"Set Me In A Large Place"

I love writing out scripture. When I was in high school I started my first journal at the age of 14.  I have been writing ever since. I use to think of the countries that did not allow Bibles. I thought, in my youth, that if I wrote out scriptures in my journal then it would not matter if my Bible was taken.

Clearly that has not happened. Thanking God for that. However I still write out scriptures as I go along in my daily time with God. Today I was chuckling over this passage. It was my favorite for today's reading and I wrote it out. I will typically write out the verses that are my favorite for the day. Today it as Psalm 118: 5-6

" From my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me. I will not fear. What can man do to me."

I do not think God expects us to be deep theologians with deep study into the scriptures for His words to speak to our hearts.  When I read this I immediately thought of where I live. I think of how God knows my heart for nature.  He knows my heart for being in the country. And here I am sitting sipping the mornings coffee on a beautiful farm. It looks more like three mornings of coffee here at my desk. Is this the large place He has set me in?

In reading this passage "set me in a large place." I could not help but think...what is that large place?  Where exactly has God put me?  And how does this passage reflect my heart today? Two years ago I prayed that God would provide some very specific things in my life. It seemed that my prayers were bigger than life. I am a dreamer. God designed me that way and when I look at scripture and how He has answered prayers. It is pretty hard to not sit back, drink coffee, read these passages and just smile.

Living on a beautiful farm is that "large place" for me. I was looking for a place to finish raising my boys. A single mom, wanting to provide space that would bring fun, joy, and work to my boys. I had no clue to even know where to start looking. And I just prayed. I lived on a beautiful farm in The Dalles and my heart yearned for that again. My boys loved the wide open spaces, too. And then to read that "the Lord is for me." I had to write these scriptures out today. Because truly the Lord is for me. And He is for you. I have called upon the Lord ALOT in the past two years. When we call on God, we can expect that he will see that His will is being done as we seek to know His heart. I had no idea what God had planned. One evening of God pressing on my heart to attend a friends event at her house, her farm, her family being raised in this beautiful place that the boys and I always loved to visit. One summer about 12 years ago, we came for a visit. No one was home, so we set up a picnic in their Orchard. Emily brought her violin, Emerson as about 4 months old, the two other boys toddlers playing. I remember praying that someday God would bless me with a property like this. I had no idea that this orchard would be the view from the kitchen window 12 years later. Here we live in this "large place".  Almost two years now. Eric was 2 years old and now a teenager playing in the same orchard.

I have had to overcome some very big fears in the past two years and even in a conversation yesterday, this sweet gal telling, "girl you have got courage, you have it in you."  I laughed and said that it was ALL an act of God. Through Christ Jesus and his promises, we ARE that person. Why?  Because the Bible tells us so.  So now that you have these two passages of Biblical wisdom how are you going to face today?

There is going to sad days, days of pain, days of uncertainty, days of just stress that we have no control over. What is your large place?  Actually another "large place" is my car. No, really my car. It's big and it is still running and it is easy to load up and take the kids on road trips expanding our large places. Even in the little things God has set aside a larger space. Step into that space with confidence that no matter your situation or circumstances "The Lord is for me" which also means you. Love & Cheers

P.S. You can find more fun pictures and comments with this hashtag. Each time I share a picture I try to remember this #farmlifewithcones

 

Just a few words.....

....From the Bible. Okay I don't have any specific verses, but something so cool happened today that I wanted to share. I have been home bound with a sick boy for the past three days. It's been an even bigger bummer because the weather has been so nice and the other two boys have wanting to do something outside, and are limited to the backyard which is not so bad.

Today I was in a mental funk. My sick child was slowly coming out of it, the other two boys happy and playing really well. But I was in a funk. I was so productive in knocking off a few huge projects I wanted to complete. Today is the first time in my life that I have all the bed linens on every single bed in this house clean, dried, and back on the beds. But even then I am still in a funk.

I put on one of my favorite praise tapes. Yep it's a tape. I have a mini stereo in my upstairs hallway that has a tape player on it and I have refused to spend the money to update all my tapes of yesterday. So I put on a worship tape by Sandi Patty. So eighties, but I love it. I thought if I played the tape and sang along my spirits would be lifted. Nope even Sandi could not take me out of this slump.

Emerson was napping and the two other boys were in a room playing Lego's so I went and just laid on my bed trying to figure what has put me here. Nothing came to my mind, so I started to pray, but my heart was not into praying. I felt it was more just lip service kind of praying. I picked up my Bible and read Proverbs 6 which was basically how to stay away from an adulteress woman. Great, not exactly the passage I need for today. But then I just started thumping through my Bible and reading a passage here, and there, and then I realized almost an entire hour had gone by. The boys hopped up on my bed and wanted me to read to them.

A couple of hours later I was in the kitchen finishing up the preparations for dinner and thought, what changed in me? My spirits were so high. I felt like me, which is pretty much a happy kind of spirit. Not a whole lot really rattles me and I stood there thinking, what had changed. What changed is how the Holy Spirit spoke to me through the passages of scripture that crossed my path. Random acts of reading and taking notes in thought of how amazing God is and wants to be in my life. Reading just a few words brought so much peace to my unsettled spirit. I thought I had read just a few words, but realized that it was almost an hour of reading.

No energy drink, no special pill, no special coffee drink, just good old fashioned Bible thumping...just a few words.