James 5:13 Anyone who is having troubles should pray; anyone who is happy should sing praises.
Song of Solomon 2:12 The flowers spear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land.
Isaiah 35:1 The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them. And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice. Even with joy and singing.
I love Spring. I like all the months from mid -February to early December, especially living in the southeast. I was so done with long cold winters and lots of snow, so this area is just right. I am blessed to live on the coast, so it is not uncommon to see dolphins, an occasional, rare whale, but have seen them, and birds. Of course there are the beach birds—pelicans, egrets, blue herons, and I get occasional hummingbirds and in the early spring, like now, also see red-winged blackbirds. I so enjoy seeing them all, but there are some who sing their hearts out, and I know they are singing and praising God for the sunshine, for a warmer day than the week before, but they sing with pure abandon and the sound of praise. I love to hear them.
The flowers start poking out. I have a couple camellia bushes in my years, and they bloom in February and many of the blossoms are still open and showing off the
I like to keep windows open and listen to the ocean, again, the trilling of birds and and neighbors calling hellos. It is a time when I let go of winter, start gardening and enjoying the fresh air more, and just appreciate all that nature has to offer—which is in abundance.
I hope you get to appreciate what Spring means to you. It makes my heart sing praises in “mybellaviews.”
Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 37:34 Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land
Psalm 39:7 And now Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.
Micah 7:7 Therefore I will look to the Lord
Sometimes God tells us to wait. He wants to get things in order for us before we proceed; sometimes we need to grow in our walk with Him, or He wants to make our path easier, clear out the debris, “removes and destroys the Amelikites or other –ites in our path. I tend to have a hard time with “wait.” I am learning that when I speed ahead, my stress increases, things do not seem to work as smoothly and I may not reach my goal anyway.
I am learning to take a deep breath and wait. And my surprise has been that a door opens and the “reward” is delivered sooner than I was led to believe. Big things have happened twice when it looked like I was going to have a good while to wait…and I’ve gotten a phone call that I can come in earlier if convenient. I encouraged myself to wait, and maybe things would work out, and I reminded myself God is in charge. And things worked out. I love the practicality of following His direction and seeing the benefits. It helps me obey more patiently.
David, the shepherd, soldier, and finally king was a wonderful example of waiting. He had soldiers who wanted to kill Saul so David could become king as the Lord had promised. But David respected and was awed by God, and followed His decrees. And he waited, and insisted others wait. David knew that in God’s time, the kingship would be his, because God had promised it.
I know some people can wait. They tend to weigh the odds, and move ahead only when things feel right, or they have heard or felt the nudge from God. Others jump ahead, eager for whatever they see, want that they believe will make them happy. They perhaps are envious for something they see someone else has, they are desiring the latest toy, electronic, clothing, vacation or whatever. Oftentimes, folks don’t take the time to wait before making a new purchase and dive head first into purchasing something when they don’t have the funds.
Not waiting for God’s timing has caused many troubles for the people over time. Moses went up the mountain and had the commandments printed on stone tablets. However, those several days he was gone seems to have been too long for the people, including his brother Aaron, who was the chosen priest of God, to wait. They made a molten calf and were honoring and giving praise to it. Really?! After all God had done and shown them.
And of course, although David waited for the death of Saul and refused to kill him, waiting on God’s timing before he ascended the throne, he did not wait and ordered Bathsheba to be brought to him, so he could sleep with her. Not waiting this time, caused a pregnancy, hurt a valued friend who knew the king had slept with his wife and both had defiled him while he had been sleeping in fields and woods serving his king; and then David ordered his friend’s death. His refusal to wait and grab what he wanted (Bathsheba) caused a lot of pain and hurt throughout his kingdom. The couple lost the child; Uriah the Hittite, loyal soldier and friend to David, husband of Bathsheba, was killed. He acted on what he wanted without waiting and thinking of any consequences. And he certainly had not sought God’s counsel in this matter
And there have been so many stories of those people who waited and succeeded. Jacob waited and worked for years in order to get the wife, Rebekah, whom he wanted. Joseph was sold into slavery and waited years in prison, and finally was elevated to a position of power, second only to the king of the land. God rewards those who seek Him and wait on His command to move ahead.
Waiting is hard. We wonder if God truly hears us; is He ignoring us? Are there so many people better than me who are calling on Him and He is attending them? We doubt, fuss, wonder and then begin to doubt our issue matters–although His word says it does. Everything about us matters to Him. So we must reassure ourselves with the Word, and wait. Perhaps it’s a test so we may prove that we are going to squelch the lies of Satan as he murmurs we have waited long enough….’if God really loved you, He’d at least acknowledge He’s heard you…there will be an outcome….eventually.’
It’s taken time and experience to learn, but I now choose to wait on hearing from Him before moving with any of “mybellaviews.”
John 10:4,5 “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
I have been fortunate to live in many different areas of the world, mostly Europe and the eastern part of the United States, but I’ve been enriched to see and live among other cultures. I have a natural curiosity so ask questions when some celebrations are different than ours.
For instance in Germany, the children get a night visit from St. Nick in early December, who drops candies into the shoes or boot that they left outside the door for him. They have several holidays and celebrations around the Christmas early- new year time frame, including a blessing of animals. I am not sure if that is mostly southern Germany, Bavaria, or throughout the entire country. There are many farmers in Bavaria, and they want their animals protected, and hopefully able to bear young and thereby grow the herd.
So I have been blessed learning new regional traditions and ways of experiencing celebrations, seeing cultural dress, such as lederhosen for the German men and dirndls for the women. I have seen and enjoyed bright colored flowers hanging and thriving from window and porch hangers. And certainly my eyes have been blessed seeing the dances of the area, the mountains, lakes, and waterfalls; the cattle which walk the streets of Garmisch most mornings and evenings on their way to and from the field. And initially, I was stunned when some of these cows branch off to the left, others to the right, and still others go straight. How do they know where to go? There must always be a shepherd, although I only rarely saw a young child seeming to lead his group, not all three groups.
My time traveling has proven to me that our Shepherd shepherds all. Oh, there was a young child or someone leading the cows, but on the way to the mountain fields, the cows all clumped together and stayed together, yet coming back, they seemed to know it was milking time so they each had to go to the correct barn. But it was always impressive to me to see this. And it always reminded me that we follow a Shepherd if we have heeded His call.
If these farm animals can follow their shepherd, how silly it is of us not to follow ours. It is funny to me that we frequently believe we know better than the Shepherd, and head out in a direction that is not in our best interest. And we can get into all kinds of trouble. Oh, perhaps, yet hopefully not, mired down in barbed wire, facing a ferocious beast such as a wolf or whatever, but something… all because we did not listen to the gentle prodding voice of the Shepherd.
That has happened to me enough so that when I get the prodding and don’t have peace about something, I recognize NOT to move ahead with my plans. If I do, I’ll not have made the right decision, and I will suffer for it. It takes time to recover when I have ignored the Shepherd. Sometimes the consequences of my “misbehavior” have been very costly, both financially and emotionally. Taking things in my direction when He cautioned not to, has caused me to regret my impulsive and stubborn actions.
I want to always follow the Shepherd…I know it is in my best interest for “mybellaviews.”
Psalm 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Corinthians 2:20,22 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God wants us to forgive those who have caused harm to us. I think if one is able to do that one has truly reached a level of love for others which brings us closer and closer to how our creator wants us to interact with others. Certainly, Jesus walked in love while here. He showed no disdain for the poor, the dirty, the ill, the hurt, and so forth.
But he did show grave disapproval to pompous and rich church leaders who spouted rules but lived with no love, only condemnation and judgment toward others. That angered our savior. He came to serve, to show us how to love, how to be patient, and give entirely.
Jesus walked among the people, knowing and understanding their motives, motivations, their suffering, hopes, and so forth. He held love for them; his heart ached for their trying times, their hunger, their illnesses, and he reached out. His manner was calm, quiet, but with an authority and confidence that brought those people to seek Him. People witnessed Him healing the sick, raising some from death, but caring for people, loving and serving them.
He encouraged His followers by example and by teaching. Much of this teaching was not fully understood. After all, His ways are not our ways. We must learn and reach for them, asking the Holy Spirit to guide our steps in this endeavor. Although, they did not always fully understand, they yearned to. On the subject of forgiveness, Peter asked “How many times, Lord, must I forgive?” We can all relate to that question. But Jesus quickly answered “70 x 7” which indicated endlessly.
I don’t think most can do that. There comes a time when most will at the most walk away, whether it be a form of self-preservation, no longer tolerating being hurt, or just not continuing to be used by another. We may see behaviors such as addictions which continue and continue. Sometimes we have to walk away to avoid being sucked into the negative vortex and hope and pray the one living with addiction reaches the bottom fast. We pray that once bottom comes, then they can reach up. We can love and forgive, but can no longer live and support behaviors sometimes.
Do you realize that not forgiving someone causes illness and darkness in you? It’s speculated that un-forgiveness can lead to many different illness–ulcers, some cancers, high blood pressure and so forth. It puts YOUR body under stain. So it is best to forgive, even if your heart is not wholly into forgiving someone, the act of doing it, and asking God to help you feel the forgiveness to the person loosens its poison from you.
It can be difficult to forgive. Sometimes the anger and hurt is so vast. But forgiveness is not necessarily something you feel right away. The anger, hurt, disappointment, whatever can last a long time. But the act of forgiveness really is your gift to you. You hold onto the anger, hurt, etc. But once you release it, and forgive another, the dark tendrils begin to unwind their hold on you.
You have begun to free yourself, to ease your dark burden, and God then steps in and begins to soothe the hurt that caused the damage away. And we all need that.
Genesis 1:21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Psalm 8:8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
Psalm 104:25 This great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great.
I am so blessed to live on the east coast of NC. I still enjoy four seasons, but LOVE the milder winters here compared to New England where I was raised. And frequently in the winter months, we get to see dolphins playing in the waves. And it is awesome. A blessing.
Here I get to occasionally enjoy the dolphins playing, jumping and sometimes just meandering north or south; watch with regularity the speedy little birds which dash in and out of the water pecking quickly, gobbling their food; I watch in amazement and appreciation as pelicans just glide over houses, seemingly close enough to scratch their bellies on the rooftops, and I see the many facets of the ocean’s attitude. It may be grumpy and stormy one day, then serene and quiet the next almost looking like a lake.
And then, rarely, but with a deep appreciation at this blessing too, I get to see a whale. It is humbling, mighty, awesome, and for a moment, my breath is taken away, and immediately, I am giving thanks. I give thanks often at the gift of eyes to see, ears to hear, and all the wonders of this world I have been blessed to enjoy. But to see a whale going by, blowing air out every several seconds as it comes up, then slowly dips into the water, is a bigger gift. It is rare here. So maybe that is why I am more appreciative.
I am in a position to see ocean life and it is humbling. God created these magnificent creatures, and there are SO many different ones, and I am amazed and awed. And very blessed He led me here.
We get more daylight here in the winters than New England. The sunrises are slightly earlier, and the sunsets are later, almost by an hour. Yet, I enjoy just a bit of winter, usually no snow, but a few cold days, and then March brings flowers poking their colors up. And we might just see a whale again around March and April.
Yes, I have been blessed and awed to live in this area of God’s creation. Thank You, God.
There are many blessings for “mybellaviews” living at the beach.
Hi, I'm Kathy. Welcome to my website!