It has been a while, and I’m sorry about my absence. As many of you know, there are seasons in our lives that are just harder to navigate and can pop up anytime. I have had a few of those in the last several months. Even though they haven’t been all my trials, they have become trails for me because I care about others that are having hard times. So here I am, and my question for you is in the title. Would you really want to know what is ahead? You think you would feel more comfortable with that? Maybe you think you could prepare for it? Hmmm…I for one am comfortable not knowing and trusting instead, asking Him to navigate it with me.
What helps me is this thought that God placed on my heart a few months ago. Be a ripple on the water. When I throw a rock into a lake, pond or creek, the rock will push the water out of the way as it goes into the water, and it will then cause ripples to go out from its point of entry in a circle. Then the water will back in to fill the empty space where the rock fell and often make a splash, which makes more ripples. Can you imagine that being your life…being a ripple on the water in your daily life?
I know where my strength comes from, and I am not sure at times what I would do if I didn’t have that. You see, no matter how rough things get, I know God is in ultimate control of it and its outcome. I can trust that promise because I know that is what He has said. It’s truth. Doesn’t make my life a breeze by ANY means but I trust the process. So… as we see in the world today with things being the craziest that I have ever experienced, I pray God gives me the strength and the fortitude to walk it out with Him. Is it easy? A BIG no to that! But if I cast all my cares on Him, my frustrations, and tears, He has promised to care for me through it all. (I Peter 5:7).
I have had decades of experience “rolling with life”, and I also know what I have to do to keep my attitude in check. Do you know that about yourself? Have you taken the time to ask yourself that question? “What do you need to do to keep your spirits up and stay the course?” However, just to be transparent, I also have to watch because if I am pushed too far, I WILL push back or just go silent (and watch for silence of this Norwegian). However I want to share with you a day I had yesterday. God knows when we need encouragement and our spirits uplifted.
Yesterday we had errands to run. One was to an elderly lady that wanted to purchase a vintage light that I had for sale. I had to work a little with her to make it happen, but it did. She was 87 and wanting to decorate her studio room at a local senior housing. I love this! She is still creating! She had tears when I took the light out, and put it together for her to see how it would look when it gets hung up. She had a great life story too! Then lunch to celebrate my hubby’s birthday and we ended up going through DQ for a shake and hot fudge sundae. Another sweet moment was pulling up to the window to pay and finding the person in front of us had paid for our order. What a sweet thing to do. I haven’t done that in a while myself, and it reminded me of the need to pay it forward and do that for someone else. Next, we went to Home Depot to look at wall ovens and microwaves and found a great sale, plus… and extra bonus off! So we have ordered ours for the new kitchen and ready to rock and roll with that! So that was a wonderful day of God winks!
The moral of this post is: we can be a ripple in the water that spreads out for a long distance; sharing encouragement and caring. Or, we can keep it to ourselves and never see where God wants us to take action and be encouraged. I spent a fair amount of time with the buyer of my light listening to her story, and she had a good one. I am preaching to myself today because it has been a hard one. But as I said in the beginning of the post, I know what I need to do when that happens. I am in The Loft in the quiet of the day, writing to you as I drink my cup of coffee at my desk, and hoping that this little post will encourage you today! May you begin to think where you might be able to be the ripple in someone else’s pond. God always watches and looks for ways to let you know He is with you and listening. He is a gracious God and the lifter of our heads.
He has lifted mine again in these last few moments. Until next time…
~JoAnn
Do you have something you want to share about being a ripple on the water? I have an email address just for that purpose. It is
js.ripplesonthewater@gmail.com
Look forward to hearing from you!
Journeys of My Heart 