Christian Author and Speaker
(You’ll hear waterfall in addition to the music on this post. If it’s distracting, feel free to mute either as you read.)
When I became a Christian, I became a new person in spirit. Naturally, my spirit yearns to shelter in the comfort and protection of the Father. The Psalmist refers to that place of shelter as the secret place of the Most High God, El Elyon. (Psalm 91:1) And when we dwell, actually reside, in that secret place, we find rest. Rest of mind – peace – assurance. Isn’t this kind of rest what we really want? I do.
Some places on this earth, even right here in Michigan, would make amazing secret places.
The vibrant young couple one day became old. It wasn’t sudden, but it seemed sudden.
The years between the young and the old seemed to have passed quickly – sometimes in a moment’s time. The memories were sweet and good, yet sometimes sad. It was the sad memories that caused the aging, as is true of most.
We left Yellowstone, pulling our travel trailer, heading east toward Cody. The landscape of Wyoming still did not disappoint. Three highways, 14, 20, and 16 merged along this route.
We loved being in the west, driving through ranches and between rocky mountainsides, both landscapes unfamiliar to us Midwesterners.
Once through the Bighorn Mountains, we continued east toward South Dakota, definitely wanting to see more of the Black Hills on our way to the Rapid City area. Oh my word! This land is stunning! We took Hwy 14 north to Devils Tower.
After a perfect day, driving through the mountains of Glacier National Park on “Going to the Sun Road” (See “A Day in the Park”, we drove up to Babb on the east side of the park and then in to the small town of Many Glacier. Ron and I enjoyed lunch in an Alpine lodge while we reminisced
So many people are sick now – maybe you – or your loved one. I was quite ill with a virus a few years ago around this time of year. We were just arriving in Florida for the winter. . .
From a state of brokenness, she heard Jesus whisper to her throughout the Advent Season.
Her son – her only son – was ill. It was a strange illness – undiagnosed, puzzling the doctors. One doctor after another. One hospital after another.
Years ago, I had written those words in my Bible, alongside “Mary’s Song,” verses 46-55 in Luke, Chapter One:
Make praising God your second nature.
Now, in this Advent season, the words remind me that Mary was a young woman who praised God! In fact, it seemed “second nature” to her!
She had probably attended the births of her nieces and nephews, had rejoiced with her sisters and cousins and friends at the births of their babies, had seen their babies at breast while her own breasts yearned the suckle of a child yet unconceived. I suspect she had often gone home crying, once again pleading with the Lord for a baby of her own. I watched my sister go through this agony for years – baby showers for others, never for her own. Many of you know her pain.