Abundance, Need, and "When?"

 

I don't know if you're like me, but I have spent a great deal of my life looking forward to "when". When we'll have children, get a new home, a new appliance, a new piece of furniture, a new ...whatever. Life is short and I seem to have spent a great deal of my life looking forward to the next thing, whatever the next thing might be.

The picture above was taken at a lake in eastern Washington where my husband & I were fishing with our youngest son and his family. ( I caught a really big trout and it was delicious ! ) I thought to myself this is the perfect place to camp and maybe live. Who wouldn't love a classic Airstream travel trailer parked dock-side at a lake chock full of fish just waiting to be caught and pan fried ? A mountain behind the trailer to boot ! I could do this, really. Just looking at this picture makes me happy.

After browsing through all my pictures trapped in our computer files I realized I have the life my husband and I made together with love, with hard work, with planning ( often gone awry ) and also a life full of the hardships and agonies many others suffer , yet still a life of great abundance . Abundance that is NOT of the monetary. I have the desires of my heart and they are not any of my material possessions!

I truly know and understand the saying "life is wasted on the young" ,because if I and my husband had known when we were young what we know now, we would have made so many different choices. Yet we are not made to know in our youth what we know in our older age. And really, if someone had told us we should NOT do this, or we should do that, we would probably have done what we thought best anyway. Such is youth. ( Hey you young things out there, listen again carefully to your elders ! )

So, back to the picture and my dream of living somewhere else , a dream of a different life. Yes, I can dream, and my husband and I dream and plan together, but I truly know I am blessed by God no matter where I live , in the here and now. We have a home we built together with the help of family and friends after a few years of living in a repo single- wide mobile home while we built. Our dream home was crushed by 3 falling trees during a severe storm* a few years ago , and months later repaired. We have an abundance of food but for many years our budget was so slim that out of necessity I found ways to make 3 filling meals for a family of 5 plus company using one store-bought fryer chicken , not to mention ( but I will ) another frequent dinner ~ my husband's least favorite meal, tuna noodle casserole. We now have more material possessions than we need and plenty of food. Abundance and lack are temporal conditions and not necessary for happiness or contentment. We know that where we live does not determine our happiness , but Who we trust our lives to does.

Our true abundance and contentment lies in Him~ Jesus, and all He has given of Himself. Only His life, for us. The "When" ? Now and forever redeemed in spite of ourselves. John 3:16

"I know how to get along with humble means , and I also know how to live in prosperity, in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. ( Jesus ) ." Philippians 4: 12, 13

Our New Best Friend

Meet Chip, our new best friend. Chip and my husband will be spending a lot of time together, they have a big job ahead of them. We hope Chip our new wood-chipper is up to the job ! I am trying to catch up on reading & commenting on blogs. The work load outside is enormous after the ice storm damage to our place. So much damage it is hard for me to look out the window at the destruction of our woods & gardens. I am sure in a few weeks though, I will be excited to help my husband plan and create new plantings. But, this will take awhile, the destruction is so massive around here and the work to be done just cleaning it up is going to take a lot of time & energy. Day light hours will be spent outside unless the weather is dreadful, then I will be getting ready for lambing time which arrives here any day now. Life is good, God is gracious and we are blessed. ~

The Ice Storm Has Taken It's Toll

We have been without power at our place since last Wednesday night between 6:00 & 7:00. I was in the process of downloading photos to my blog when everything went black in the house.We have a warm home and hot meals because we have a wood stove, and a good supply of firewood. A battery powered radio keeps us in touch with the outside world, a well stocked pantry , bottled water, and candles keep us going when it gets dark.The first night without power was beautiful. Lots of snow outside gave us bright and quiet scenery ,all was as pretty and cozy as a Christmas card.Thursday night the ice storm came. We had a full 24 hours of trees popping, exploding, and bursting all around our property. We did not venture past the porches , nor did the animals venture out of their shelters...the falling branches were weapons, and there was no time the branches were not falling. Some of the limbs that fell were themselves the size of large trees. When the temperatures began warming yesterday it was still dangerous outside because branches are falling with each blast of wind. Tonight and Tuesday we have windstorms forecast, with gusts up to 55 MPH. If I could download pictures of our place you would see it looks like a war zone. The devastation is daunting, but our house escaped any damage, and although some of the animal pens sustained branches through their roofs, not a single animal was killed, a true miracle. The picture above is courtesy of my daughter, A.Joy, whose computer I am using tonight.The ice storm has taken it's toll, and I think it will be collecting from us for a very long time to come. I am praising and thanking God for keeping us safe. I hope you are all well and safe during the storms of winter too.