Seasons

"There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his toil?

I have seen the burden God has laid on men.

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;

Yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Ecclesiates 3:1-11

Sitting in the Changi airport in Singapore, I stand on the brink of a new season in my life. I am in awe and amazed that God has chosen to bring in this new season with a monsoon. His mercy, love, grace, rich blessings seem to bucketing down on me ... and I am a little overwhelmed, by the sheer magnitude of his generosity! What an awesome heavenly Father I have. Mercy is mine ... only through the Cross. How beautiful the Cross is- bitter sweet!

In Naomi Reeds book -' My Seventh Monsoon' she writes:

"Each season comes to a close and ushers in the next one. And so it is in our lives. A time of pain and suffering does eventually move on. Joys and blessings once again bring a thankful heart. A period of isolation and loneliness is replaced by an overload of human relationships. Confusion may come and stay for a while. A good long while at times ... But of course, the next season is always close at hand.

Spiritually, we also move in seasons. We seem to bounce between times of great intimacy and closeness with God, to times of dryness. ...... These seasons not only affect the world in front of me but also in a strange and parallel way, affect my relationship with God. So I peer into the fog of my current season, often wondering what I will gain from my toil. I wonder whether I will see His hand transform my season into beauty. I wonder whether I will ever fathom what He is doing from beginning to end .... "

Insanely Wonderful Generosity

My Mum is insanely wonderful in her generosity towards me … today she offered us a trip to Nepal to go and visit my sister!! I’m not sure that we can go … but in observing my Mum – I got an insight into the generosity of our Heavenly Father. If my Mum can be this generous, how much more God?! In fact the Bible talks about Gods grace and love being lavishly poured out to us … I wonder what prevents us at times from being willing or able to receive it? Is it unbelief or disbelief, pride or arrogance, pain, shame or anger? Is it a sense of condemnation? The work of Jesus dying on the cross deals with all these things! In realising this we are led to a place of humility, repentance and often brokeness. We do not deserve God’s insanely lavish gift of love and yet it gives him pleasure to freely give it! And in receiving it, we receive healing, freedom, dignity and life abundant. What a wonderful God! :)