My WORD Famine and YOUR Faith

My words dried up. About a month ago.

Silence. The screen stayed blank. My fingers stilled.

Flood or Drought.

Feast or Famine.

Rain or Shine.

In health... AND in sickness?????

In silence, I grieved with those in tornado and flood stricken states who lost everything. EVERYTHING.

In awe, I heard the preacher in Joplin declare loudly on national television…
BUT NOTHING can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

I wondered in silence.

I questioned deep within.

The answers came .....  agonizingly . . . . . S  L  O  W  L  Y . . . .

Isaiah 57:

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,”
            declares the LORD. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Oh.

There is more.

Isaiah 57: 13.

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
   and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the LORD’s renown,
   for an everlasting sign,
   that will endure forever.”

The skies in Texas continue dry and pale. The driest we’ve been in a hundred years. So the record keepers declare.
       Like my soul

Harsh, unrelenting winds daily suck the remaining fragile life out of the rocks and the hard places.
       Like my soul

My own words … just … dried up and blew away. And rolled away ike so many tumble weeds across the plains.

Sleep evaded me.

Angry dreams overtook me.

Even as I counted to a thousand and entered number 314: My yellow bells began blooming today, I covered my head in blankets of self-inflicted sadness.

OH.

There is more.

1 Peter 1: 24

For,  “All people are like grass,
   and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
 ²⁵ but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

   And this is the word that was preached to you.

Local friends sent cards, “Thinking of you.”
Two, long-time, patient, friends dragged me to lunches... things I thought I could not do but  quiet events that became monuments in my healing.
Every-day pals emailed: “You are too quiet… no words from you. .. are you alright?”

The sadness grew bigger and encompassed my being.

I hovered at home more and more.

I cooked and cried. I washed dirty clothes, folded the clean ones, and sighed. I cleaned out closets and whimpered

Sleep eluded me. I walked the floors. I stood, for hours, in darkness trying to stop the restless legs. I don't think that is what Paul meant in Colossians 4:12 when he said, "stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."

(hummm.... ?????)
Nevertheless . . .

Blogger buddies … people who write encouraging words, people who write truths of Holy Scripture, people who are strangers, people with no faces who I know only as...
Craig from Deep into Love 1 Corinthians 13,
Cora from Hidden, Riches from Secret Places,
Melinda Blue Jeans and Cotton Tee’s,
Dawn writing as DauchanDog ...
... continued to write healing words in their blogs. Now and then I dared to sneak peeks. My blogger buds sent e-messages…. I heart your words and miss them when you are silent.

Slowly and quietly, the physical things began to heal.

One by one, the medical issues began to resolve.

And, although the skies are dry and the land  desolate and the winds howl relentlessly—I found that:

the word of the Lord endured.

My words were only whispers at first… Lord, have mercy. Praise to the One Triune God, the Lord of Hosts, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Until I was able to put the deep prayers of my heart into spoken words.... words that began as He taught us…. Give us this day our daily bread……

Today I planted sweet basil, rosemary, lemon balm, and red geraniums.

Today I watered the red and purple and lavender petunias and the grass under the swing protected by the hundred+year old oak tree.

Today I entered thanksgiving number 325: Thanks be to God on high for his everlasting love and Grace and mercy.

Thank you—all my friends, loved ones, family, blogging buds, and prayer warriors for YOUR Unrelenting words of faith and hope.

To God be ALL the Glory.
Liz
BTW... Blogger seems to have a clitch that keeps blogspot writers from commenting on other blogspot blogs. If you feel led, just e-mail me at eberle2@hotmail.com Your words are important, also.