Seasons I

Buck's football at Razorback Stadium

When I was 12 years old, my parents resigned the church they had pastored for over 20 years. We prepared to move out of state to a new one.

I remember sitting on their bed crying as I didn't want to leave my friends. My dad told me something that day that has stuck with me my whole life. "Life is full of changes. If you can get past this change, there will be an even bigger one down the road.  You'll make it through that one because you made it through this!"  In my young mind, I couldn't imagine anything harder happening to me.

Dad's words of wisdom proved true. We stayed at that next church just two years and then hit the road as evangelists. For the next five years we traveled to a new town every week. Talk about changes! My whole life has been a series of continual changes and adjustments, each one has prepared me for the next! This is truly God's plan. #seasonsofchange

Shortly after the accident, the Lord began to speak to me about the seasons of life. Inevitable. Necessary. Embrace them. In the months that followed many of the messages He gave me were directly to the subject of "Seasons".

Labor Day weekend  2012,  I had the honor of speaking at our PK Retreat in Hot Springs. If you're not familiar, it's a getaway just for preachers kids.  It had been almost a year since Buck had passed. I recall at that Friday night service I held one of Buck's footballs in my hand and talked about "tough seasons". I used the Razorbacks as an illustration. LOL! Everyone understood though and we could all relate. Change is a given, we will all go through seasons in life, that's the way God planned it. Over and over in my mind I have gone back to that pivotal conversation with my dad. It has helped me to accept the new changes and challenges life has brought to me. #seasonschangeyourloveremains

The Lord gave me a very personal and literal visual of this. One evening, about seven months after the wreck, I stopped by Buck's school. This was the last place I saw him. (I am forever grateful that on that final morning together, the Lord prompted me to get out and hug Buck. Usually I just drove through the line pausing long enough for him to jump out.) There was the bush we had stood by. The branches were full of green leaves.

A few months later I went by again and it was barren looking. There were no leaves, just dry branches. That little bush has been a constant reminder to me that life is ever changing. I will have fruitful seasons that produce growth and then there will be times I feel dry and barren. Yet I know there is still life down in the roots and my season will change and bring a harvest again. Ephesians 3:17, "...let your roots down down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love!.."

I received this card in the mail the day of the accident. It was sent to me by a dear friend who is a mentor and prayer warrior. Handwritten on the inside, "God says, Stand back and see what new thing I have prepared for my servant. I challenge you to embrace change with confidence that it is all in God's plan and purpose."  Do I always understand everything that happens? Of course not. Do I believe God always has a plan? Absolutely! 
Romans 8:28, "...all things together for good!..."

The Christmas following the wreck, Jenel gave me a book. Inside she signed it and wrote, "If I could wish anything for you; That your latter would be greater than your past. The Best is still yet to come. I wish blessings and more anointing and favor than you've ever had."

Countless times after the accident, I sat in the hallway of our home listening to Lexa play her keyboard and sing, "I'm not going back. I'm moving ahead. I'm here to declare to you, that my past is over. In You, all things are made new. Surrender my life to Christ. I'm moving, moving forward!"

I must state the simple fact that, our daughters are my absolute heroes. They have displayed such resilience throughout every change they have faced! What GRACE they have walked in. Their commitment to Jesus challenges me. What a Complete Blessing they continue to be to my life!!
#redemptionrunsinthefamily

Please check out this amazing song and it's powerful lyrics.