Change Happens !!!

It has been a while since I have blogged.. There has been so much going on around me.. Some good, some bad.. some the jury is still out ....

While Fall is my favorite season,I do love to see the spring flowers and Trees bloom.. It has been wonderful to see all the different colors and now most things are so green.. I am not just talking about the Pollen either .. Which I heard someone say "Pollen is Satan's dandruff." Haha

Looking at the trees that once just a few months back were bare and looked dead, now they are full of green leaves, that give shade and show that they are alive...
Which made me think about how I have gone through the season like a tree.. I have been full of life, I have been changed to many different colors and watched as my leaves have fallen off and then strip bared with nothing.. Only to begin to see a tiny bloom .. I would love to be able to say it was nothing... But most of the time it was of my doing.. my choices.. but God has a way to show us Himself during those times of Changes..Did i tell ya.. I do not like change ? maybe only if I am the one doing the changes.. but for the most part, do not like it at all..

But during this time of Change God has showed me.. that he has been with in every season of my life.. Joshua 1:1-9...I will not leave you or forsake you..Be strong and courageous.Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed for the Lord , your God is with you wherever you go.".....
I know this.. there has been times mostly in the stripped bare time.. i felt like where is God, what is he doing? How long? is this it? Then He sprouts a seed of growth in me.. that begins a work that only He can do and Growth happens!!! Phil. saids he who begins a work in me will continue it till the Day of Jesus Christ..
So through theses times of Changes he has shown me, that he is my foundation on which I can stand. That he can be trusted.. That His word is true and It can fertilize my growth if i would let it.. Also, He has shown me, that I can not do this life alone..We need each other... I am grateful to Him for those He has brought into my life.. some do not even know how much I desperately needed them and their words of encouragement.. but God did!!!

One of the last things I am learning about Change came from a visit to Boone NC.. I went in the winter time, they had many ice storms and looking at the trees.. it looked really bad.. like a fire or tornado had come through and killed all the trees but then I went back during the spring and those same trees were flourishing with beautiful green leaves.... I was amazed at how it worked.. God has His own pruning service.. and WOW, it worked!! he also through changes prunes me.. So that I... Joshua 1:8 'For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success" ...
So I can be like a tree planted by the rivers , bringing forth good fruit in due season.... the poem below is something I read and thought I'd share it with you..

Why Tension ?

We don’t lead from the safety of the fringe.
We take up residence in the fray.

Where change is happening
Where change is necessary.
WHY Tension?

There we find ourselves in a unique tug-of-war
between what was, what is, and what could be.

We are faced with the reality
that we are the catalyst in the moment.

A tension ensues between ambitions and fears.

We are tempted to bail on our goals
but discover that under pressure
our vision becomes remarkably crystallized.

A hundred voices attempt to sway us.
And we find we must lean into God with a faith
deeper than we have ever known.

Change happens in the very place where many leaders
flinch, fear, and fail.

The tension we resist is actually by design.
It tests us, it tries us,
It conforms us to His image.

The tension is necessary.
The tension makes us strong.
The tension is good.