Spring has blossomed
Spring is well & truly underway – THANK YOU JESUS, but seriously…
It’s not quite Spring weather as it is in Australia, but it’s definitely a lot better than it’s been! The sun is shining more, the temperature is increasing, averaging 14 degrees or so & the layers are becoming less & less.
Very. Happy. Georgie.
As you can see above, Cherry Blossoms are in full force & such a treat! The trees line so many residential streets & just make everything look so pretty! Some roads & sidewalks resemble cotton candy or fairy floss (depending on where you’re from) – it’s all very magical.
April has come & gone, I don’t know how that happened. If I’m honest, the month was full of highs & lows as it became more apparent that being here in Vancouver is not a travel whirlwind but is actually my new home & I’m here to stay. Despite being in a new city & it perhaps looking glamorous on social media, there are more often than not moments that are fairly mediocre & mundane, just like normal life really.
So I guess you could say that I’ve settled, or I’m settling. I’ve been thinking about how I measure this & I think it comes down to relationships. That’s actually been an area I’ve seen a lot of blessing & growth, which has been so sweet.
When I think of this quarter, from April-June, which is now Spring/Summer (still getting used to that switch), I’m expectant that as I look back, I’ll say with confidence that,
“I have sprung”.
*& not in the romantic sense, although that would be nice, or the illegal sense, which would not be nice.
The definition of sprung I’m talking about; is to rise, leap, move, or act suddenly and swiftly, as by a sudden dart or thrust forward or outward, or being suddenly released from a coiled or constrained position: to spring into the air.
Quite literally, the environment around me has sprung into spring as it’s stopped snowing, the days are warmer, the grass is green, the trees are blossoming, and everything seems to have new life.
I hope this can be a literal sense for me too. I’ve already seen how I’ve risen each and every month here, but also in my time leading up to leaving Australia. As I face impossibilities God’s helping me move forward, reminding me I’m not stuck but that he’ll release me forward as I trust in him to go far beyond what I could imagine or do on my own.
I’m believing he’ll help my blossom, much like the Cherry Blossoms.
Enjoy some highlights of April as well as a verse God gave me for 2019. A good reminder for myself but also relates to what I’m praying for this quarter.
Isaiah 55
Invitation to the Thirsty
55 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendour.”
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”
