My Heart Is Protected-Isaiah 27:3

"I the Lord do keep it; I water it every moment: let any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."

Isaiah 27:3

I don't even remember what had me reading in Isaiah on that particular day, but I came across Isaiah 27:3 and it touched my heart in exactly the way it needed it. This particular verse was a rhema to me that my heart was protected by God. It was such a moment of comfort and sweet peace for me with Jesus. He had my heart. He was protecting it. He watered it and held it in His hand as something too precious to hand over to another. 

I was in the middle of my summer away from home, and I was surrounded by many fellow staff members who either had a "significant other" when they arrived for the summer or, as it can often happen when you gather a large group of single Christian young people together, "interests" begin to form, and couples can begin to pair off. I was not one of those and I was feeling the loneliness that being in such situations can cause.

Then, I read this verse and my whole perspective changed! No longer was I unwanted, undesirable, and “single”. To my Heavenly Father, my heart is a treasure worth keeping and cherishing! He supplies everything that my heart requires, He nurtures it, He protects it with a jealous love, and is forever watching out for it with an everlasting love.

When I read that verse last year, and even as I write today, I am at peace knowing I have a Father Who’s chief joy is to carry my heart in His hands; He protects it!

Recent Life Recap

It is May already! That is hard to believe considered in many ways it still feels like March. It has been busy several months for our family, despite the quarantine, with lots of farm work in the warmer weather and finishing school for the year and supporting some family through some health struggles.

So since pictures tell a thousand words and I love pictures anyway...here is a Smith family update from the past few months!

We have lots of babies born at this time of year.

I love spring and all that it represents.

Working and weighting year-old calves. Joel's job is to push the cattle up the lane to be worked. He is a very hard worker.

Joel, Olivia, and I prepared to get up a group of cows and calves to sort.

1 of our 7 bottle babies. He's so tiny!

Joel and Dad weighing calves.

Dad and Mom looking over calves ready to ship.

We shipped a load of cattle up north a few weeks ago. After feeding them for months, the excitement was high as we loaded.

The truck.

Right before the cattle left, we gathered for a quick picture.

Teaching English to Joel. I've learned more teaching him than I remember from my own schooling! 

Daily laundry.

We celebrated Joel's 10th birthday this week!

It has been a wonderful few weeks of spiritual and physical grown for our family. It isn't easy, there are a lot of struggles as we grow together, but God is good and so there is never a wasted season.

When We Wait

I wait all the time. I wait for the dryer to dry, for my coffee to finish brewing (Hallelujah!), for an event on the calendar, for lunchtime to arrive, for life direction, for feed to finish filling the bag, and for the computer page to load. I wait for answers, for bedtime, the reply to a text, the dishes to be finished, menstrual cramps to end, and so on.

Last July, I was waiting for an answer from the Lord. I needed the answer in a timely way and I was at a loss. I had called my mom just as soon as I was able and sobbed out my fears and hesitations in making such a decision I was having to make. I didn't like being an adult. It was so much easier when I was 7 years old and all my decisions were made for me! Both my parents were supportive of me, but this was a decision I was going to have to make for myself. Finally, there was nothing for me to do except getting alone with Jesus.

Sitting under a covered bridge with my Bible and journal, I sought God for a clear answer.

I am one of those who likes everything planned out and definitely can overthink things (my journal entry from that day definitely proves that). My natural instinct is to weigh out EVERYTHING in my mind and judge accordingly, but is that God's way? When Jesus came to the disciples walking on the water and when Peter told the Lord to bid him come to Him walking on the water, Jesus didn't stop and have Peter weigh all the options, the scientific probabilities, or the statistical possibilities. He had Peter comes out of the boat on trust, committing all to the Lord and simply believing that Jesus was there with him. Stepping out of the boat on the water was an act of faith, waiting on God requires faith bigger than what we can see and that is what I sought God for that day. 

I found peace in one of my favorite passages of scripture, Psalm 37:3-7.

"Trust in the Lord, and do good so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 

verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord: and He shall 

give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust 

also in Him: and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring forth thy righteousness

as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the

Lord, and wait patiently for Him..."

Below, I have taken from one of my favorite authors, Elisabeth Elliot, her thoughts of waiting based on Psalm 37.

Psalm 37 lists the principal elements of this hidden activity, a perfect formula for peace of mind:

Trust in the Lord and do good.

Dwell in the land (make your home, settle down, be at peace where God puts you).

Delight in the Lord (make the Lord your only joy) and He will give you what your heart desires.

Commit your life to the Lord.

Trust in Him and He will act. 

Be quiet before the Lord.

Wait patiently for Him, not worrying about others.

Waiting patiently is almost impossible unless we also are learning at the same time to find joy in the Lord, commit everything to Him, trust Him, and be quiet. 

I have several dates in my Bible written around these 5 verses. All are dates when God was asking me to leave it to Him, to still my heart before Him, to trust in His sovereignty, to walk in true faith, not seeing the end of the story, but believing that I had an all-knowing Savior who not only knows but as written the end of my story. I have placed all my faith of my eternal salvation in Jesus, shouldn't I trust Him when I am waiting too?

Waiting is not “doing nothing,” just waiting for God to drop a sign into my lap, but it is stilling my heart before Him, seeking Him above all else, surrendering all my “talents” before Him to use, and trusting that His plan is best for me...no matter what.

“Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall...” Ruth 3:18a

New Year Ideas

Yes, I know these are just a wee bit late, just a tad. =)

Even though it is nearing the end of March and we are no longer covered in a blanket of snow and ice, I still wanted to share two things that I have found so beneficial as a new year has begun.

- Pick a theme scripture verse for the year

I began this a few years back (2017) and have loved it ever since. I look forward to each new year seeking the Lord to direct me to the verse that I hold onto all year long. Often at the beginning of the year, I have absolutely no clue how that verse applies so much, but it has been so cool to watch God correlate circumstances all throughout the year to that one verse.

2017 - "Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me."

John 21:22 

2018 -                         "Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee." 

2 Samuel 7:3b

2019 - "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint,                   but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind: neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye                                                shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 

1 Peter 5:2-4

This year my verse is:

"...so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong." 

Zechariah 8:13b

I have already experienced so much this year when the Lord has faithfully reminded me of this verse!

- Have a Wall of Fame for Jesus

This is another idea I implemented a few years back. I love journaling and in my journal at the beginning of each year, I insert just a plain piece of notebook paper and throughout the year when I see a spiritual breakthrough, an answer to prayer, a miracle in my daily life, a difficult circumstance the Lord comforted me through, or just basic occurrences that some would call luck, but I know is Jesus, I write them down with the date. At the end of the year, I go back through and type them all out and print them on nice paper and reinsert them in my journal as my "Hall of Fame for Jesus". It strengthens my faith, encourages me through challenging times as I read over what God has done in my life, it is a memorial for my children (Joshua 4), and it makes me look for Jesus working in the daily happenings of my life. 

Do any of you have New Year ideas to encourage your spiritual walk through the year?

Pressing on to win the prize with you!

Long time, Haven't Seen Me

Yes, it has been very long since you have seen me here. The months from October to the present have been a whirl. In October I was gone for two and a half weeks in Florida for prison ministry.

This is true prison ministry for you! Florida sun!

For November, Dad declared it "house renovation and organizing month". We did some great work in and around the house including lots of painting, installing some new light fixtures, redecorating some areas in the living room, getting a new couch (!), and cleaning all our carpets, to name a few of the big accomplishments. =) It was a busy month, but crowned off by hosting Thanksgiving for my mom's family which was a lot of fun.

Relaying flooring in our laundry room.  

"Date night" with my two youngest siblings.

Due to construction in our laundry room, our washer had to be moved out into our garage.
With a family of our size, laundry accumulates quickly and so my creative brother hooked up the washer to the garden hose and I was good to go! My brother is awesome!

December is always a full month preparing for Christmas and everything that goes along with that celebration. A dear friend of mine from the Amish community got married on December 15th and I had the joy of attending! We always celebrate Christmas Day with my mom's family. I had the joy of traveling up to my grandparents a few days early to help prepare before the whole clan of us arrived. =)

January 1st my mom got sick...and we continued to pass the "love" around for the next many weeks.
It was a rough season, but as I texted a friend, it was a good time of bonding together and for practicing gracious behavior. =)

Now, we are moving into spring! Every farming family's answer to prayer every year. Ha!

I love capturing sunsets! The Lord must have such fun painting them every night.

And, yes, I do hope that I will be on here more regularly. =)

Family Update-Farm Life: Never Dull

Among my regular posts, I want to begin posting pictures from everyday life. Just randoms of my life with my family.

We had a calf missing yesterday and so we gathered a "search party".

We didn't find the calf at that time, but he was found later right with his mother. :)

A Quiet Spirit-Abiding With the Master

I enjoy listening to audio books. I download from Librivox.org and enjoy moving around the house doing my daily work with an audio book playing on my Mp3 player.

One of my favorite authors wrote back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Isabella Alden was an amazing woman with an incredible gift of writing. Her books are uplifting, encouraging and convicting. My favorite books written by Mrs. Alden are "Ester Ried", "Ester Ried's Namesake", and "From Different Standpoints", but this is a topic for another post.

A few months ago, I deviated from one of Mrs. Alden's books to try another author who wrote in the middle to late 1800s. Susan Warner was also a gifted author and writing must have been a family trait as Susan's sister Anna wrote one of the most well known songs, "Jesus Loves Me".

I picked one of Susan's books, downloaded it and began. It was one of the longest books I have ever read/listened to! 54 chapters and one was almost an hour long reading! Despite the length, I finished the book in just a few days, albeit I was listening to it almost all day.

The main character of this book was a wonderful young woman, both in character and appearance. Throughout the story, the quality that struck me the most in the heroine was her quiet spirit. A quality I admired and contrasted it sadly with its lack in myself.

I pondered the quality of a quiet spirit as I so greatly long for the Lord to develop it in my own life and I asked the Lord for insight.

I can often mistake a quiet spirit for a quiet person. If a person is more quiet natured, they must have a quiet spirit. Or if an individual is more outgoing, then they must not have a quiet spirit.

This is obviously false. A person can be bubbly and outgoing and have a beautiful quiet spirit or someone can be very quiet and lack any kind of a quiet spirit.

I began my study in 1 Peter 3:3-4

"Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting hair, and of wearing gold or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."

A meek and quiet spirit.

I went to Strong's Concordance and did a word search for quiet spirit. It has the connotation of staying seated, not being easily moved, being still, or undisturbed. One of the notes in Strong's said this "This word indicates tranquility arising from within, causing no disturbance to others."

As I continued to ponder all this, I thought of one of my Bible heroines. Her story is found in Luke 10:38-42

"Now it came to pass, as they went, that He entered into a a certain village: and a certain women named Martha received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard His word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to Him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and sad unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary that chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

Mary showed the example of a quiet spirit that I was looking for. She was focused on the one needful thing: sitting at Jesus' feet.

The essence of a quiet spirit is exactly that.

Sitting at Jesus' feet and not moving away no matter what "Marthas" call for us. 

I am not picking on Martha in any way. I sympathize with Martha. I understand Martha and I am afraid that sadly, I can too often stand right next to Martha and echo her words. Instead of taking the time to sit with Jesus, to have the personal one-on-one time that is vital to the Christian life, I can be too worried about my "list" and I ask Jesus to wait on the sidelines so that I can accomplish what I think is the most important to the success of my day.

"Marthas" can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. For me it is housework. I can judge my success when I get to the end of the day and I am satisfied with the amount of work I accomplished. To my shame, I don't judge it by the amount of time I spent in prayer, whether I had a fruitful time studying God's Word, or if I had sweet communion with the Lord throughout the day.

Oh, Lord, give me more of the spirit of Mary. Nothing and no one can move me from the side of my Savior. Nothing. At. All.

 

This post has taken several months to finish and I know this is a very raw and real post. Thank you for bearing with me. This has been written for me more than anyone else. I started this back in May while driving in the car to Florida, and have worked on it in little segments (or just stared at the screen) several times in the last several weeks, but as I am sitting here today, I know that this article needed to wait until now for me to finish. I am in a season of life right now where I struggle to keep a quiet spirit and where the Holy Spirit has been convicting me of apathy that I have developed for Him and His word. 

If I was living at my Savior's feet, would I ever want to leave?

I am in a season where I have questions.I am almost 21 years old. No job. No boyfriend. No college. No nothing.  I have insecurities when people as "Do you have a boyfriend?" "Do you have any prospects?" "What do you do?" "Are you in college?" 

If I was living at the Savior's feet, would I even care about what other people think of me?

I am emotional right now. I could cry or laugh at the same thing and sometimes at the drop of a hat. I fall into my work like I have something to prove. I am struggling to keep my eyes on my Savior. 

If I was living at the feet of my Father, wouldn't His comfort be all satisfying? 

 "...when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I." 
Psalm 61:2b

I was sitting on my younger sister's bed yesterday sympathizing and comforting her in the midst of a disappointment. She was expressing some feelings and the conversation led me to ask her a question. Could she not trust that the God who raised Jesus from the dead, and who saw the bird who fell out of it's nest and the God who knew the number of hairs on her head had something better for her than what she had hoped for? In many ways, I have to ask the question back at myself.When I become anxious and stressed, isn't it doubting God's goodness? His sovereignty? I wouldn't say it in words, but isn't it obvious in my actions? I have taken my eyes off my Savior? I am no longer sitting at His feet. Mary had the quiet spirit of trust that no matter what, her Jesus could take care of it all. That He was in control.

Am I trusting that I am happier right now, right where I am in life, with all it's challenges and surprises, than I would be if I was living my "dream life?" 

If it was best for me, my Father would have given it to me.

"If ye then, being evil, know ho to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"

Matthew 7:11 

Isn't at my Father's feet the absolute best place to be?

My heart's desire is that I would stay at the feet of Jesus, that I would live at the feet of Jesus. Abiding at the Master's side? Looking to Him alone. It is when the I begin to look back at the world and desire the praise it offers, that is when I become a "Martha" again; cumbered with many things. 

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me."

John 15:4

A quiet spirit. Dear sisters, this is my prayer. That I may always, always be abiding right at the feet of Jesus. Safe at His side. Looking to Him alone for my affirmation, my worth, my purpose and my marching orders.

Live at the Master's feet.