Steps & Stops

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Psalm 37:23

The stops of a good man, as well as his steps, are ordered by the Lord. ~ George Mueller

Have you ever had the Lord stop you? Keep you still; perhaps in a place that you wanted to step right on out of?

That is exactly where our family has been for what seems like a very long time to our finite minds. Stopped. Waiting, hoping, praying, pleading, for the Lord to move us on from where we are...knowing that until He does so, we are at a full stop; no going anywhere from where we are "camped".

It hasn't been a pleasant place to stop and tarry for so long. Yet, I know that there were purposes for our God caused stop; some of which I will probably never know until I reach heaven.

We are seeing the cloud lifting and are beginning to pack up in preparation for a move...
Do we have all the answers? Not even close. We don't even know exactly where we are going. Yes, we have some possibilities, we have some open doors for ministry, we have a lot of "if's" and "maybe's", and so forth and so on...

But, we know that He has the answers, and knows exactly when and where to move us in our journey with Him. He has said, "Get ready." So we are getting ready and waiting for His call to "Follow Me." And, off we will go, with great joy, knowing that both our stops and our steps are ordered by Him!

If you are at a place where you feel stopped, stuck, and stalled...Take heart, it very well could be exactly where the Lord wants you for a season! I'm not saying it is going to be an easy place to be; but if it is from Him, it is good, because He is good and what He does is good (Psalm 119:68). Take joy, Trust Him and tarry there as long as He says to do so.

There are many blessings in obedience...something I wish I had learned many years ago..

Farewell October!

November is on its way! I hope to be moving to our new nest soon. Like really soon, maybe even next week. Since I'm not packed or otherwise prepared, it will be a mad dash to get our household in order before the day arrives. Moving to another home in less than a year...not something I relish, but something that is necessary. This new nest will prayerfully also be a temporary dwelling. It is not where I want to be for an extended time; but it is a dwelling place for a season.

The photo is of a little melon that grew in our garden this year. Even though I had given up the garden as a total failure and ceased to water, weed or otherwise acknowledge the presence of anything resembling a garden outside my backdoor; nature persevered, without a bit of assistance from the gardener. My girls were out digging in the garden one day, and discovered not one, but three small Eden's Gem melons on the vine. This was after a Texas summer with virtually no rain all season and no watering by the garden hose for many weeks. Most of the pepper and tomato plants also survived and we are harvesting peppers and tomatoes now at the end of October. Chard and okra also proved their stamina through the Summer and came back to give us a harvest after the first rains of Autumn. I had to laugh at my own foolishness, when nature fooled me this Fall! Soon I will clean out this garden plot and leave it for some other gardener to enjoy.

Our Fall & Winter garden is also growing quite well without my gardening "expertise" ;) ! We planted our garden at our new dwelling place, thinking that we would be moved in by the end of August. That didn't happen, but with just a few waterings by our friends down the road, the seeds came to life and did their thing. Now we pop over there at least a couple of times a week to snip lettuce, spinach, and chard; or a bit of cilantro for a nice bowl of salsa. Thanks to a thick layer of hay, the weeds haven't taken over entirely, and the veggies are thriving in the cooler temperatures.

Once we are finally settled in, I will add a few more veggies to the garden plot and of course, some of my favorite herbs and flowers. I absolutely love violas for the Winter garden! Sweet little flowers, and edible as well! Fall is for planting in my part of the world :) .