share despite the hate we experience when we do.

God used a simple image of ice clinging to the limbs to ignite my Heart this morning. I’m Armed and Ready to Carry the Warmth of the Son to everyone, everywhere, despite what it might “cost” me. I experience more hate than most people can imagine but that only Propels me to Share more when I do. The Atmosphere around me is so warm that the icy ones feel it by what I say and how I Live. There’s absolutely nothing the icy ones can do to harm me but the harder they try, the harder I Work to be the best Carrier of Warmth I can possibly be. He died for me…I Live for Him. You can’t go wrong when you look at the Journey called Life what way!

How about you?