LIVING IN MINNESOTA we get plenty of different kinds of advantages and disadvantages due to our weather. We have the beautiful season of autumn, which living here in Minnesota the majority of my life, I have found most people absolutely adore and claim autumn as their favorite season of all! I know it is one of my very favorites too.

 

We enjoy pumpkin lattes, brisk, chilly and very refreshing temps after a long, hot and humid summer. Those who look good in fall colours (like me!) get a kick out of seasonal lipsticks and warm tones of clothing. Perhaps the most celebrated topic is the leaves changing colours! That’s colours – not – colour!  That’s almost as good as Christmas lights! Many people will go with a group just to scout out the beauty of God’s creation — in leaves!

 

Winter in Minnesota is quite well-known. We are famous for our hockey. This season brings celebrations of all types: hot chocolate, fireplaces, cuddling with your cutie, ice skating and much, much more. A cheerful Minnesotan has the down-pat schedule of getting up early to shovel in expectation of a longer commute to work. Parents are totally prepared for those famous words our littlest Minnesotan’s love to hear: “School is cancelled due to the storm.”!

 

Spring is another very beloved season. I remember one particular spring day walking home from school wearing a beautiful and beautifully made spring coat by my Aunt Sharon. It was pink and had very pretty and unusual buttons. Along with feeling like a sweet little lady in this gorgeous spring jacket, as I walked by the baseball field right by my childhood home water was running off into the gutter. The sound was so beautiful to me as I welcomed this warm, sunny and beloved season. I could even smell the cleansing air of spring. It’s something so many of us remember and eagerly look forward to after winter.

 

Summer as a child here was basically great weather for me. Though I didn’t have air conditioning growing up, I could go to a public swimming pool just past that baseball field. For a dime I could swim and play in the pool for an hour and a half! Those were the days. But, Beloved, as I say this: these are the days too. With every day there are blessings and challenges as long as we live on Earth and satan is on the prowl…

 

Yes, Minnesota brings a lot of theology out from its’ seasons: the cold, the hot, the sunshine-filled skies, the dark grey threatening skies. We have a lot of road construction here also because of the extreme styles of weather we enjoy – or not…

 

There’s a saying I have heard many, many times: “Minnesota has two seasons: winter and road construction.”

 

To me, this is the outlook of crabby old men. In fact, I do believe there has been a movie made about such type of people. But I choose not to be like that. Granted, I don’t like extreme heat. And with that Minnesota heat comes much uncomfortable and unwanted humidity. But as a child of God who chooses to be grateful, I will always add: “I thank God for air conditioning!” You know what? I’ll even say that… yes… in public!

 

And now as we celebrate June and the soon coming of Minnesota summer along with our picnics, vacations, water skiing, going to the cabin, Fourth of July, children rejoicing there’s no school… come also patched streets.

 

Welcome to Minnesota. Watch out for potholes!

 

Selah.

 

I am fairly certain adults and teens who drive are very aware of what a pothole is throughout America. Personally, I always thank God for MN.DOT! These are the guys and gals who plow our snow, who patch our broken and shifting streets due to all that great variety of weather…

 

Folks: these are truly some of my heroes! I hope some of you read this Joy Story!

 

Once upon a time as I was driving slowly, so slowly on the freeway due to snow and storm I witnessed a memorable occurrence which can only happen in snow-laden states… It was really cool (don’t pardon the pun!)! I absolutely love and respect and appreciate are snowplow guys…  It was so fun to see as I slowly drove along that Minnesota freeway going rural road speed. I was blessed, yes very blessed, to get a closer look at about twelve snowplows plowing along the other side of the freeway. Beloved, in order to see this, conditions had to be just right… The roads had to have snow; snow that needed to be plowed. Snow that was so heavy that our plowers had to be side-by-side and front-to-back.

 

These particular snowplows were blue, very pretty. AND, I saw about one-third of them were our own homegrown Minnesota women! AND, in a variety of colours! I am so proud of these men and women who bless us with streets, highways and freeways cleared of snow making it possible for us to go to the mall, the hairdresser, the grocery store and even, to work!

 

Every wise child of God knows the value of these wonderful people and always appreciates seeing them go to town on the heaviest of snow falls, hearing the scraping noises and gazing at those beautiful lights blinking signaling our freedom from cabin fever lock in!

 

BUT WHAT ABOUT PATCHED STREETS?

 

This is my main point. With all these blessings and challenges of living year-round in Minnesota – yeah, you betcha – as I was driving, I saw my street patched. The guys had worked on it just on it yesterday. They did a great job! Thank you God and thank you men! The potholes were GONE! Even on my one little street there were many. The ground doesn’t break up evenly…

 

AND I GOT THIS WORD FROM GOD

bringing tears to my eyes right now… God does not patch up His children. He makes them new! All those who call upon the name of Jesus will be saved! All who willingly bend their knee and confess Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Savior are born again, saved; that is, forgiven, healed, blessed with every good gift salvation brings! I look upon the Lord and I am radiant; I am never covered with shame; the old has gone, the new has come.

 

NO WE ARE NOT PATCHED UP.

We Christians are forgiven. Sin has been blotted out by God our Father! Never to be remembered again! Sickness has been taken from us by the blood of the Lamb and our faith in that blood! satan has to flee when we stand fearlessly against him.

 

GOD DOESN’T MAKE ANY JUNK…

The only reason people are born into this physical world with warts and doubts is because of The Fall of Adam. But thanks be to God, those who love Him with reverential fear always triumph! We don’t try (umph!) to believe Him. We do!

 

SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS FOR THIS “JOY STORY”

satan: read them and weep!

 

 

Romans 10:13
 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 

Romans 10:9-11
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

 

John 3:3
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

 

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

 

James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.