Answered Prayer

Just a couple days in the 40's took care of the ice, then it was nearly 60°, then winter came back!  Virtually no ice to crack this morning, but something quite noticeable in our Heavenly Father's provision.  Here it is 4 Preparation Days, since I awoke after praying about the ice.  A fourth Sabbath is nearly upon us.  With the temperature so warm, it will be virtually impossible for any significant amount of ice to form on stock tanks and water tubs over night.  Granted, there could be a glaze, but nothing that's going to feel like work.  HalleluYah!

As I looked over the place just one week after the last big storm came through, there are plenty of fallen limbs.  This brought such gratitude to my heart for many reasons.  None of the livestock was hurt as the limbs fell.  There are no paths blocked, so the limbs can lay where they fell to season.  There were no limbs that landed on buildings or fence.  The tree that I had "seen" as the end of days unfold around here, is one step closer to what I believe I was shown.  Just in cutting up what's on the ground, there will be plenty of firewood next winter!  YHWH truly is awesome in His plan, even when things appear out of place.

I smiled to myself, as I thought about cutting the fallen limbs.  These were dead limbs that fell and I'm truly grateful they are down.  I'm no master woodsman, but I have seen some in action.  I know men that can fell huge, tall trees within an inch of where they say it will land.  I've had men ask me, where I want it to land!  And they fell that tree with amazing skill.  I'm pretty sure there is some geometry and even trig involved.  I'm able to grasp the concept, but I fail in the practical app and execution of the plan.  The problem has been solved in that the Master of the wind placed them within my reach.

I can be out there next fall with a chainsaw!  I'm not good at splitting wood, either, but I can rick it up pretty efficiently.  These dead limbs will burn fairly readily, and I am gifted in building and sustaining a fire.  My swing with an axe is not powerful enough to split the log with one strike, and my coordination lacks enough accuracy to repeat my first point of entry.  As for wood splitting and axe handling, my Daddy described my skill as "like lightning!"  I never strike in the same place twice.

Since I first prayed about breaking ice as working on Sabbath and methods to avoid it, our Heavenly Father has simply taken care of that for me.  In three unseasonably early snow falls and record cold spells, the temperature has been above freezing every preparation day.  The stock tanks have not had ice on them for the past four Shabbats.  I wasn't expecting an answer this easy!