Before I began my recent retreat I asked the Lord what my focus should be. The following verses are what I heard.
Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, “We will not walk in it.” Jeremiah 6:16 NRSVUE
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“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NRSVUE
The opening photo reminds me of the Jeremiah passage. Frequently in life we come to a crossroads. We have the choice how we respond. The people of God are instructed in this passage to stand (not run out there), look, ask for ancient paths, where the good way lies and THEN to walk in it. So fitting with me reading Practicing the Way by Mark Comer and trying to put it into practice. Going into silence at the Convent is one of the ancient paths that restores my soul. More than walking in it, it seems that sitting in the silence is my path at first, though walking the grounds in silence is also restorative.
Stand, Look, Ask also requires listening on my part. I want to follow after the Lord and not refuse to walk in the paths I am shown.
A favorite of mine! Hangs next to our bed!
And the second passage from Matthew? I could have spent the entire weekend on that one and not be finished. The Spirit did ask me to write down the things that made me weary from 2025. I filled several pages in a small journal. Those occurrences suddenly morphed into the things that brought me joy! I then added, “Lord, I am finding a sense of REST just writing out the burdens and blessings.” And so the weekend began. My eyes were opened to the continuous presence of the Lord and any blessings that came with the challenges. “Taking your yoke of the Way is helping me. Continue to help me LEARN from you. You are gentle and humble of heart.”
Remember I was looking for the obscure compline hymn? I found that recording on YouTube? I listened to the entire compline service and right there – in that service – they read Matthew 11:28-30. I was blessed, stunned and should not have been at all surprised that my steps were directed to that path!
What a mighty, caring, loving, attention to details God we serve. God is gentle and humble of heart and I am finding rest for my soul. My prayer is that you, also, will find rest for your soul in this mighty Savior.
John Mark Comer has me on a growth course. I am trying to do his ‘first thing in the morning exercise.’ I get my coffee and sit in my prayer chair at the bedroom window. Lately I have been reviewing the day before briefly with the Lord. Then I ask for a Psalm or Scripture to focus upon. I pray that passage to God. I talk with God about my life. I listen for his voice and “attempt to just let go.” Comer goes on to instruct, “But most of the time I just sit there. I breathe. And I look at what my eyes can’t see.” Lately, I have taken that looking to mean adoration.
My journal entries from this practice have blessed and carried me throughout the day. I have returned to wearing my beaded bracelet that reads, “Constantly renewed immediacy.” When it rattles or gets my attention I do my best to renew my immediate awareness of the Lord’s presence.
The time flies past when I practice this. And it also takes almost no time at all! I am amazed and delighted. I refer to the daily Lectionary readings to find the psalm(s) of the day. Sometimes I use those. Or one of the readings, or we just sit together. Here is one entry from last week.
25-10-9 Awaken me to You
Lord the day has begun as a computer mess. Like a bucket of messy spaghetti poured all over the floor. I choose to let that distraction go and pray for you to “hold my face in your hands” as Stephanie sings in “When You’re This Close.” My heart’s desire is to know you as this close. I am dizzy with new drug dose. Getting 2 immunizations today and needing your touch with those. Protect me my Lord from side effects and reactions I pray. I already have a clenched stomach since yesterday.
I look to you as my healer. Psalm for the daily office – Ps 131
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quiet my soul, Like a child at it’s mother’s breast Like a child that is quieted is my soul.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me. O Israel hope in the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.
As I still my soul and make it quiet I realize it is drugged and bleary. Lord hold me close. Awaken me to your presence and your care. I want to be aware of you. Like Brother Lawrence I want to be aware of your closeness and touch. I want to hear your voice saying turn to the right or turn to the left. Isa 30:21
I wait and listen for you now. As I got still I heard,
This is just a season, an episode, like a cloud passing over the earth, an occurrence that will pass. Wait it out with expectations for great things, not doom. Look to me and be radiant. (Ps 34)
You are a good, good Father. Even as I read out to Pastor Brad (at Bible study last night so he could write them on the white board) what the psalms were for today I did not catch 131 as one of my favorites. Even as I typed it and read it with bleary eyes it did not register until I had the computer read it back to me this morning, until you encouraged me with “wait it out with great expectations.” O Lord forgive me for gloom and help me to fix my eyes upon you with great expectations. The Insight meditation about letting go of control brought me ‘round to facing you fully and being held in your arms of love. I am going to be okay.
EXPECTATIONS FOR GREAT THINGS, NOT DOOM
7:14AM new bird call, still seems dark. Not new, Merlin Bird ID says little Carolina Wren singing praises.
So I went into that day trying to calm and quiet my soul. Waiting upon the Lord with expectations for great things. The next day I had to remember the message I heard from this day as the side effects of the immunizations kicked in. One evening Bob and I both felt just lousy and went to bed early, but we tried not to let that get us down. The immunization side effects have lessened now. The new drug dose, well, I still am not accustomed to it. Hopefully I will adjust soon!
Have you tried this method of starting your day? Have you written down the experience. I strongly encourage both. I never do this with the idea of sharing with anyone else. I do it for myself. Though sometimes, I am asked to let you glimpse what happens between my Lord and me. I hope those glimpses encourage you to try this sort of practice. God is no respecter of persons. He will help you and bless your attempts to practice his presence.
I am waiting to hear it. Supposed to rain all day long! I am eager to listen to it. Hoping Lori can work from home with the window open. I told her when I walk the dog I will be tempted to just stand in the rain without a raincoat!
In the center down silence At the altar within my heart I come to adore You and listen for Your voice
As the rains come down from heaven and water the earth And do not return empty So is my word which goes forth
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isa 55:10-11 NRSVUE
And I listen …it is here…Drip, splatter, patter, drop, wash. Prayers answered. Leaves dip as they are washed, grass bends as ground absorbs. Blue jay continues to sing from some place as Cardinal calls. Rain continues, individual drops that in the gutter form a rush of water.
Individual drops that form a cloud, pour out and fill the dry place to make a puddle. Individual drops that converge on one place and transform that place into something new.
Individuals that are transfigured into something new. Leaves in the garden seem to wave at me. Then the rush of rain changes to a torrent from the sky. How do the birds navigate through that while being pelted on the head?
Come Lord, rain upon me and change me too. Fern frond twitches Not a rabbit, rain. Lily pads at the pond ...
My poem from long ago rings true today in my heart.
The rain gauge tells me 2-1/4 inches have fallen so far. I will gladly walk the dog in this rain we have needed so very desperately. We have a neighbor who calls with some regularity to find out how much rain our gauge has collected. I considered buying him a rain gauge, but then we might never hear from him!!
Lord, this rain is wonderful to us. My friend just texted it is heavenly. I so agree.
I would not knowingly use what someone else wrote and claim it as my own. My notes below from June 9 may be my writing or that of someone else. Where it says From Lectio I am quoting Lectio 365 Daily Devotional.
25-6-9
From Lectio of same date. “Holy Spirit, reshape the pattern of my life. I offer you my story again today: all that is old, all that is new, all that is broken, all that is whole. Give me a glad and generous heart to receive your word.”
Many decades ago the Father asked me if I am willing to teach even if it is one woman by the well. Yes, Lord all these years later I am still willing even if it only touches one woman or one man.
I have started work on a second book. The title of this one will have to do with relationship with God. I am trying to put my experiences in words. So hard to SAY what can seem so UNSAYBLE!
Relationship is not going through the motions of religion. True relationship is more like a river flowing through the desert of life. A river that offers refreshing water, gently sloping banks to rest upon.
True relationship offers new vistas towards the mundane things of life, giving us new impetus for growth and flourishing. This is a differing sort of thing than religion offers. Seek and you will find (Matthew 7:7b). Seek the Presence of the Holy and your eyes will be opened, your heart softened, your ears enabled to hear the voice behind you saying, “Turn to the left or turn to the right.” (Isaiah 30:21) Relationship offers you mother love and father care. Going beyond that to indwelling assurance of an accompanied life. Never alone, always companioned.
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent John 17:3 NIV
If you are taking a Sabbath rest I pray these ideas give you something to ponder and use as you wait upon the Lord.
Before dawn today there was a four bird chorus raising praise to the Lord for His goodness and holiness. The northern Cardinal, Carolina wren, American robin and tufted Titmouse were raising a continuous singing of triumph and might. I know, because I asked the Merlin Bird app from Cornell University to identify them for me.
How have you lifted your voice today? What time did you begin? Did you lie in bed bemoaning the day or the rough night of pain?
Perhaps we would benefit more by taking a fresh look at the goodness of God to bring us through the night and unrolling before us another day of living and loving?
Amy Carmichael wrote in Edges of His Ways:
Psalm 19:10, R.V. margin: The droppings of the honeycomb. This morning I found this marginal reading which was just the word I wanted at the moment. There are times when we cannot read much or even think much. But if we are quiet we shall hear little sweet words dropping into our hearts, “sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb.” I need not write them; they will be different perhaps to each one of us, but they will be comforting and strengthening too; and we shall go on our way for another day, fed and refreshed.
If we are willing to get still at the center point of our souls I believe we will hear “little sweet words dropping into our hearts.” Perhaps not every single time we get still, but the incidences will increase as we employ the practice.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10
T. S. Elliott said:
“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is, But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity, Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards, Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.”
I pray you will get still enough to hear those little sweet words dropping into your heart.
This is truly not prayer for a burglar’s success from the movie Topkapi of 1964! There is an image though that came to me during meditative prayer. The image involves the robber dropping down from the glass ceiling and carrying a knife in his teeth. His goal is to steal a dagger encrusted with jewels and replace it with a fake dagger. In 1991 I attended at retreat at the Convent of the Transfiguration. What follows is my journal entry.
Sister Margaret taught, “There aren’t any conditions of prayer. There are some things we can do to become more receptive to God. We can wait and desire God in hopeful expectation.” She taught about God’s Presence as a jewel, prayer as a treasured jewel.
Then we had a time of meditation and prayer – meditative prayer. Winfield Blevins says, “In personal prayer we speak to God, but in meditative prayer we allow God to speak to us through His word and His Spirit.” (I would add that God speaks to us, too, through images we can relate to.)
So during that retreat of November,1991 I envisioned and wrote:
“I see the treasure, as jewels in a case, the multi-faceted beauty of God’s love and wisdom.
As in Topkapi, the lid is lifted and I enter the treasures of His Glory as a frog enters a pond.
I go to what others believe is the bottom and as I still my soul, the treasure box opens and I drop as a rough stone through the beauteous treasure of His wisdom and glory, into the depth of His love.
I may stop for a while but it is as if I am merely perched on a ledge for I have yet to comprehend the depth or length or height of His love.
I wait on that ledge, rooted and grounded in love absorbing massive quantities of nourishment silently.”
I rejoice over Your promise like one who finds vast treasure.Psalm 119:162 HCSB
-you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.Ephesians 3:17b-19 NRSV
So many years have passed since I wrote that. I have learned so much about my God and prayer, yet I still have so very much to learn! And oh the glory of His treasures! I cannot emphasize that too much! Dropping down into silence and prayer is NEVER a waste of our time.
“The sword used by Roman soldiers was a short sword known as a gladius; and in the hands of a skilled man, it was a fearsome weapon. In fact, it became known as the sword that conquered the world. It was sharpened on both sides, making it lethal against an unarmored foe. The point was also sharpened, enabling it to pierce armor.
“Usually around 20 to 30 inches long, the gladius was not the medieval-style long sword usually associated with the armor of God.
“This Roman sword was light (around 2 pounds), short and designed to be wielded easily with one hand while the other hand grasped the shield. Its size meant it could be drawn in close quarters, and its sharpened edges made it a threat to any enemy who got too close.”
Perhaps that vision of the bejeweled dagger in Topkapi was not too far off! I saw the movie and decades later one scene came in my meditative prayer time. I have never forgotten that experience. Now I am writing this out for you. Below is a clip of the movie scene.
May you discover the treasures of prayer as you drop into the deeper layers of knowing our God.
Here is a practical application that I completed from the Book of Joy last weekend. What a change it made for me!
I wrote in my journal that I sensed that weekend was the best of times and the worst of times. Within a few hours I would have birthday prayer at my church. This return to St. Timothy’s has felt SO MUCH like coming home. The joy of having that prayer over me was not something I can yet describe. I suppose it has to do with choosing this denomination when I was 15 and arranging at the time for my baptism and confirmation.
The altar at St. Timothy’s
I was also invited to attend a baby shower for one my best friend’s son and daughter-in-law the same day. Their first child was born during Covid and there was no shower for that child. I was looking forward to seeing Kathy in the element of family and friends whom I had heard so much about. The worst part is that Kathy spends part of each year in Florida instead of across the street from me in Ohio. Her departure flight was the morning after the baby shower. We have grown incredibly close over the couple of years we have known each other. It has to be the Lord who orchestrated this! Both of us love and serve the Trinity. I do that through the Protestant church and she through the Catholic. We are the same age, husbands are the same age. We were married the same year. We both have a daughter and a son. She suffers from a chronic illness that is worse than mine. Boy oh boy can we relate to one another!
So when she leaves Ohio each year it is very hard on both of us. She assured me that this time she would only be gone for 7 weeks, then here for 2 weeks at Christmas, and then would return for a little bit when this baby is born.
I realized I needed to sit with the cascade of feelings that would all occur within about 24 hours and process them. The Dalai Lamai says see sadness and rejoice at the high pleasure of the treasure of her friendship. During my quiet time, I was like a mouse in a maze running all over the place. Not finding a place to process the feelings, much less experience them!
Yes, I need to return to that practice of silence and processing. Perhaps this assignment is too difficult for me? Finished reading Barefoot where the Wesleyan prayer was repeatedly used. Painfully, the women recited, I am glad to give You everything. I am content to have nothing and You – have everything as you see fit Lord, and they also ask God to help them with all of that. I have not arrived. I need Your help as much as they did.
There have been days with showers of leaves falling and delighting us with their journey. This morning as a single leaf fell it seemed more poignant than showers of hundreds at a time.
Perhaps that is the lesson in my blessings and sadness. There are blessings of having all these leaves during the summer, the blessing of watching their colors change. And the drama of watching them fall to the ground. There is the sadness of one leaf letting go of its anchor to the branch and drifting to the earth. They are all one. Will I let my sadness blend with my joys and not unmoor me from my faith, my hope, my love? Not let me plunge into grief?
I need a paper copy of the Book of Joy. I need to study that book, apply the wisdom, take my time with what the Archbishop and the Dalai Lama teach. It is as if my first reading was just a primer and now it’s time to embrace the lessons and not blow past them. Now is the time to truly go deep in my own life with what they hold forth. I’m fairly certain that Monday zoom book group sharing over this book will be a means to convict me. It is up to me to embrace the work for myself.
The next morning I journaled, Dalai Lama And Desmond Tutu say my sadness over her departure reflects the depth of my love. And I do love her, Lord. Such a gift to me from You. I never would have dreamed such a friend! You knew what both of us needed.
The earth has changed its appearance drastically. Leaves are scattered every place outside. Garden ridge is covered, Nasturtiums poke through. More sky, fewer and fewer leaves. More limbs attest to rest coming with the seasonal change.
Back to Barefoot book. Wesley: I am no longer mine own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, Exalted for You, or brought low for You. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am Yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it be ratified in heaven. Amen. Back to Barefoot book. Wesley: I am no longer mine own, but Yours.
So Monday morning was completed with peace. Kathy’s family loaded their luggage in our car. We hugged and said our good-byes. I did not cry this time, knowing she remains in my heart as one of my greatest gifts from God. Bob drove them to the airport.
I think studying the wisdom from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his good friend the Dali Lamai will help me gain a more stable emotional and spiritual life. Equilibrium, peace, stability. Help me, Father to apply wisdom to my heart.
I do love you, my sister, Kathy Peterson. God knew what we both needed and gave us to each other. Praise His holy name!!
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:7-8
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:1-6
At the shores of Living Water Hear crickets there Flow of Living Water invites me deeper, Quieter Center in pure love You died to give me radiant love Your Spirit pulls me from the rubble of death With Your power You breathe life into me Help me live to You Invade me at a greater depth Use me as Your singing bowl Your love and power going forth Like sound waves in every direction Bring the world into vibrating harmony.
You said all weary and Heavy burdened should come to You Here we are Please rest us in Your Presence
Breathing in You Breathing out me Your oxygen of Life My troubles unpacked Burdens taken from my arms Cares cast and put down
Embers of my faith Blown upon Rekindled Ignited A light in the darkness And darkness cannot put it out
Your call eclipses physical pain, even emotional pain Straightens my spine In service to You Anointing by eternal power Holiness of God in broken vessel Yet renewed day by day As Living Water I yield to Your flow The “i” seeks lowest ground You in ascendancy.
I was recently reminded about a story by Elisabeth Elliot regarding a priest with tinnitus and how he used it as a place for unceasing prayer.
On page 91 of A Path Through Suffering she writes, “He has elected to regard this ‘little problem,’ as he calls it, as an opportunity rather than a curse.”
“Waking up in the morning to the sound of a thousand crickets is not pleasant. Thank God, during the day I’m busy and I seldom advert to it, but the din never stops.”
“Instead of offering canned advice to others he simply tells how he crossed over from a frantic search for relief to a relatively calm condition of acceptance. He believes that the greatest honor he can give God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of His love. His happiness he regards as a sign of gratitude to God, so nothing must spoil it; therefore, he thinks of tinnitus as a friend, not an enemy. He pretends that the shrill sound in his head is an echo of the song of the universe, as all the earth blesses the Lord – the birds, the rivers, the howling winds.
“‘I let the buzzing in my ears become my unceasing prayer of praise. ‘Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing for joy.'”
“It isn’t the problems that determine our destiny. It’s how we respond.”
So the poem above by me and the poem below by Anne Porter both ring out with this praise.
Before The Frost These are the nights When every cricket sings When in the dark around us There is a flowering Jubilant Continuous Festival of crickets
They sing together all night long Drawing a pulsing Chiming joy Out of the dryness Of their tiny bodies
The sky Is black and clear tonight The stars in their mountain villages Glitter in silence
But in the trilling crickets Among the autumn grasses The stars Have found their voices.
Crickets at the shores of Living Water. Crickets among the autumn grasses. Crickets as a song of the universe blessing the Lord, even if it sounds like tinnitus. Unceasing prayer of praise. We have so many opportunities to praise the Lord. Carry on!
How do I get these poems and stories OUT THERE where others can use them should I simply publish them at Office Max fold, staple, hand them out? Like the LET project? print and drop from an airplane yeah that one would work! Except for those outside the drop zone What about those You desire to get them organize and get them out through Kindle publishing Is it really necessary? Can they just stay in the notebooks and online until I am dead?
I am not looking to earn a bunch of money I just keep getting this nudge There is a new dog treat called Nudges sorry, distraction there I know You are not calling me to eat more! Just better
Trying to listen watched YouTube videos about self-publishing they are mostly just annoying
I have a retreat coming up at Transfiguration lead by the director of Forward Day by Day publishing. My priest says to pursue that. His wife, also a priest, read my stuff She says pursue that. Lord, as I pursue that I trust You to go before me Make a way where my faith falters and wonders if that is truly the next step.
Meanwhile, I will write the blog and share as much as I can with others.
ISA 55:11 so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
God will accomplish His goals through me as He desires. I will do everything in power to yield to His will and His ways.
For quite a while I have enjoyed Elevation Worship. I taped a program on TV called Elevation Church. Thought I might have time to learn about the preaching there. To continue my story about a rough week:
Bob went to shower and I looked at what TV shows I had recorded. There was a church service from Elevation church. I love Elevation music and decided to see what this was about. The LORD met me there. Sermon was about the Holy Spirit as our Ghost Writer. The events of our life might hit us as the end, but God encourages us to be a page turner.
I heard Pastor Furtick say “We are only at this point, there is more God is writing in our story.” I asked my sorry self to sit up and pay attention. Okay, more pain was a disappointment: not what I wanted, yet a reality. Disappointment in realizing I have OTHER THAN what I hoped for. Same old, same old; same shit, different day. My problem was I had put my hope in other than God’s will. No, His will is not more suffering. His will is always acceptance and seeking His way through life rather than digging in my heels and stubbornly insisting on my way be done. The injection did not fix the problem of pain. I did not need to let it drive me from the One who loves me best!
I have listened to this Elevation church sermon more than once. Letting the reality of God-at -work sink into my heart and soul. HE wants me to be a page turner in my own story. Embracing the story as it unfolds. Not stopping at the obstacles that occur in my life. His ways truly are higher than my ways. He has my best interests in mind – all the time.
I confessed the ignorance and futility of hoping for other than His ways and His will for me. Just like when I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, He has not promised to remove this pain from me, but a better promise than that has been given to me. He has promised to BE WITH ME IN IT.
This pain provides a limitation on me with the aging of turning 74 this year. As we approach and pass the celebration of our 54th wedding anniversary we both recognize that indeed we are aging and slowing down in so many ways. Though our outer person is wasting away our inner person is newer through the Holy Spirit day by day.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.2 Cor 4:15-17
He says, “My mind says it is over, but I have a ghost writer! The helper called the Holy Ghost is the ghost writer!” As a wordsmith you can imagine the impact that statement made upon me!
Below is a YouTube recording of the entire sermon. If you have never heard Steven Furtick preach you might be interested. He is a cross of old-time black preacher and contemporary charismatic preaching. The organ that emphasizes his sermon reminds me of going to church years and years ago with Lucretia and the woman from Having the Courage to Change .
He encourages us all to be a page turner. He says lick your finger and be willing to turn to the next page. If you scroll to about minute 37 or so, you will get the Lord’s point to me.
Perhaps the pain in my life is a necessary mess? I am driven back to the arms of God when I am bombarded with pain, knowing for a fact I cannot cope on my own, in my own strength. Yet the Trinity comes and lifts me up, gives me thoughts and ideas on how to keep going even in the face of debilitating chronic pain. Osteoarthritis and diabetes are both chronic and progressive. There is no cure for either one. But Christ has promised He will never leave me or forsake me. I might turn from Him when I am disappointed or frustrated, but I am never alone.
At the end of the sermon they played this worship song. Again, found me right where I am living.
Christy Nockles reminds us in her lyrics for Be Loved that I may try to run away, but He’ll come running after me. Relinquishing to His love and resting in His arms is the best path to healing for me. Hope resides in me realizing that this is just ‘an episode, not the entire movie’ of my life – just a season with another season to follow.
I have been hit again this week with the reminder that I enjoy spring much more than autumn when nature is wilting and ready to die back to the ground. In spring it is exciting to discovery what will open to life next. The withering of autumn is so much less enjoyable. “Yet, inwardly I am renewed day by day.” Remember that part, Molly Lin. Refreshed, renewed, made new creation.
Come then Holy Spirit and continue to write this story called me. I am Yours. I am held.
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 