I was reading a book I picked up titled Final Steps in Christian Maturity by Madame Jeanne Guyon and in Chapter 2, The Blessedness of Winter!, these words seemed to make me think.
“I see the season of winter as an excellent example of the transforming work of the Lord in a Christian’s life. When winter comes, the vegetable world, it seems to me, reflects the image of the purifying which god does in order to remove imperfections from the life of one of his children.
As cold comes on the wings of a winter storm, the trees gradually begin to lose their leaves. The green is soon changed into a funeral brown; soon the leaves fall away and die. Behold the tree’s appearance now! It looks stripped and desolate. Behold the loss of summer’s beautiful garment. What happens as you look upon that poor tree? You see a revelation.
Under the beautiful leaves there had been all sorts of irregularities and defects. The defects had been invisible because of the beautiful leaves. Now those defects are startlingly revealed! The tree is no longer beautiful in its surface appearance. But has the tree actually changed?”
Stayed tuned until tomorrow to read how this illustration becomes a matter of life for the believer.
2 comments:
That is a beautiful thought. No matter the beauty outside, it is the beauty beneath that matters. What we are in the daily of dailies is the truth and that is only beautiful if it is God shining through us. Revealing himself through our obedience in our every day struggles. This is something i am working on continuously.
Brother, I am looking forward to tomorrow's sharing. Just as Amanda shared, the Lord is dealing with me moment by moment, and because of His tremendous love for me, I can be kept in the Light, where the enemy is continually exposed, and Life can Flow. I don't deserve it, but that isn't the point, He has chosen me, and now all I need to do is stay in His loving arms, and let Him operate on me and in me.
Until tomorrow, yours in Him, Sharon
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