Saturday, January 29, 2011

Frozen

I've seen it in the eyes of so many lately.
I see it in the girl staring back at me in the mirror.
There are weeks and seasons of life when hardships fall,
and like the snow outside my window, they just keep coming.
Frozen flakes, so insignificant in their own right, stomped down,
compounded, pressed to ice, suffocate the life from the ground of the heart.

And the heart, feeling the weight of each trial, threatens to stay this way:
frozen in perpetual winter, fearing perpetual loss.
Disappointments mount and the songbird just won't sing.
Not now, its the dead of winter.

Ah, but spring is coming, so they say.
Try telling that to ground, so exposed, so devastated.
It is coming, whether the ground, or my heart,
believes it or not.
But not until the fullness of this season has come to pass.

Until then, I'll do as the earth:
I'll look to the same Son that governs each winter day,
Just as He reigns in the extravagance of spring.
And as I wait, I trust the warmth of His love will thaw the ground of my heart,
as I move toward Him.
And that nothing, not even a heart frozen with fear and disappointment,
Can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

*A few picts to lighten a heavy heart:


You thought the curls left with the mullet, didn't you?
So did I, but, alas, my heartbreaker is back!

Judah's getting inspired watching the #1 rated Buckeyes.


Still learning his table manners.

ejk

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Erica- I feel for you because it seems not so long ago I was feeling winter in my soul much the same. Back on an early December day, these wise words of the anointed Charles Spurgeon, pointed me to truth and brought much comfort...

"WInter in the soul is by no means a comfortable season, and if it is upon you just now it will be very painful to you: but there is this comfort, namely, the the LORD makes it happen. He sends the sharp blasts of adversity to nip the buds of expectation. He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes over once verdant meadows of our joy. He releases His ice like morsels freezing the streams of our delight. He does it all; He is the great Winter King, and rules in the realms of frost. Therefore, you cannot murmur. Losses, crosses, heaviness, sickness, poverty, and a thousand other ills, are of the Lord's sending, and come to us with wise design. Frosts kill noxious insects, and limit raging diseases; they break up the clods, and sweeten the soul. O that such good results would always follow our winters of affliction.

How we prize the fire just now! How peasant its cheerful glow is! Let's in the same manner prize our LORD, who is the constant source of warmth and comfort in every time of trouble. Let's approach Him, and in Him find joy and peace in believing. Let's wrap ourselves in the warm garments of His promises, and accomplish tasks appropriate to the season...

The cold snows and the piercing winds all remind you that He keeps His covenant with day and night, and tend to assure you that He will also keep that glorious agreement which He has made you in the person of Christ Jesus."

"You made both summer and winter." ~Psalm 74:17


He is the most perfect, most sovereign, most high God. The winter He has allowed in your heart will produce the most beautiful flowers of spring. The roots are there...they are just hidden from you, waiting to bud and glorify Him in a way much bigger than you could have imagined, once your winter passes.

Daily trusting in His sovereignty with you!

beckyjomama said...

Oh, sweet friend, I wish I could hug you right now. Please know that you are loved. SOOOO loved. I wish I had words to comfort you, but I know that it;s not the same as the family time you were so looking forward to. Spring IS coming, along with the renewed life and all that reminds us that we are alive in Him.

I wish that I could comfort you the way your family could, but please know that I am here if you need me!
love you!

Woollard House said...

I too have tasted winter's chill. I know how it bites and breaks. How it's bitter cold and blasting winds threaten all warmth and love in a soul. But praise Jesus. I know him too, and he will get you through. Winter is passing...it is nearly done, and with Spring hope rises anew. Warm yourself in his light today, and ABIDE.