The Call to Battle (Pt 1)

Well, all our renovating is finished and we have a new kitchen and a new floor.....

It actually wasn't as  bad  as  I thought.  I quite liked the change in routine and had fun trying to set myself up in the garage and cook for everyone.  My oldest son said, I looked like one of those squatters.  Ha!

So this year our plan is to sell our townhouse and move to a place closer to the childrens school. 

We have been standing on many of God's Promises. even though  all around us it would seem we are not seeing the fulfillment of them yet.... 

   At the beginning of the year I was reading in the book of Joel and my eyes were drawn to this scripture :

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong (joel 3:10)

I read it several times. I knew that this year was going to be a year to really take up the battle and not hold back for many areas of my life. 
As I studied the verse, I wondered what PLOWSHARES and PRUNING HOOKS were. So of course I do what every busy 21st century gal/warrior does;
I googled it!

plow·share

noun \ˈplau̇-ˌsher\

: the part of a plow that digs into the soil

So it seemed to me that a plowshare is a tool that everyday farmers use for tilling the soil and turning over the ground. 

 I looked at the 'soil', the 'field' in my  everyday life and what has been placed in my hand, and saw what my PLOWSHARE was. 

My everyday life is a field that is rich with soil.

I AM plowing everyday. 

 With hearts that I am responsible for.

 My husband, children,friends and whoever God places in my world.

But God was not asking me to put down my plowshare... He was asking me to BEAT my plowshare into a sword!!. 

BEAT my plowshare!

 (MY EVERYDAY TILLING AND WORKING IN THE FIELD HE HAS ENTRUSTED ME)

and BEAT it into a sword!!

So from this...

to this.....

Wow! How do I do that??


I am currently reading a book titled :
Girls with Swords ( how apropos) right? 

In this book she has a chapter on forging a sword.

"The process of making a sword is a whole lot like the  process of making a life...." (pg 105)

"With the forging of a sword, there is repeated hammering.." (pg 105)

"The process of sword making is not altogether different from that of weaving. Once heated, that which is stiff becomes pliable enough to braid and twist, thus creating a tension that fuses the separate strands into a whole." (pg 106)

"Likewise God uses the element of fire, water and pressure to refine His daughters in order to transform our weaknesses into strengths, our rigidity into flexibility. He shapes a shapeless life into one of sharp and focused purpose."(pg 106)

There is so much in these words to unpack!!  Our life is where the sword is being forged.  Through the hard times when the pressure is on and the 'heat' is turned up is actually the making of our sword.  Our brokenness, our mess, our weaknesses are all 'braided' together to make a glorius focused life. 
I love this!!

If we as women are going to step forward into forging our sword, forging our life into what He has planned for us, we have to expect to have a battle on our hands.
So every trial, every test is tempering us for a greater life. 

I am not too sure about what the whole process looks like for each one of our lives,but I want to encourage everyone that when we are in the midst of the fire, it is forging a beautiful sword that we can then use as a weapon to have victory in our lives.