seasons...

Yesterday we headed out to my sister's house to celebrate my niece's 15th birthday...we had a wonderful day! Camryn and Wyatt absolutely love my sister and her family and thoroughly enjoys time spent with them. They had fun walking outside, watching the little cottontail bunnies, feeding the crows...and just enjoying a little bit of country living.

As we were swinging on the porch swing looking out over the valley I noticed the trees changing color and the beauty of the autumn sky...I was struck by the seasons.

Last time we were at my sister's it was the heat of summer, so hot that you really could not enjoy time spent outside as you would practically melt. And now, it's beautiful...

Seasons...

This time last year Camryn was beginning to show signs of sickness coming on...we had made various trips to the ER and clinic and it was clear that her body was battling something. Little did we know then that the something was leukemia. A year has come and gone and with that the seasons...

I never tire of the analogy of our walk with the Lord being like seasons...because it really is. There are moments of pure delight, fun, carefree spirit and just a zest for all that comes. There are moments of preparing, for the storm clouds seem to be forming, a chill is in the air knowing what lies ahead. Then the time of cold, lonely, feeling long, dark...but, yet knowing it will not, cannot last forever...because then comes renewal, a chance to begin again. Yes our Savior walks with us throughout these seasons...as we walk with Him. I love the walk, I love the journey...I have grown and yet, I still am.

He is no where near finished with me yet...there are still days I want to scream at the sky, wanting answers, wanting reasons. There are days when the load light it's almost as if, it is not there at all. Then the moments come when I can almost sense we could be starting again...

Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You
In children’s games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside
Still I notice You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and was to come
You are autumn

And everything in time and under heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice you
When branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring
~ Nichole Nordeman

Through it all...maybe He is re-creating us, our family. Teaching us that He will carry us through every season...