God's Lessons From a Spider

God's Lessons From a Spider

Dear Lord,
    
 The other evening, Dick and I watched a big spider build a big web from the end of a tree branch outside our kitchen window.  We were eating supper and for a half hour watched from start to finish.  The lessons You taught were amazing!
     First, the spider drifted down to the ground and attached the web by a single strand anchoring his web.  He then went back up that strand and started working from the middle to make the inner circle.  He then did something surprising.  He started working from the outside of the web from the first strand to the inside.  He was meticulous connecting each thread to the next intersection.  Around and around he went until he arrived back into the center.  All the while the spider did not lose weight as his body made yards and yards of thread.
    The breeze started to blow.  While the web was in the formative stages, the breeze did not affect the web much at all, as it found no opposition.  In the latter stages as the web grew in volume, the breeze made it act more like a sail and it billowed with the wind.  However; because the web was grounded by that single thread to the ground, it did not fold over itself and was not destroyed.

Lessons Learned:

• If I want to be successful as a Christian in completing the purpose God has for me, I must first be firmly grounded by the only ONE who can save me, keep me stable, and keep me from self destructing in the midst of the trials in life.
• After being grounded, I need to have a small circle of grounded brothers and sisters first (the church) before I strike out to the outermost areas on my own.
• However; It is not wise to stay in the middle and never go anywhere.  The spider knows that in order to attract more bugs, he must build a big web.
• When the web is small and not many strands are connected, the winds of adversity (the enemy) has little effect.  
• But when the web grows, it is more of a threat so catches more opposition.
• Only if the original thread of belief in the Lord alone is grounded will the whole group of believers  be successful.  Otherwise the whole group will come to naught and self destruct.
• If the spider just made great circles, there would be no stability to the web.  Each new strand was connected to the existing strands.  Only then was it strong.
• So it is with us!  
• When I approached the web to try to take a picture, the spider did not hide in the center as I thought it would.  It ran to the top from where it started.
• We must run to God in our times of distress, when we are threatened by the enemy , and hide in the shelter of His wings.

     Our church has a mission statement: Connect, Grow, Impact
There is a reason that Connect is first.  
Without connecting to God first and then to others, nothing of any good will come of us.
Then Grow comes next.
We will be ineffective if we just stay in our small circle and never venture out into the community to touch the lives of others and bring them into the web.
Impact is last:
When we do the first two properly, the body of believers will be strong against storms and complete their mission.

     Now, the next lesson was hard to take.
The next morning, I went out to inspect the web more closely since the sun was not in my eyes.  To my disappointment, the web was gone!  At sometime during the night, one of our Whitetail Bucks must have walked under the tree and caught the web in his horns.  All of that work, all of that effort, was for naught.
I thought of how, if not carefully guarded, the same could happen to us.  I have never mourned the destruction of a spider web before, but that morning, I did.

     To my amazement; two days later, the same spider was back in the same tree spinning the same web in exactly the same way! That spider persevered!  He would not give up just because his work was destroyed by an unknowing deer.  No Sir!
May we...may I learn from that spider; Lord!  In Romans 1 You tell us that You show Yourself in all creation and there is none with an excuse.  How very true!!!

More Lessons from a Mustard Seed

Matthew 17:20

I planted some mustard seeds because I wanted to see why the Lord chose that out of all of the seeds he had created.  I grew up on a farm and have planted thousands of seeds. All of the seed  packets it said that it would take seven to ten days to for the seeds to germinate let alone show above the ground.  The seeds I planted on a Sunday were an inch above the ground by Tuesday!  God showed me that the smallest faith, when "planted" in the fertile soil of a soul, kept watered with the Word, and kept in the "Son"shine will grow quickly.
 The large pot of mustard seeds grew to be about a foot tall, were robust and even flowered.  The pot was out in the yard where it was in the elements.  We had some hard downpours of rain and big wind storms this summer.  The plants took a bit of a beating, but thrived.  We were to have a major storm so I brought the pot up to the house and placed it just outside the front wall of our screened in porch under the eves troth for protection.  The plants survived the storm, but in 2 days most of the leaves had been stripped off by worms.

I may be wrong, but I believe God showed me that trials are good for us and keep our faith strong and healthy, even though we get a bit beaten up while they are being endured.  But if we are placed, or keep ourselves placed, in a "safe" place; the little worms of doubt, disappointment, fear, bitterness, etc. can eat away at that faith and eventually kill it altogether.

By Sunday, August 11th we had 2 broken lawnmowers, and they had been broken since the beginning of the month.  God provided  mowing through our neighbor who had just had his riding mower fixed!  Then on Sunday, a Heather Nickerson, a girl from our Sunday School class brought her dad over to pick up both broken  mowers to see if he could fix one of them.

On Tuesday night, they brought not one working mower, but TWO!  We were able to give him a love offering because our check from the insurance company had arrived to reimburse us for towing my car.
Yesterday, August 16th, Lance called telling us that our riding mower would be delivered this next week.


Lord, we went from 2 broken mowers to three working mowers!  Thank You for YOUR provision in abundance!

God's Provision and Blessings- July

Lord, You have been So very good to us this month with surprise funds for our needs and wonderful young people from Liberty to not only help with lawn clean up and mowing, berry picking, and "Summer Cleaning as they ministered to us but we got to minister to them in return.  They needed "Home away from Home" as they were at school all summer.  We developed such sweet relationships, Lord!  Thanks So much!
You provided in the medical realm:
Dick got an appointment in one day to the doctor, and hopefully they will find out what has been making him so very sick.
The meds they put him on, one was free?
Then there were the car issues:
The tail pipe of my Kia fell off, but you provided help right when and where I needed it.  Then it died because it needed a new starter and You provided discount towing and insurance to pay for all by $5 of it.  You provided for funds to have it fixed and a VERY low estimate for getting the tailpipe fixed too!
You know we still have needs, but I am convinced You will provide there too.

On Wednesday night July 31, we had the amazing privilege of having the whole Sabella family and the Summer RA's to come to the house! They brought dinner and dessert, and cleaned up afterward too.  The best part was the real FELLOWSHIP and the prayer time together!
Lord, please bless them all!