Praying this devotion helps you see the season beginning to change in your life!

Isaiah 43:19 season change

Early this August, we followed our normal family tradition and celebrated Shelby’s birthday at the trailer. While my immediate family was there, my cousin was driving by, stopped and honked. So, we all went out by the fence to say hello.

As we were talking, I noticed leaves under our feet, then I looked at the two trees on either side of us. I was shocked to see yellowing leaves and mentioned it to my niece. I told Todd and thought it strange for trees to be turning when it was a blistering hot summer day. I’d never seen trees begin to turn during the beginning half of August. 

NEVER.

It felt like a holy noticing. Everyone else was focussed on my cousin but God turned my eyes to the trees.

Was God trying to speak to me through the colour of the leaves?

Was the season beginning to change for me?

Back At Home

sunny august
My Instagram Story that day

I love to walk in the morning and spend some time with God as I’m getting some exercise. About ten days after Shelby’s birthday party, on another one of those blistery hot August walks, I stopped to take a picture of the deep blue sky contrasting the dark green trees, when I noticed leaves on the top of three trees slightly turning yellow.

I thought maybe I was going crazy, but by the time I was done my walk, I had seen three trees with a little bit of yellowing leaves… on August 20th… in Leamington, Ontario; the southernmost point of Canada. We live in the “southernmost point of mainland Canada”, marketed under the motto, “Sun Parlour of Canada”. We’re actually on the same latitude line as northern California and Rome.1

Needless to say, fall leaves in summer are NOT NORMAL here.

Pictures from my walks Aug.20-26, 2020

By the week following, on August 26th, I saw my first tree with red leaves (the last picture here). Season’s Changing.

CRAZY.

Normal Season Changes

I’ve never seen leaves turn this early. The website ToDoOntario.com site and others confirm how, “Ontario fall colour reports begin mid-September and continue through October.”2

Leaves don’t change in August… but they did, and I took notice. 

Each walk I felt the Lord directing my attention to these pre-mature colour-changing trees amidst the green ones. I felt the Lord directing my eyes and whispering to my soul, the season is changing… and change it is. 

Today is September 15th and more trees have changed colour and lost leaves. We could have raked leaves around our fence at our trailer on Labour Day Weekend even though most trees in the park were dark green.

As I read Esther 4:14, it had new meaning, given all God’s been speaking to me lately. Mordecai’s words to Esther when she almost missed noticing the changing season, struck me this morning, “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

While I read this verse, the Lord kept reminding me about Isaiah 43:19, “Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

Nudging You…

I feel the Lord pressing me to not stay silent but write and nudge your level of holy noticing. Pay attention to His “Godwinks” to you, like the turning trees to me, and ready your heart for the sudden opportunities this new season change will provide.

Rub Your Eyes

Plainly, keep your eyes peeled because God has something up His sleeve for you to do and I don’t want you missing the destiny He has for your life. Esther almost missed hers, don’t miss yours.

And… don’t get distracted looking for something BIG. Most of God’s opportunities don’t start with something ground-breaking or earth-shatteringly obvious… but small, unimportant to us but life-changing, nonetheless.  So, rub the sleepy out of your eyes and see what God is about to do… through you!

PRAYER

Father… I ask you to open my eyes and help me see what you’re doing.  Remove the distractions that seek to steal my attention from what you’re about to do. May I live out every detail of the destiny your have for my life.
In Jesus Name…Amen

DRAWING FROM THE WELL
  1. Isaiah 43:19
  2. Esther 4:14
  3. Isaiah 42:9
  4. Isaiah 48:3,6

#musicpic Song

Seasons Change by United Pursuit
(ft. Michael Ketterer)
Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/F7k5pqBVinA
Soul H2O 2020 Spotify Playlist:
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ENDNOTES

  1. https://todoontario.com/ontario-fall-colours-progression-report/#:~:text=Ontario%20fall%20colour%20reports%20begin,next%20few%20weeks%20for%20sure. ToDoOntario Website Accessed:  2020-09-15
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leamington,_Ontario  Wikipedia Website Accessed:  2020-09-15
Sherry Stahl