The Hill

August 22, 2011

What a day yesterday. Baptism at The Hill.

This is the third year for the baptismal service to be held at The Hill. 46 people were baptized this year—including our son and daughter-in-law. What a remarkable, special day. I'm thankful other extended family members could all be there to share the special day. It was very moving to see our son and daughter-in-law baptized as a couple.

A week or so ago one of our Pastor's called and asked if we would be willing to record a two minute testimony to be played at the baptism. They saw that our son and daughter-in-law were being baptized and they knew how incredibly special that would be since it was my husband and son who built the amphitheater hill, and it was my husband and I who built the natural grass platform and baptismal backdrop area. They knew about all the time we spent (during the worst time of the lawsuit) building, planting, and working at The Hill.

We of course agreed. But what to say? How do you put into words what it meant to us to build The Hill and then now see our son and daughter-in-law baptized there? We knew one thing for sure. We did not want this to be about us. Very few people in the church knew who designed, built, and planted the entire Pavilion and Hill area. We were fine with that. How do you explain how everything happened without it sounding like "we" did this? How do you explain to everyone about the depth of what was happening in your life without saying "we" were being attacked by a sister and brother-in-law filing a lawsuit? So we prayed. God, thank you for this opportunity. Please give us the words to say. May YOU get the honor and glory for what YOU have done.

Here is what was said:

"Most of you remember when the excess soil left over from the last building project was moved to this site to create The Hill. The amphitheater hill itself was completed, but the front portion was in disarray. Many committee meetings were held. But for years there was no clear direction on how The Hill should be completed. Then literally in a moment, in the middle of a committee meeting, my husband instantly knew how and what could be done to finish The Hill, and everyone agreed. It was God's timing, and it was God's plan. Unfortunately, it was the worst possible timing for us—or so we thought. In our personal lives we were facing a seemingly insurmountable task. We had no physical time, energy, or emotional strength to invest in this project. But we also knew that any equipment or talent we may have is God-given and is available for His use. God in His Sovereignty knew exactly what we needed in our lives. So we began the task, and God gave us the strength. Working on The Hill kept us focused on the things that were important—eternal things. As we worked, we prayed for changed lives and for all those who would someday worship and be baptized on this hill. We prayed for our family and our two adult children who were believers but had not yet been baptized. We prayed for God's will in our own lives. Our personal situation has not yet ended—but God has been faithful beyond words. What was intended for our harm God has used for our good. Our daughter and son-in-law have both since been baptized. And today, on the very hill that our son shaped and created years ago, and in the pond God designed, our son and daughter-in-law are being baptized. To God be the glory. Great things HE has done."

This was played while our son and daughter-in-law and two of our Pastor's were standing in the water. Our testimony about what God has done was heard by 1000+ people. When it finished playing, our Pastor spoke. He said, "_____, not many people knew that it was you and your Mom and Dad who built The Hill...." He went on to say, "Man can build a hill, but it is God that builds a man." Then our son and daughter-in-law were baptized together as a couple. There weren't many dry eyes. God most definitely gave us the words to say.

To God be the glory!  Great things HE has done.

Here is what was written in the Baptism hand-out. "Even though _____ (our son) and _____ (our daughter-in-law) surrendered to Jesus Christ at different times in their lives, they share this step of obedience as an outward sign of the deep work He has done. According to (our son), "He is the reason I love life. Without him I could not deal with everyday problems. I love to see how He leads me in the path I should go." (Our daughter-in-law) shares, "He is my Solid Rock. I need Him more than anything in my life. I strive to follow His ways with my family."

As I was transcribing the words God gave us to say into this blog, I noticed a double meaning with two of the sentences. Something I didn't notice before even though I had read through it many, many times prior to it being recorded and since. I'm not even sure how the people listening to it interpreted what I said.

When I wrote, "He knew exactly what we needed in our lives," I was referring to the work we were doing to build The Hill. We didn't have the physical time, energy, or emotional strength to invest in the project or anything else. We were buried under legal paperwork. I was collecting thousands of documents, answering interrogatories, babysitting, doing office work for our business, etc. I've said many times that we didn't have the time to do the project and we didn't have time not to do the project. On our own there was no way to add designing and building The Hill. But God knew it was exactly what we needed in our lives while we were the busiest defending ourselves against my sister and brother-in-law's vile and vicious accusations. It kept our eyes focused on what was important—outward things, having a servant's heart, kingdom building things—INSTEAD of focusing on ourselves and what was wrongfully happening to us.

When I said, "So we began the task, and God gave us the strength," I was again referring to The Hill. It's hard to comprehend how incredibly hot and humid it was during the time we were working there unless you've experienced it yourself while living in the Midwest during mid July when the temperatures are in the high 80's and 90's and the air is heavy and oppressive. We were working in the direct sun and there was rarely any breeze. It was just totally physically exhausting and draining. For weeks, we worked there every Saturday. We moved five or six white pines that were planted years earlier. The earth was so parched that no dirt clung to the roots. The last thing you should do is move pines in the middle of a hot summer, and especially bare-rooted. I scooped five gallon buckets of water from the nearby drainage ditch and carried multiple bucket loads to each tree. Incredibly, every single one of the transplanted pine trees lived!

I remember a time I was taking a break because my husband was doing some tractor work and didn't need my assistance. I had taken some lawyer paperwork with me and was sitting on the hill working on it when one of those dry summer wind "gust-nadoes" came along and picked up my papers, took them up over the hill and higher than the tree tops before they finally came back down half way to the county road. I'm sure it was quite the sight for people driving by to see my husband and me chasing flying papers across the adjoining field. 🙂 For lunch we would go to the neighborhood grocery store deli even though we were hot, sweaty, dirty, and looked a mess. It felt good to be able to clean up a little and cool off in the air-conditioning. We had to chuckle when an acquaintance we knew stopped us in the store and asked us if we had moved to the area since he saw us eating lunch there every Saturday.

It took us about an hour to drive with the truck and trailer from our small town to the town where our church and The Hill is located, but the driving time gave us uninterrupted moments of prayer to face the "tasks" ahead. It was exhausting work, yet at the same time it felt good to be physically exerting yourself. It balanced the lawsuit emotional and psychological junk we were having to deal with and the personal, vicious, and vindictive attacks that were directed towards us. It cleansed the soul. It was HIS plan.

Driving by our church you would never know what lie on the other side of The Hill. When you come up over the back side of The Hill and the front stage area of the amphitheater comes into view, it almost takes your breath away. No one will ever know the work it took to make it look that way. Everything just looks like it was just naturally there... part of God's creation. Peaceful. Serene. God's amazing handiwork. Our Pastor calls it is the most beautiful hidden spot in the county. We are so grateful that God gave us the "task" and used our hands during the toughest period in our lives to build HIS plan.

So, as I am preparing to write this morning I noticed I used the word "task" in the sentence "so we began the task and God gave us the strength." I was referring to working on The Hill, but today I realized it was also the same word I used earlier when I said, "We were facing a seemingly insurmountable "task," where I was referring to the lawsuit in our personal lives. When I said "God gave us the strength," I was entirely talking about the task/work at The Hill; that God provided the strength we needed to build The Hill; and that "God knew what we needed in our life," meaning working on The Hill. But those same phrases absolutely apply to the lawsuit itself. We began the "task" of gathering a mountain of information for discovery; we had the "task" of answering all kinds of interrogatories; we had the "task" of defending ourselves against false accusations, and God provided the strength. "God knew exactly what we needed in our lives," is so true about "the storm" as well. The lawsuit brought us out of the trap of being self-sufficient people and brought us into the understanding of the importance of being God-reliant people.

I have no idea how the people who were at The Hill yesterday "heard" it and whether they thought we were talking about the insurmountable task in our personal lives or the task of working on building the hill. Either way—both are the truth. God has provided everything we needed in every way. The only reason the "task" (both the lawsuit and The Hill) were not insurmountable is because of God's provision.

LORD,
May our lives reflect yours. May others see Christ in us. Thank you, for the opportunity to build your plan. Thank you, for the opportunity to share our testimony with hundreds of people. Thank you, for our children and their spouses who are all living their lives surrendered to you. Thank you, for all the provisions you have given us. Thank you, for your promises and protection. Thank you, for your love. Thank you, for friends and family who have been an encouragement and support for us. And LORD, we even thank you for what was meant for our harm—this lawsuit—for we have seen your hand working in our lives in ways we have never seen before, and never could have imagined. That is worth more than any pleasure this world could offer. Thank you, for keeping us safe in your waiting room. LORD, we eagerly await whatever it is that you have ahead for us. We trust you. We love you. We surrender ALL to you.

To God be the Glory! Great things HE has done!.

Addendum:  December 2019 ~ I've just realized God gave me another "task" to do during the heat of the battle—my journals and this blog.  It was HIS plan.


Next Entry: Isaiah 44:1 – 46:13