" God, all the world is an opportunity to behold more of your transfiguring darkness into grace. I won't ever get over it. I'm beholden to it all my life, now and forever. I want to accept all You give and learn to see into the darkness as You do, as a place to fill with Your light. Help me Father. Help me to see in the dark." One Thousand Gifts Devotional.

And I will lead the blind
    in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
    I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
    the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
    and I do not forsake them. (Isaiah 42:16

  If there is one thing I have learned over the course of the past few years, hard years, painful years, it is that God is faithful, even in the darkness.

  In all things and no matter the circumstances we must remember that nothing, not one thing that happens to us is a surprise to God. He knows these things, He has allowed these things, dark as they may seem to you, senseless to you, unfair to you, He has allowed them. This might seem like something a harsh and unloving God would do, but in those thoughts we must remember all that He has told us, about who He is, about what His purpose is.

He is:

All Powerful

He is everywhere present.

 He is all knowing.

He is sovereign.

He is holy.

He is absolute truth.

He is righteous.

He is just.

He is love.

He is merciful.

He is faithful.

He never changes.

  All that He does, all that He allows, all that He brings about in our lives will and does serve His purposes, and His purposes are always for our benefit. Always.

  His grace is always available, a full measure, all that you need, for each day. Open your eyes. Ask Him to show you all the ways he blesses You, ask Him to show you how to see Him at work in what you perceive to be total darkness. From every single thing comes grace and blessing.

  I learned long ago that sometimes word pictures assist us in understanding something. I have always thought of my children and my great love for them in defining how God allows bad things, hurtful things, to occur in our lives. I look back to when one of my boys was very sick. I took him to the doctor, and they informed me that he would have to receive two shots, they would inject them into his legs, and that the shots were extremely painful. They informed me that they would burn like fire. I helped to hold him down while they injected him. I will never forget his eyes, they burned into me, eyes that screamed betrayal, how could I, his mother, the one who always defended, always comforted, always gave anything and everything on his behalf, allow this to be done? He was too young to understand why, too young to know that the reason I held him down, the reason I allowed them to hurt him, was because of my love for him, my desire to save him, to preserve his life. It was not for harm, although in his eyes great harm was done.

 Now I am an imperfect created being, and I have made, do make and will continue to make mistakes. My word picture therefore is inadequate in it's representation of God, but it at least helps to form a picture that might aid somewhat in our understanding of why bad things happen. Just like my son, laying on that table, screaming his outrage and his pain at the top of his lungs, did not understand, did not have all the pieces to the puzzle, could not comprehend at that time that what was taking place was for good in the end, sometimes we also cannot see. There will be times of great sorrow where we will live to actually see with our own eyes the reasons, and the good that came from them, there will be other times where we may not see it, we may have to wait until we stand before Him, and He shows us all that He did, all that He brought about, all that He prevented, by allowing the pain in our lives. What He asks us to do right now is to trust Him. His love for His children makes my love for my own children pale in comparison, for He is God, perfect in His love, while I am human and created and always imperfect in mine.

  May God, today and in days to come, help us to see in the darkness, to open our eyes fully, to open our clenched fists completely and receive the abundant grace that He freely gives.

GRACE: unmerited, undeserved favor.

More information on the attributes of God:

http://www.josh.org/video-2/attributes-of-god/

"“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord”.   Psalm 27:14

“Be of good courage.”  Alas, how can one be so when all sense and feeling dishearten the mind and deject the soul?  Lively frames in duty, sweet enlargements of heart, heavenly transports of joy, delightful ecstasies of faith, rapturous tastes of love, all, all  like Noah’s dove have taken their flight; and I fear says the drooping soul, never, never more to return.  Truly like Hezekiah, “I mourn as a dove, mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord I am oppressed, undertake for me,” Isaiah 38:14. 

Still, saith the Comforter by his word, “Be of good courage”.  Remember thy calling.  It is to live by faith, honour thy Lord, and be obedient to his word.  Thou hast the sentence of death in thyself that thou should not trust in thyself lest thy heart depart from thy Lord.  Not frames and feelings, but God’s love and promises in Christ to sinners are the foundation of hope.  These are abundantly sufficient to inspire the soul with courage, yea, with good courage to go on in the ways of the Lord. 

Steadfast faith cleaves to Jesus, abides by the truth, and perseveres in dutiful obedience.  Shall these ever be suspended for want of lively frames and joyful feelings?  How would this prove that we walk by faith and that our eye is single to Christ’s glory?    Nay, we should then only serve him according to the changes of sense and passion rather than by the uniform, consistent obedience of faith. 

The Lord’s word is our rule of duty; his promises are our support.  His grace is sufficient for us; his strength is made perfect in our weakness.  If our hearts are weak that we cannot run with eagerness the ways of God’s commandments as we desire, so much more reason have we to wait on the Lord for “the times of refreshing from his presence”.  For “he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength” Isaiah 40:29.

“Wait I say on the Lord.”  David repeats the command with a holy fervour to his own soul and others.  God has promised: expect fulfillment. Here is the exercise of faith: trust in the Lord Christ for what we stand in need of; of hope, expecting to receive all from him; of patience, waiting continually upon him. 

Most precious promise! “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary, walk and not faint.  Isaiah 40: 31."

by William Mason

 Today, as I was sitting outside on my break, attempting to write something, some blessing received, I asked the Lord, to open my eyes, my ears, my heart to His blessings…for I was empty..
 Then quite suddenly the thought of singing trees entered my mind, and I began to notice the wind, and the trees, and I began to hear the rustling of the leaves as the trees bent back and forth in the wind….their leaves rustling together…like song….and I could hear them sing.

 The sycamore trees were loud and joyful, their leaves making a mighty rustling sound, their many limbs whipping back and forth in time with the wind…nearby the pines sang, their voices low, almost overpowered by the sycamore…until you stood close to them, they more stoic and reserved, but still singing….and the Japanese maple, dancing gracefully, its song but a whisper in the wind…

How blessed I am, what blessing…to hear the trees sing!

 Later, after penning these words in my journal, I in curiosity decided to do an internet search for trees singing. And I found this poem and this painting....…..How delightful!

When the Trees Sing

When the trees sing,
It doesn't really matter
If you know the song,
Or if you know the words,
Or even if you know the tune.
What really matters is knowing
That the trees are singing at all.

May 6, 1998© Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek

Living in New Mexico one becomes accustomed to dirt. My yard is pretty much a huge dirt yard, there are various desert plants and some fruit trees, some decorative grass…….and for those of us who live here it does not look all that bad.

As I walked along the lakeshore, I saw brightly colored dragonflies, some red, some blue, darting about on the water. A red tailed hawk took to the sky and soared above, prairie dogs gave their warning barks and dived into their shelters as I passed, a few brave ones standing at the edge on hind legs…watching me.

Bells began to ring across the meadow and as I looked out I could see a flock of sheep coming across the field, driven by one little sheepdog. He carefully took them out into the middle; made sure each one was accounted for, and then settled down to watch them graze.

By now the horses are curious; they approach me slowly and with some trepidation. I began to talk to them, hands at my sides, not really staring at them, just telling them what a pretty place this is, and how much I enjoyed looking at it. They got within 8 to 10 feet of me, but any movement to reach a hand out, or entice them nearer was met with snorts and head tosses. So I took a few photos of them as they watched me.

As I walked about they followed from a distance of about 10-15 feet, stopping if I stopped, watching me closely if I turned to look at them, I took a few more photos, and just continued to chat with them as I walked. I took a few photos of the sheep, the dog unwilling to let me get to close, he warned me off with a bark, and when I took two steps forward he began to move his sheep away. So I backed away and left him be, hearing his message…I am working. No time to meet new friends right now.

I began my walk back towards the vehicle, and the horses followed. I figured they would stop at the edge of the grassland, but they did not, so I chatted with them as we walked, still not being able to touch them or get to close.

They stopped some distance from the car, and at that point, since they had come so far and been such great company, I had to reward them in some way, so I pulled carrots from the ice chest, and made my way back to them, and just stood, a few carrots in hand, and asked them if they would like one.

Slowly and with caution, the big blaze faced one approached, and extended his neck as far as he could, and then extended his lips and managed to grasp a carrot from the edge of my palm…and then he came a little closer. Within moments I was able to touch his neck, and then another came closer, and another.

Surrounded by horses I continue talking to them, most of them allow me to pat their necks, they become curious about the vehicle and one decides it would make a wonderful butt scratcher…and begins to scratch his backside on the back of the car, another for whatever reason decides to lick the back windshield…..and then another decides the windshield wipers just might be edible.

At this point it is time to say goodbye, before my husband gets upset at them for eating parts of the vehicle, so I climb into the driver’s seat and gently shoo them away, and take a short drive to the nearest rest facilities. Upon my return they had all gone back to their grazing.

I took my chair down to the lake where my husband and sister in law were fishing, along with my pole and my book, and sat for a spell, listening to the water gently lap against the shore, watching the birds flying above, the dragonflies flitting to and fro, and the occasional fish leaping from the water. I fished for perhaps ten minutes and quickly lost interest.

I read for a while, went for another walk, took a nap and just generally soaked up the sun and rested. No fish were caught on this trip and by noon the thunderheads were rolling in and a hard storm was approaching, so we took our leave of Blue Water Lake, for fear of being caught in the storm and getting stuck in the mud that was sure to be left in its wake.

I left refreshed and full of joy, the circumstances of my life had not changed, I still have a son suffering from severe PTSD, my daughter in law is still dead, my younger son still depressed, my niece still dealing with her husband’s suicide, all the things to worry about were still there, but I was at peace.

I thought a lot about heaven that day, what it must be like, would there be the same animals in the new heaven and new earth as we have on this one? I believe so, after all my Lord has told me He is preparing a place for me, and He has told me that I am unable to even imagine how wonderful it will be. I have always loved His creatures, and it is His will to delight His children….there will be animals in heaven!