God's Will for Me - Homesteading

Have you ever wondered what God's will for your life is? I know I have ... and I think we all do from time to time. Years ago, I heard a sermon in which the pastor declared, "You should never have to wonder what God's will for you is. His answer to that question is plainly written in 1 Thessalonians 4:

³ For this is the will of God [for you], your sanctification:"

Scripture says it, so I believe it. But how does that look day-to-day? In my life? The passage continues, describing sexual purity, self-control, treating others well and living honorably. As I read on, down to verse 11, I found the answer ... for me ... today ... in this season of my life.

¹¹Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,

¹²so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders

and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

In a word ... homesteading! Except for traffic noise, the sounds that daily fill my ears are the baaahing of goats and clucking of chickens. No TV or blaring radio here ... a quiet life indeed. When food is planted in prepared soil, tended, harvested, peeled/chopped/canned or otherwise prepared before cooking and eating; when 5 loads of laundry are humg on the line instead of tossed in the dryer; when milk is hand-drawn before drinking or made into yogurt, ice cream or cheese; when soap is stirred and cured before used for washing; when honey is extracted from hives cared for watchfully ... who has time to mind someone else's business?! My rough hands are a testament to the work they do. Though we are not totally self-sufficient and would be lacking greatly without the benefits of Progress Energy and Krogers, we are less dependent today than we were yesterday. And one of my greatest homesteading joys is seeing my life through the eyes of others. Just this week, a honey customer asked for a "tour" of our acre. At the conclusion she exclaimed, "Who knew that behind the fence I pass every day is paradise!" Paradise, my own personal Garden of Eden.

When we discover, and live in, the center of God's will, it is paradise. We find rest and peace, though the world around us be in turmoil. There is a "rightness" about what we are doing that is worth more than a high-paying salary or business accolades. I am in this place in my life by no merit of my own. God has brought me here and made it possible for me. It is easy. But that is who God is and how He works. His yoke is easy and His burden light. He never calls us to something without equipping us for it and paving the road to it. My back aches alot from the physical labor and I am pretty much homebound right now due to a visual issue, but my soul is satisfied, my thirst quenched, my cup full and running over.

I pray the same for you.