Of Tree Houses and Life Lessons...

The other day, much to the delight of the children, their favorite cat, Noel, lovingly rescued and raised from orphaned babyhood to now, presented 7 kittens to the world.... (!!!! is what this non-pet-loving mama was doing inside, while doing the mama thing on the outside and rejoicing with my offspring!!!!!)

These 7 kittens were delivered in a flowerbed off the back entrance to our house, a spot where the lovely Noel often hangs out. All was well, until a few days later, rain was on the horizon...So, a banana box, sporting a lovely cover from a discarded potting soil bag came to the rescue and those kittens and their mama are warm and dry (while my flower garden looks like part of Home Depot has found storage there!)

And above our heads near the 'kitten home', we often have heard this past week, the sounds of a hammer pounding nails, results of an industrious 10 year old boy who has been given wood and leftover plastic to add a roof and a room to his tree house (I cringe slightly to think what we might have to stare at all winter when the leaves come off that tree, but hey, he is healthy, and alive, and out of trouble this way!). When his 'room' was finished, he started asking to spend the night in it. One night it was too cold, the next night was Saturday night and his daddy said another night would be fine.

Well, today...Sunday has rolled around and this afternoon, the children were slightly alarmed to find only 3 kittens in their little Home Depot home...but we said, Noel is probably moving them because there are other cats around here bothering her. We told the boy to stay away for a few hours and then we will check. And guess what?! She moved all SEVEN of her babies up to that tree house!!!!! (My heart softened towards her slightly when I thought of her doing all that work and sacrifice for her babies)

"I spent 4 days making that room in my tree house and making it water proof, and now a cat has taken over!" was the boys' surprised reaction...

And then I pondered...

Isn't that life? We spend years dreaming and planning and making our 'tree houses'...They might even be good tree houses, with permission granted by our Father to build them where they are.

But then one day, our best laid plans come crashing down and crumble into powder at our feet. And I, for one, (and I suspect all people go through this) find that God uses these situations as opportunities to increase our faith and get us to trust Him more, and fully.

The process of trusting and growing and learning and seeking is not wrong. We dare not let people make us feel as though to weep over wrongs, and to be disturbed over darkness settling over churches and families and nations, and to be shocked when truth is mixed with falsehood, is wrong. The only wrong that comes of all that is when we doubt God and do not allow Him to work in our lives through the process.

A few years ago, I went through an incredibly shocking, devastating, disturbing experience.

 It shook me to the very core of my being.

 I had no idea how to even do life for awhile.

 Except that I had an already established relationship with my Jesus 

and my heart was broken before Him, ready to obey Him at every turn. 

I spent hours in prayer before Him, weeping and asking 

that I would do the right thing through the heart ache 

and the troubling experience.

And what I found, is, that just like my son and his tree house

 (a splendid idea for a boy to have, and a good thing to do in his spare time!),

 it is much better to just trust the process of Life in Christ than it is to insist that

 my dreams be fulfilled and my hopes be completed in the way 

that I had read in Scripture that God's perfect plan is.

I am blessed to look back on that experience and see that 

as long and wherever I hold to the hand of God, 

and seek to live Jesus' Way, I have

 answers, hope and a future.

Slowly as I grow, the dreams fade into nothingness 

as I gaze into the face of a Father who had my life planned 

since before the world ever began.

 I have heard Him calling in the night and I have said

 that I would go wherever He sent me. 

(I just didn't imagine He would send me the details that He has...

who ever imagines such things, anyway?! 

We tend to think selfishly...

and without regard that the reality of the Christian walk

 is strewn with rocks along the way...) 

I certainly acknowledge and recognize that 

hearts get broken,

 hurts happen, 

and sorrows are real. 

That is part of life.

But through the process of 'giving our tree houses over to seven kittens', 

we find a peace that passes understanding,

 and a joy the world can never know. 

Somewhere in there, we stop looking to people to fill the deepest needs of our hearts 

and we start being grateful for a Father who never ever lets us down, 

and who, in His love and graciousness, 

gives us joy in fellowship with other believers.

Have you a broken dream, or a 'road block' in your life?

Give it to Jesus. 

It very well could be that it is a divine appointment for you to walk through.

Perhaps it isn't even about you this time,

 but for a loved one or friends who need to hear the

voice of the Lord to come higher in some area, and in that process, 

God does the beautiful thing

of moulding and changing you as well. 

His ways truly are higher than our ways, and 

His thoughts

are beyond comprehension.

Trust Him completely. 

If you are His child,

 nothing can separate you from His love and protection.

Trust and Obey

"Trust in the Lord, with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own

understanding...

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will direct your paths."