Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. Hebrews 10:22 (NIV)
Last month, my husband decided to begin work on the tack and feed area of my pole barn. Actually, his hand was forced as my friend whose horse keeps mine company, bought a second horse. With three horses, we returned the temporary turned semi permanent feed storage area back into a stall. Rather than doing another short term enclosure in the fourth bay of the barn, he decided to use our “economic stimulus package” for lumber and nails and complete that area. Once finished, I will have two small rooms and a place out of the weather to keep my saddles and tack as well as hay and grain. It is taking a long time to complete the work just using weekends and evenings. The first step was pouring a thick layer of concrete to bring the rooms up out of flood levels. We remember times of torrential downpours when the area where the barn is now located was under a foot of water. Then, he built the frames for the walls and covered them in sheathing before adding windows and doors. The work is almost finished. All that remains is installation of a large garage door at one end of the feed room. We have been blessed to have many friends come and help us. Some know a lot about framing, others concrete work. Some know how to hang doors and windows while others do not know much about construction, but have strong backs and two able hands. I have been spared helping with the heaviest work. I am mostly the fetch and carry girl. I retrieve tools, hand nails and hold boards. This weekend, it was my turn to assist as husband screwed the plywood into the wall studs. The exterior walls have been up for a week, but only tacked into place. He saved work such as this for times when friends were not around to help with other more labor intensive jobs. In the back of his mind was the need to get this work done before storms come and lift the boards out of place. As he labored to fasten them down, my job was to watch from the inside of the room to make sure that the screws went through the plywood and into the wall studs. I found it intriguing to watch. As the screw went through the exterior board and into the stud, at first the exterior board moved into place. But, just before actually fastening down, it pulled back. Once, the stud refused to give and as my husband put extra pressure on the drill, the boards joined together. It made me think how we say we want to have a close relationship with God. Then, when He sets a plan in motion to draw us near to Him, initially, we pull back. Sometimes, it takes a little more pressure to get us drawn up close to Him. Don’t resist His efforts. Beside Him is a place of safety and strength.
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