Hi! It’s FALL! You know how much I love the fall…our skies here are usually so crystal clear blue that it’s blinding, our air so clear and fresh, and the colors of the leaves electric with reds, yellows, and oranges. But right now, all I see outside is brown skies and smoke. Our mountains are hidden behind a wall of smoke and ashes. The only things that are electric red and orange are the sun and moon each day and night. Help!
Where is my beautiful fall? After a HOT summer of many days over 100 degrees, I was desperately awaiting a cooler fall. But right now, our days here in California near the Creek Fire are dreary to say the least. Remember back in January when we all rang in the 2020 new year and said it was going to be the year of “2020 vision” or “seeing clearly?” Well, that was me and now I see how 2020 has left me and many of us stunned at the realization that we don’t really see anything perfectly – especially with everything that is going on in the world and government. Or maybe we ARE seeing what has been going on more clearly for the first time in decades. It just shows me yet again that as things are being exposed, our need for help is also being exposed! The kind of help that only comes from above – from Jesus Christ!
I’ve enjoyed a delicious pumpkin spice latté a couple of times so far since September started, but my usual bliss was tainted this year by the fact that nothing around me feels like the fall I so love. I heard yesterday that they aren’t even really fighting the Creek Fire anymore (a state policy) since there are no structures being threatened. And it is SO HUGE. Imagine massive amounts of trees just burning away….Please join me in praying for rain in California. We need a miracle of rain.
So at the start of this very different fall 2020, I’ve definitely still got my pumpkin spice chai latté and I definitely still have my Jesus Christ! He is my only hope when things outside and around me just don’t make sense – like when fall looks like the inside of a chimney! Cough.
I know clear skies will come again. I know the smoke will eventually lift. But after weeks upon weeks of it…you start to wonder…will it ever be normal again? Will we breathe clean air ever again? Life can seem that way for many of us who face insurmountable circumstances. Things we have had to deal with for many years start to feel like the normal instead of just a temporary season of hardship. Whatever you face today, I want to encourage you that there is hope. Grab your pumpkin spice latté and remember that God is faithful and He hears you and He sees you in your situation. Let Him come rescue you today. Let His perfect love for you take the fears away and bring you the kind of peace that only comes from Him – it is a peace that this world can never offer us.
Your skies will be blue again too, friend! I know it. xoxo
