Today’s Truth

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night (Psalm 90:4 NIV)

 

Friend to Friend

There was a time I would hide in the bathroom for an ounce of quiet and reprieve. An intense time when diapers drooped, binkies bobbled, and toddlers toddled all over the busy, boisterous Smith house.

Those days are gone.

My husband and I have three young-adult children, and a wonderful daughter-in-law, and are figuring out how to settle into a new season with just each other. Huge portions of our hearts are now spread across three states and another country.

Empty nest. I get why they call it that, but I don’t think it’s an empty season at all. On the contrary, it’s quite full.

Full of exciting dreams and complicated feelings.

Full of unknowns, uncertainties, and unrest.

Full of stretching, stirring and stillness.

Full of loving and letting go in the most exhilarating and exhaustingly wonderful ways. Much like the holidays.

So, we release, rally and rest – knowing God goes before us, even in the empty. Often especially in the empty. “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90:14 NIV).

You and I can step into the crisp newness of today, the freshness of a new year, confident that the Lord who satisfies us in the morning with His unfailing love pours comfort into souls swollen with sadness. Confident that no matter what hurts need healing or what chaos needs calming, Jesus is able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond what we can ask for or imagine when we yield to His Spirit and are rooted and established in His love.

We’re thankful that our generous, faithful Father gives gobs of fresh mercy each morning and supernatural strength for each weakness.

We celebrate, convinced that our Everlasting Lord, El Olam, has a plan – a master plan of hope and of a future. And it’s not just for our children, or our grandchildren, but for us.

For me. For my husband. For you.

Psalm 90 reminds me to be mindful of God’s limitless nature and grateful for each sunrise. “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4).

Days and years… mornings and evenings… breaths, deaths, and generations.

Each a treasure chest of minutes and moments that whisper the fleeting nature of humanity and the infinite hope of Jesus.

 

Let’s Pray

Dear Lord, Please teach me to number my days and walk in Your wisdom. Establish the work of my hands today, Lord, as I celebrate the gift of now and the hope of tomorrow.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

Now It’s Your Turn 

Which do you need to do today: release, rally, or rest?
Grab a journal or visit our comments section and write 5 things you’re grateful for. Celebrate today as a gift. Forgive what needs to be forgiven. Love well.

 

More from the Girlfriends

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© 2022 by Gwen Smith. All rights reserved.

 

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5 Responses to “Even In The Empty”

  1. Kristin says:

    1) I’m thankful that even though I am back to where I was 4 years ago, it is very different
    2) im thankful for this devotional that said exactly the right thing at the right time
    3) im thankful for a stable financial situation
    4) im thankful for my kitties who, in Mom’s words, “keep you good company”
    5) Im thankful that God bings me fresh possibilities each morning if I just choose to see them.

  2. Yolanda says:

    1)I am thankful for God waking me up this morning and in my right mind.
    2) I am thankful for my 3 children that the LORD has given me.
    3) I am thankful to God for him giving me a mother who believed in His name even unto her death this year.
    4). I am thankful to God for answering my prayer’s.
    5). I am thankful to God for him providing my children and grand grandchildren with a place to stay during these difficult times.

  3. Diane says:

    1. Peaceful, friendly neighbors
    2. Health
    3. Ocean view
    4. Stable income/employment
    5. Brothers and sisters: by adoption, blood and in Christ <3

  4. Kathy says:

    1. That my son is hospitalized and getting help
    2. That my family are so close and supportive of each other
    3. That I have a home, a job,
    4. The choices I have….spiritual, health,
    5. The ability to love, the people to love and the knowledge that God loves me

  5. Esther says:

    1. Thankful for believing in God and trusting him.

    2. Thankful for flying to NV to see my ill brother in the hospital safely and returning safely.
    3. All my prayers answered by God.
    4. Thankful for my daughter granddaughters great grandson/ great granddaughter.
    5 Thankful for God never leaving me in trials and working through them together.

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well…" 1 Thessalonians 2:8