Picnic Days

We have been having the most beautiful fall weather in NC the past few days.  These are my favorite times to be outside.  Our family needed this sunshine and blue skies to lift our spirits this weekend.

I believe I experienced every emotion one can experience in one week.  There was hurt, sadness, relief, confusion, anger, and even joy.  The joy only came from the beauty of our Lord.  Psalms90:17a says, "And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us..."  His love has shined down on us these last few days.  We felt like we were wrapped in His protection as we felt the warmth of the sun.  The weather was a complete gift from Him.

We not only dealt with the trials of leaving the church, but my husband's place of employment was bought out by another company.  It was official on Friday.  We knew this was coming and the Lord has been preparing our hearts to handle the transitions.  We pray this can only be for the good.  And, we are excited that headquarters will now by in Florida verses Pittsburgh.  Us girls may be going on a lot more business trips with daddy!

As we sought the Lord's guidance with all the changes in one week, I woke up in the not so best of moods on Friday.  I was in the anger stage.  I wasn't mad at God, but just mad in general.  I didn't know if my emotions were going to be able to handle anything else.  I prayed for relief in some form.  That is when the Lord planted the idea to have a picnic.  I announced the idea to the girls and my oldest began the planning.  She got the blanket and picked the perfect spot out in the yard.  She even took out a centerpiece to help stabilize the blanket in the breeze.  We made our lunch and out we went.  It was so much fun.  We ate and laughed and soaked in the warm October sun.

We really saw the beauty of our Lord as He lifted our spirits during the picnic.  My daughter lifted mine a little more when she said, "Mommy even if it had rained, it would have been a perfect picnic.  We could have just moved our picnic in the living room."  It is easy to see the Lord's beauty on a sunny, picture perfect day, but do we look for His beauty through the cloudy, rainy days?

Today's Verse
"Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works."  Ps 119:27

I do not see the beauty in all our family is going through right now.  The changes at work are going to be difficult and finding a new church seems so daunting today.  But, even though I don't see the beauty, I can still seek Him through the clouds.  I want to understand His precepts.  I want to catch every ray of sunshine during this trial, so I can talk of His wondrous works.  I believe He will use this trial to be glorified.   I just have to make sure I look for the beauty of the situation so I can glorify Him when it works out the way He intended it to.  I am just so thankful He gives us picnic days, and now I don't mind if they are inside or outside.