God Speaks: In the Birds of the Air

In my last post, I mentioned that God has been using some old things to show me His continued love and attention to my heart.  I would have put it all in one post, but it would have been much too long.  These things are by no means the *only* ways he has shown me His love, but I am so thankful that He continues to speak to me in ways He knows my eyes will see and my heart will hear.

In September 2012, I wrote a post called Love Lives Here about my latest grave decor for my girl.  It included a birdhouse and feeder that I attached Bible verses to that reminded me of His care for me and for Rachel.  I put them up hoping some birds would set up their home for the winter there so when we went to visit each week, we 'would see life there'.  I put the verses for Rachel and how He healed her on the feeder - and the verse for me and how He will protect me and be a refuge for me on the house.

Not long after that, there are a couple more posts where I talk of how discouraged I was about this set up... the deer, the squirrels... who knows what... something knocked it over and ate all the food week after week.  It turned into a big mess that birds would not go near and only made me sad.  And so I took it down.

I put it here in my shed and each spring since then, I have hung the birdhouse in my lilac tree in our backyard.  Rachel has a lilac tree behind her too so it's my way of keeping part of her space here in mine.  I like to take things that have spent time there and put it up here.  

In my research before I bought it, it said if you want birds to live in it, you have to put a food source nearby.  So I never expected, nor was I watching for, birds to ever use it.  Especially since I have put it up and taken it down two other years and really just thought of it as decor.

One day a few weeks ago, Sam told me he saw baby birds outside.  I did the usual mom thing of "aww.. that's so cute Sam..." and moved on, too busy to slow down and look with him.  The next morning, I was in my bathroom and I heard birds chirping.  I mentioned it to Sam and he casually said they were living in the tree outside.

I'm slow, people... I still didn't put it together....

Days later, I was in the yard, watering my flowers when I saw something out of the corner of my eye... a bird flew out of Rachel's birdhouse!

I know it's not all that unreal that birds would use a birdhouse... but the timing, the wait, the message it sent... just what my heart needed - especially with all that happened in August and it being the 5 year anniversary of Rachel's diagnosis.

I remember picking that verse for the birdhouse three years ago.  I remember typing it, laminating it, figuring out how to get it to stay on (and I apparently did a good job!) - and just how much my heart and mind needed to know that He keeps watch over me, covers me with protection, and gives me a great refuge under his wings.

I needed to hear that from him this past month too.  I just didn't know how much until He showed me.

He covers me with his feathers and under his wings, I find refuge.