This year has been a huge time of stretching for me. I had major Surgery on January 4th and then complication from that surgery lead to another on June 10th. To say that I have had the wind sucked out of my sails is an understatement. By the second surgery I was trying desperately to be content with where I was. I was unable to lift anything 5-10 pounds and doing the smallest thing would make me very tired.

2 weeks after my second surgery I was reading in my Lord I Want to Know You study book which is the study on the names of God. I was reading about the Children of Israel being lead to the bitter waters of Marah (Exodus 15: 22-25) Here the Children of Israel where led to the desert of Shur (remember they had the Cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night from God guiding them). They where in the desert 3 days and could not find water. When they came to Marah they could not drink its water because it was bitter. The Children of Israel grumbled (this after God provided manna etc.) God then told Moses to take a piece of wood laying there and had him throw it into the water and it become sweet.

After reading about this I went to sit with Hannah under a old tree in our yard and Hannah tells me that the Flicker Triplets babies are getting big and the parents are feeding them alot. So I grabbed my camera, put on a zoom lens and sat there in the chair (since really I was unable to do much else!)

The moments that followed changed me deeply. God showed me that I was at the waters of Marah; tired and thirsty. He threw into my bitterness a tree full of woodpeckers (triplet woodpeckers no less, very nice since I am a mom of triplets) and made this time of healing SWEET!!

The father arrives to feed his kids.

Triplets really!!

Its a girl

Its a boy (he is singing)

Its a girl!

The mom

The father feeding one of his girls.

I sat there for days photographing while Hannah read to me under the Willow tree. The mother and Father Flickers fed their babies and they grew fast. The shots I got most clear where of the Father feeding the little girl flicker. I was undone. How great the fathers Love is for us, how vast beyond all measure.

Today if you are in a place of bitterness, look out and see God has lead you there and God has something sweet for you in this Marah moment.

Blessings,

Dorene Vandermeer