HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

COLD, COLD GREETINGS FROM THE FRONT PORCH! IT IS COLD!


But on to warmer thoughts.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

January 8, 1978 Joseph Glen Gabbard arrived in the Gabbard family. It was a very cold, snowy day and that entire winter was very cold and snowy...much like the weather right now....but just as it did then...it will again thaw and warm into ...Spring and Spring will come!

It is God's promise. Be encouraged and be of good cheer...Genesis 8:22..."while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease'. This certainly applies to the earth BUT on my journey I realized this has spiritual signifance...at least to me. There is a time to plant and a time you must wait to enjoy the harvest.

Do you ever feel that there are times of 'coldness'...where is God? We cry, " God, I feel so alone and far away, no covering, no shelter"...BUT HE is always near. Then there are times of heat, the presence of God is so awesome and real it feels like we will be consumed! A time also when that heat will melt away all the dross in our life.

Winter, I am entering the winter of my life. When I was young in the hills of Kentucky running and playing.. I was in the spring of my life....seems just moments ago...

Then married and a young mother in the midst of the summer of my life, busy planting and growing young lives for the Kingdom. Fall quickly came and a time to see grandkids born and grow and children developing their own place in this world. Fall is such a beautiful time...both in the natural and spiritual. I have seen beautiful, wonderful, glorious color splashed all through the lives of my children and grandchildren! Beautiful!

Winter...it is not my favorite time of the year by any means!! However, God in His wisdom has set all this in motion....both in the earth and in our own life cycle. Am I sad? No, I realize I have had the gift of the 3 seasons, enjoying the beauty, the bounty and the blessings they have brought me.

Winter is a time for me and perhaps most to look to Him as never before...realize even when it seems there is little or no life that under the ground, in our foundation, so to speak, He is working and we still have purpose for His Kingdom. Just as the gnarled tree, twisted and tattered, bent and burdened with the ice and snow winter brings, we are still productive for the Kingdom and for the next generation.

Where are you today in your season? Wherever, rejoice, be glad, glance back and smile at the memories of beauty and bounty you have enjoyed...but don't be sad at what has been lost, opportunities, relationships, materials, possessions, youth..does it really matter now? Who said what, did what, he said, she said. that's a road to nowhere that has a deadend.....

Instead take a firm hold on the NOW, enjoy it for the NOW, embrace it for the NOW, let it envelope you for the NOW. The NOW quickly becomes the past... SO above all, trust God wherever you are.

It seems no matter what season we are in, there are times when we are in pain, in sorrow, in misery. That's life and that's the season. All seasons have good and bad, hard, difficult times, yet fun, enjoyable, hilarious, wonderful times.

If you are suffering, beaten down, tired, lonely, confused, know that 'this too shall pass'...and like I heard last night at a prayer meeting, ..God can use your PROBLEMS to bring Glory to His Kingdom and to work a work in you. Interesting.

All this comes in each season...each one of us must work out our own salvation and develop that relationship with the Lord that will sustain us. But in the Winter....those extra things such as weeds, 'prettiness' which is superficial, dies and is gone. Ironic, that in this season no matter how we try we cannot keep the winter from arriving. It comes. So all that appears to be left is bareness..ugliness, oldness. We are standing exposed before God and all mandkind. No amount of make-up, treatments, botox can really help. The beauty God desires and wants to see is inward. Hmmm, 'man is always looking on the outward'...so glad my God is looking on the inside. Or are we? Looking inside He can see and ask, "How much have you grown?? That will be the test.

So during our seasons, we must allow the roots to grow deeper, allow the seasonal prunings..the cutting away of those things that have gotten out of control in our lives. We are cut back , all the unnecessary, extra, superficial, stuff is taken and burned-as it should be!

However, the evidence is there as to who/what we really are. The type of tree (person) we are is evident. What we have produced thru the years stands on record. Rotten, tree-rotten fruit. Imature tree-imature fruit. Lack of nutrients (WORD)very little useful fruit. You get the pictures. HMM, we are known by our fruit, can't fool God. He is the untimate fruit inspector after all. It is known. It has been established. That cannot be taken away. But even more significant is our roots. Interesting..the part man cannot see...but God sees. After all the 'type of roots determines the fruits'.

Our lifeline, our foundation, where we get our strength, our nourishment-our roots. By the time winter arrives we should have deep, strong roots. Faith should be anchored...that no winter storms will overtake us, destroy us....we should stand firm and steady.......until the time appointed by God, when the fullness of our seasons have come and the shell we live in is broken and the seeds from that shell are scattered onto the earth. Then and only then they can fall to the ground and the cycle can continue until Genesis 8:22, ...."while the earth remains.

Then and only then can we fly, fly, fly into the eternal place, the destiny He has prepared. What a promise! Hold steady, stay strong, be ready, press in...whatever it takes!

So until the next meeting here on the front porch....be rooted and grounded as never before in HIM!