Split by Stong Winds...yet secure in the current

Isaiah 12:3
With joy you will drink deeply
from the fountain of salvation!

The winter winds of Upstate New York were howling last night. On multiple occasions I was positive the Big Bad Wolf was outside “huffing and puffing” and would surely blow my house down. The walls and windows shook my daughter out of her bedroom into ours as something banged harshly into the back wall of the house. Two nervous dogs, one frightened teen, and one exhausted adults slept through the remainder of the storm. This light sleeper listened to the wind howl and thought of how the weather outside was similar to my life before Christ.

The first decade following my sister’s disappearance raged from a misty rain to the hurricane winds experienced last night. Woven in between the gusts was laughter, friendship, temporary hope, and even joy. At work or outside the security of my four walls I appeared happy, yet moody most of the time. Behind closed doors I was fearful, angry, and depressed. Only a few people knew about the two different personas I wore – I was split.

The poplar tree in today’s blog photograph started as two trees but merged together and became one. During last night’s high winds the two were split in half. One landed over atop the guardian angel and into the roadway whiles the other rest in the creek. In spite of the frigid temperatures and bad weather, the water continues to flow. Instead of calm, refreshing water to keep it afloat, the poplar bounces in the ripples of water flowing with tenacity to move keep the additional precipitation moving towards a larger, more equipped body of water.

I was that poplar. The “Happy Lisa” and the “Depressed Lisa” merged together due to the grief and loss experienced through my sister’s kidnapping. In 2004 God used a child to tell me, “Mrs. Buske, you need Jesus.” Today there are still two of me – “Joyful Lisa” and “Hopeful Lisa”. Notice the transitions – joyful…only found in my relationship with Jesus, happiness fades but Jesus is eternal; hopeful…I know my loss has molded me into the person I am today and instead of running from it or hiding it, I choose to use it share hope with others.

Life is about choices…I choose to seek God, the larger and more equipped body of water. He is capable of healing all our pains, fears, and losses. I pray you trust Him.

John 7:37 - 41
Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

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