Seasoned

Today I heard Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Spring Is Coming" for the first time...how it blessed me!
He and his wife lost a 5 year old little girl in a tragic accident.  During some hard grieving he penned this song.

Listen for yourself.

(Scroll all the way to the very bottom of blog to turn off playlist.)

Lydia would pluck a bunch of weeds and carry them around like a wedding bouquet.
The girl loved flowers.

Her little heart bloomed with words and art that expressed her desire....

 And this winter her brother did this to express his love for Lydia...

The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 40:8

Her short life bursted forth with love for God and others.

Burying her sweet frame deep in the cold earth has been the hardest thing I've done thus far.

The winter season exemplifies the bitter cold grief of a broken momma-heart.

For everything there is a season,

and a time for every purpose under heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1

The summer Lydia's health started deteriorating the fire of the trial burned hard on our nest.

Our little flower died in the fall.  It felt as though our world was falling apart.  All we knew to do was fall on our knees before Him.

 Then winter came, the season of intense grieving...

feeling buried under the heavy blanket of sadness and resting in Him alone.

All this time Jesus has been (and still is) working in the unseen chambers of my heart.

Perhaps the fracturing of my heart gives access to the depths of His love?  

Could it be that by the tear river I've cried He has watered the desert of my soul?  

Perhaps these fractures in my heart allow the Sonlight to penetrate unreached places?  

Oh, how I want the seed of His Word to fall on the soil of my heart and bloom a sweet flower that yields the unique fragrance of Him!

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth,

do you not perceive it?

I will make a way 

in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19

Photo taken by Julie Faith Johnson