Lord, bless this child with a spirit

to know and love you.

God is my great shepherd and I'm His little lamb. He watches me so lovingly no matter how small I am.

Lord, please take care of me.

My boat is so small and the sea is so wide.

Only God knows
how many apples are in each seed.

 

Another example of God's love for us

I see God at work in our lives constantly.

For the first 6 months of our son's life, his older sister, Ella, never showed signs of jealousy. As our son, Wilson, gets more active, all he does is grab and pulls at Ella. He adores her. I say, "Where's Ella?" and he starts kicking like crazy! All he wants is to play with her, as much as a 9 month old can play. Now all she wants is for him to not pull her hair and eat her things.

I tried to be understanding of Ella's frustrations, but anything I said or did to make their relationship better seemed to fail. I realized, much like I do in most instances, that I need to put it in God's hands. Now yes, there are things that my husband and I can work on with Ella, but I am quickly finding out that things get better when GOD is in control. When we LET God be in control. I realized that I had not been praying for her to overcome this jealousy. I thought, "it's probably just a phase, and it will pass." And I tried to handle it. But regardless of whether it's just a phase, I should have placed it in God's hands through prayer.

So that's what I do now. I pray for my children's relationship.

Just this morning, we came in to cool off from a golfcart ride. (I haven't been walking lately due to this exhausting heat!) I set Wilson down in the playroom and left to go fix us all, as Ella would call it, "a refreshing drink." Such big words! I walk back in to witness Ella "reading" to Wilson. I sat there and took it in, praising God for HIS works, not mine. And not only did she read 3 books to him, she included him in a few conversations, and even tried to give him a high-five!

I tell you this to use as an example of one way in which God works. Again, sometimes it's in obvious ways, and sometimes we never see it. We don't always understand God's timing. Sometimes we see His work immediately. Sometimes it takes years. But everything is always in God's PERFECT timing. Not OUR timing ... HIS.

God is good, and He wants to take care of us. I need to let Him.

My Apple Tree Story

The Apple Tree Blog was created purely on a whim one hot, summer night sitting on my den sofa while my husband was watching The British Open. I do enjoy watching golf majors with him, but tonight something sparked in me to start writing about something that happened today. Something that God truly had a hand in.

I have been stewing over an idea to start a small at-home business, something I’ve always wanted to do, but never had the courage. I was doing a little research today and could not come up with a good name for my small business. I wanted something catchy, but not generic, and it was important for it to have some sort of personal meaning behind it. I called my mom up for some help, as she is so much more creative than I am. An idea that kept coming back to me was “The Mustard Seed” from the biblical parable. I love the meaning behind it but I felt as if this has been over-used. Not in a bad way. Just wanted something different.

My mom then shared with me an incredible saying … “Only God knows how many apples are in one seed.” WOW! What a beautiful thought and so right. I thought, “That’s it!! It’s perfect.” I can move forward. I now know what I want to base my business on. We hung up.

For the past month or so, when bathing our 9 month old son, this hymn would always come to mind. I didn’t know the name of it and only knew part of the lyrics, not even enough to sing, so I would hum the tune. This hymn is not something I hear often. But every night it would just come to me ... when with my son.

My phone rang again. It was Mom. She had remembered a particular hymn that went along with that beautiful saying. She wants it sung at her funeral. (She’s only 60, but what a great idea to share meaningful verses/hymns with your family for when that time does come.) I looked up the song in my Methodist hymnal and after reading the music and singing along, I realized that was THE song I had been humming to my baby boy all along.

Hymn of Promise:

In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

God continues to amaze me each and every day. Sometimes it’s something obvious. Sometimes not. Sometimes we understand it. And sometimes we don’t. But God truly is incredible and I want to share in His awesome, amazing grace, power, and love. It was then that I decided I wanted to put my time and thoughts and energy, instead of a business, into sharing HIS love for us to anyone that will listen.

You can count the apples on the tree, but only God knows how many apples are in one seed. Beginning to understand why you can’t count the apples in a seed? And that’s just one of my apple tree stories. I would love to hear some of yours.