"Come north winds..."

Awake, north wind,
and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,
that its fragrance may spread abroad.
Let my lover come into his garden
and taste its choice fruits.
Song of Songs 4:16

Strangely enough, on Friday after Joe and I had just sold our house and were rejoicing the richness of God's blessings, I also felt a certain sobriety and awareness that while we love to enjoy the warm "south winds" of His blessing, that we are also guaranteed the cold "north winds" of trials. The beautiful thing though is that both the winds of blessings and of trials are designed to blow on the garden of our hearts so that the fragrance of what God has been planting there will be spread abroad and allure Him to come near so as to enjoy the fruit of His labors.

Saturday night, we went to participate at a worship watch at a church in Winnipeg that was holding worship throughout the night. We were there with our friends from Sanctuary House of Prayer to lead the worship for 3 of those hours, and not long after arriving, three of us had our cars vandalized in the parking lot. Our car had the passenger window smashed in, while others' had large scratches made in their paint, and had their window smashed and stereo hanging loose where the person had attempted to steal it. Yet, through it all, I knew God was watching to see how we would respond to these "north winds". What sort of fragrance would He smell? And I believe He smelled the sweet fragrance of worship ascending to His throne as we all continued to give Him the praise He fully deserved! Although it sucks that our car was vandalized, I have no doubts that this does not change the fact that God is incredibly good and worthy of our adoration. And I desire that in all circumstances, both good and bad, that He would be able to enjoy the fragrance of my love and be drawn to come to His garden that He is producing in my heart.