Proverbs 24:3-4 “By wisdom a house is built; And by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”
By February 2007, the farm was continuing to go well. Our goats were doing well, and the chickens were laying eggs consistently. One of our hens was sitting on eggs, and we were getting ready for planting season.
The tractor did catch on fire while Josh preparing the garden spot, but he was able to repair it. A bird had made a nest on top of the engine, which is what led to the fire. Thankfully, the bird was no longer using the nest, so there were no causalities. It needed new wiring anyway.
I finally enjoyed working on the farm because of the anticipation of seeing the growth that would come from our hard work. It is so exhilarating to witness the fruits of your labor growing and producing.
During this break in trials, I was also trying to grow spiritually. I wanted to remember the feeling I was having, and to get strong so that when the trials began again I could get through them. I wanted the Holy Spirit to grow in me just like my farm was growing because I knew that green pastures last for a while to give us a break, but eventually storms blow bringing wind and rain. I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but the truth is that life is about highs and lows, blessings and trials, green pastures and droughts. The important thing, though, is how we react to them. We are to be content in all circumstances (Phil 4:11).
I know that for us to have green pastures we need storms. Pastures do not become green unless they are adequately watered. All plants need water for sustenance, and without it, they die. Well, if we are to bear fruit we need to be watered. And trials sometimes are just that, they are events that wash away our pride in ourselves, our self-righteousness, to gear us on the right path, etc… So, we should “bear all things” because they prepare us for all things that will come, and at this point in my life the trials had watered me enough for us to have a rest.
By March, Josh and I noticed that we were going to have a good kidding, all our does were pregnant. We were excited because this, we hoped, was the beginning of building our herd. Plus, I was successfully hatching eggs and gardening. The plants weren’t growing yet, but at least the plants were in the ground.
We grew as a family temporarily, too. Our good friends from Dallas decided they needed to get out of the big city and move down. They had already purchased the adjoining three acres beside ours in October, and now they were ready to move. The only thing was the property was nothing but trees and brush. It was going to require clearing to move onto, so they moved into the small mobile home that was already on our property. We had our camper right beside it with an adjoining porch.
I wish I could say we had the mobile home prepared for people to live in, but we didn’t. During some of our ‘spare time’, we would work on getting it ready for us to eventually live in, so we could move out of the camper, but it was still in need of updating. The only thing we had fully completed was building custom bunk beds in a tiny room, smaller than some walk-in closets, which would eventually be Jazmyn and Asher’s bedroom. Yet, our friends, Jeremy and Tiffany, were okay to move into it because it got them out of the city and next door to their property.
They had to move into a structure that had plumbing and electricity and two bedrooms, but that was about it. We cooked together and ate together, since the only stove was in our camper. Thankfully, it was a four-burner small apartment stove. The television was also in the camper so we basically lived together in the camper, but they slept in the mobile home. Surprisingly, it worked out with only a few moments of tension.
The great thing was that Tiffany would watch Asher, who was now 20 months old, her son, Ethan, who was 15 months old, and Jazmyn who just turned four, while I worked in the garden and kept up with the yard work. This worked because Tiffany was pregnant and didn’t need to be out in the heat doing manual labor, and I was able to get things done with limited distractions from my children.
I have to say the garden that year was awesome! We had an abundance of produce, and I was able to stay on top of the weeds. It was great. We learned how to adapt with two women in the kitchen and two men in the shop. It was a real blessing for all of us because we all helped each other.
By May, the farm was growing. We had birthed four new goats, making the total goats ten. We had found some eggs, and just for the fun of it I decided to see if they would hatch. I successfully hatched six chicks out of 12 eggs. We now had twenty-four chickens and five guineas.
My journal at this time was full of praises. I began to see the “light” at the end of the tunnel. With the farm growing, great friends real close by, and the gas lease potential, I was on an all-time high. I hoped that we were on the road to becoming full-time farmers.
I remembered to give God thanks for all this joy and hope. It was nice to have these times of positives. It helped me to pay attention to the blessings. I know we are supposed to focus on the good all the time, but sometimes it isn’t easy, especially during hard times. I think that is why Paul states to only dwell on what is of “good report” in Philippians 4:8 because it does make you realize how blessed you are. Now the trick was to take everything I had learned and apply it to life when nothing seems to be going right. I wish I could say that I was successful at practicing Philippians 4:8, but unfortunately in a few months my resolve to stay focused on positives was going to be tested.
Joy all around
At this point in our walk on the farm, I felt lots of joy. One morning the fog was still hovering over the ground, and I noticed when facing away from the road, everything my eye saw was our land. It exhilarated me to acknowledge just how blessed Josh and I were regardless of living in a camper beside an old run-down trailer, regardless of everything that still needed to be done to make the place look habitable, we were truly blessed.
When these times of green pastures happen we need to grab hold of them, file them in our memory banks, and remember them during the hard times. We know that life isn’t about great times followed by even greater times mainly because that isn’t how the Father molds us. He refines us through trials, and it is the trials that make us know we need Him. When we are in the midst of trials, we need to remember James’ sound wisdom:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
Complaining, worrying, stress, frustration, etc are signs of ignorance because it means we are ignoring the many things that are “pure…lovely….good repute… excellence… worthy of praise,” which are what we are supposed to dwell and meditate on all the time (Phil 4:8). This world is hard to go through, but if we dwell on the joys from God we can make it. We are to grow like the seeds I plant in my garden every year. Take a firm root in the good soil of the Lord, well watered (Holy Spirit), and plenty of sun (Son) to produce the fruit that not only feeds your family but leaves plenty to share with others.