Reflecting back…

It is hard to believe our oldest grand-daughter was three years old at the time I wrote these words. She was my shadow in bib overalls as we planted flowers, went for drives, and got in to all kinds of mischief, as my husband would say with a twinkle in his eye. But I also noticed those were the days he would arrive home extra early from work, and it certainly wasn’t to see me. Nothing like a grand-daughter to put extra pep and a twinkle in a Grandpa’s eye. Then the call came for their family to head south, they were heading south to the mountains of Tennessee. Now when I say the call came, it was in the form of a job promotion for our son in law, but in much higher terms I believe it was God’s hand directing “where” they were headed. God has a way of taking and changing the plans we may have set before us, down a brand new path, on a brand new journey.

When I read this piece of writing today (12 years later) and see how God has worked through my daughter and her husband and their family’s lives in those Tennessee Mountains, I marvel. He took those precious treasures and placed them in, what to me is, one of the most beautiful settings on earth, and then allowed us to see, by reflecting back, how His plan is perfect for their lives. Even when it was hard to let go at the time, the Lord helped us trust, and now He shows us again and again…there is JOY in the JOURNEY!

Joy in the Journey

 

I see the glory of the mountains

Soaring before me on this day

I feel the wash of your presence

As a symbol of the details of this stay

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You are taking my prize possessions

To this land of beauty and of ease

I will grieve for their close reflection

But this chance of life they must seize

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So, Lord, we’ll grasp your plans for tomorrow

And praise you for the closeness of the past

For today there is joy in the journey

Because, through You our love will ever last

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I trust Your will and Your direction

While I ponder on this journey’s bend

But as you kept David in the valleys

I know you’ll be there at this journey’s end

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You, our God, are all knowing and sovereign

When winding roads form the paths of our lives

We are glad that your spirit sustains us

And brings us guidance not heartache or strife

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So, Lord we’ll grasp your plans for tomorrow

And praise you for the closeness for the past

For today there is joy in the journey

Because through you our love will always last

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11