Spring is in the Air

This week's guest blog is by Jennifer Thayer Knight. We both recently attended the Flourish Writer's Retreat online and connected virtually. We share a desire to encourage believers as they deepen their relationships with Christ. I pray her words bless you.

Spring Is In The Air

Jennifer Thayer Knight

As I sit on my porch on this early spring day in Montana, I am delighted at the sound of fluttering wings as the birds play in the bushes beside me. Their warbling is a welcome addition, as you do not hear it for months. The snow has cleared in the valley, at least for today, and the grass is turning its lovely shade of green. The sun’s rays warm my skin, and I am captured by the beauty of the snow-capped mountains that surround me. Spring is in the air.

In Montana, we experience three to five springs, a brief summer, and then four to six autumns. The winter fights for its place and often wins. Most of the time, spring starts in May and comes and goes through June, but this year was a surprise. Spring started in late March.

Each season brings its own treasures, but spring offers hope for new beginnings. The trees and bushes bud, bunnies hop around the yard, and everything becomes alive. Do you ever desire an awakening in your spirit?

For I Am About To Do Something New

During hard seasons of life, I long for a fresh start. Challenges get overwhelming and I believe I cannot handle one more thing thrown my way. I wait for God to present me with something new.

Isaiah 43:19   says, “For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland” (NLT).

Does this verse spark a sense of hope within you? It does for me. When Isaiah penned God’s words, the Israelite people were in captivity in Babylon. He prayed for freedom, and to return to the promised land. God answered by saying He was already working and asked, “Do you not see it?”

Faith

God is always working in our lives, even when we cannot see it. He is moving and making a way for you and me. This is where faith must come in. Faith is having complete trust in what we cannot see. We have to believe God has our best interest at heart, because He does. Sometimes we feel like Job, stuck in the mud and the mire, but know God is working behind the scenes. He did not promise life with Him would be easy, but He promised that He would be by our side the entire time.

God asked, “Do you not see it?” It makes me ponder the things I miss that He wants me to see. I have started studying the Hebrew alphabet and the meanings behind each letter. The letter ך, known as the Daleth, has multiple definitions, but one meaning it represents is a door into the spiritual world.

Chaim Bentorah in his book, “Hebrew Word Study, Beyond The Lexicon,” says, “We are often so hurried in our lives and so focused on the material that we miss out on the many ordinary doorways to the spiritual world which offer us a knowledge of God. We can interpret a little bird dancing and singing on our porch as a distraction which may leave a mess that we must clean up, or we can pause and pass through the Daleth and realize that here is a small part of the creation of God presenting to us beauty, peace, and serenity. We must pause in our busy lives to anticipate the little Daleths, or doorways, that God will open to share with us the things of the spirit, fill what is lacking or deficient in the physical world, to take the poverty of this physical world and fill it with the blessings of God’s spirit.”

Don’t Miss The Miracles

Most of us do not want to miss these miracles in our daily lives. I have attempted to slow down and observe what God has placed around me. I prayed for God to not let me miss what He is doing so that it will grow my faith to sustain me through the hard times. Please join me in this and ask God to not let you miss what He is doing, even amid trouble.

God also reminds us in Isaiah 43:19 that He will make a way. He will provide rivers in the desert wasteland. When we come to the Father asking for Him to get us through, or out of, the trials, sometimes it is an immediate change. Yet, more often than not, it is a process. He will lead you out, but you must walk through the desert to get there.  He assures you that He will provide for you every step of the way.

Matthew Henry says in his commentary, “He promises not only to deliver them out of Babylon, but to conduct them safely and comfortably to their own land… the same power that made a way in the sea (parting of the red sea) can make a way in the wilderness. And He can produce waters in the driest land, in such abundance as not only to give drink to His people, His chosen, but to the beasts of the field, also the dragons and the ostriches, who are therefore said to honor God for it.”

I want to finish with words to encourage you. No matter where you are in your walk with God, maybe you're on the mountaintop, or maybe you're in the valley: stop, breathe, and look around. Watch for opportunities for the Lord to speak, to draw you closer, offer you peace and allow Him to show you what He is doing in your life. The place you are in may be hard, but it will be for His glory to shine. 

Biography:

Jennifer Thayer Knight, aka Jen, grew up in Orange, Texas, a small town bordering Louisiana. As a relatively new Christian, Jen met and married Sam, thereby entering the whirlwind of being a pastor’s wife. Now more than two decades later, they have served at four churches, lived in three states, and had three amazing children, plus too many pets to count.

In 2017, Jen began her battle with Lyme disease. This illness inspires creativity in her writing, new ways to serve God, and innovative discipleship methods. Jen seeks to share her experiences to draw others into a deeper, experiential relationship with Christ. 

When she is not writing, Jen loves knitting, reading, and spending time with her family, her dogs and her horse. Discover more about Jennifer Thayer Knight at her website: http://jenniferthayerknight.com/