The Memorable Summer of 2010

It has, once again, been EONS since my last post. I'm not sure why I am coming & going all the time. It's not like I don't like to blog. In fact, I love it. I guess I just feel so redundant. People, experiences, occasions and events have come and gone. Yet right now, the thing that I wish was "gone" is still too much alive and well. The daily grind of our un-farm; as I have affectionately dubbed it, is still a constant in our lives.

This last summer, we were offered a short vision of restoration with the arrival of just under 500 mommy pigs. Unfortunately, it simply added to the stress. We had no choice but to pull together; our 3 early-teen girls working side by side with their dad ALL SUMMER LONG. I hate to use the word "unfortunately," because it sounds so incredibly ungrateful. And when those ladies arrived on the trucks, you can well bet, we all did a happy dance.

Well. No. That's not entirely true. And yes. It was true.

You see, these lovely pink & plump ladies arrived hot on the heels of a devastating summer storm. One Saturday minute in June we had a beautiful, lush country farmyard. And the next...we did not. What used to be hidden in a bubble of stately green trees, is now visible for an entire square mile. No one has to wonder anymore what is in that bush just off Road 31E. It's us!

Needless to say, the damage was devastating. We felt as though we were losing everything. Why God? Isn't our empty farm and unknown future enough????? Why this too? That night I think we were all ready to check ourselves into the nearest looney bin. I wish I could describe it, but unless you've been through a storm that is news-breaking on every channel, it's hard to imagine.

For the life of me, I could not think of one Biblical promise. In fact, if I had thought of any of them, I would have surely thought God to be a liar.

Yes, I hear you telling me that I should know better. And you're right. I do.

When people ask me if we've had a good summer, I say, "Well...it's been memorable." It's all I know to say without launching into a 3 part mini series that would rock prime time television! I say this, because you could explain any one part of our eventful summer on many levels - emotional, financial, physical, spiritual, etc.

The Lord has brought us to this place. I question it. I have no understanding as to why, when He could have stopped the whole thing. And on a day like today, I want to curl up into a ball and cry, because in my human short-sightedness, I can't see the end. I know God can. Of that I am confident.

All day today, I have been remembering that day back in Feb. when I spent some time with God on that deserted Carribean shore. I begged Him for a promise! I was not leaving that beach until He had blessed me! On that day, like today, I was wondering what in the world God was trying to pull! His final words to me were, "Now you see in part, then you will see the whole." I looked down and saw a conch shell washed up at my feet. It was my reminder.

The conch shell sits on my dresser, where I see it in the dim light of every morning, and in the fading of every day.

Isaiah 43: 2

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you..."

The conch shell displayed on my dresser has been sanded and polished by the ebb and flow of the Carribean seas. The pits and cracks give it character and add to the beauty of this thing created in the depths of the ocean.

Strangely, I can identify with how this shell has be tossed about in the waters. On a day like today, I pray that the character God is trying to build in me, will polish me and turn my flaws into a thing of beauty.