My Hiding Place

My husband, John, and I enjoy exploring the streams near our camp at beautiful Lake Almanor in Northern California. Eight miles off of Highway 89 on a dirt road we found postcard picture perfect Yellow Creek, nestled in the pines near an emerald meadow, rich with wild flowers and pampas grass. Birds sang their songs and squirrels barked in the trees.

We met a man who said, "This is my hiding place, my sanctuary away from the world." Then he told us how river otters feasted on the brown trout and how the whirling disease had destroyed the rainbow trout population. Not good news for my fisherman husband.

Sometimes, like the man we met at Yellow Creek, I need an escape from the world, but instead of driving to a lonely stream, I call on the name of my Lord. He is my fortress and hiding place. In Him I find rest and strength and joy.

What about you? Do you have a hiding place in God's awesome creation or is it a quiet place within your own soul?

Home for Christmas

I have been spending Sunday afternoons with a dear friend in a nursing home. She has had a long fight with breast cancer. She had surgeries and treatments. The treatments made her weak and stole her resistance to infections. She had several bouts with pneumonia. Last Sunday she was in so much pain it broke my heart.

I wet cold rags to cool her burning mouth and replenished her water. I said, "Jesus is making all things new," and she smiled. I grabbed her hand and prayed, "Lord, please rescue Patty from this bed of suffering, either for this world or yours." I knew she was ready to go home to be with the Lord. I could tell that she was exhausted from the pain. "Patty, try to rest now," I told her. "If you go to sleep, it's okay." She went peacefully to sleep and I left.

When I turned the key in my car, Mary's Song was on the radio. Tears flowed and I knew I would never see Patty again. Today she is home (in Heaven) for Christmas. She went to be with the Lord 6:00 Tuesday morning. I will miss my Sunday afternoons with her. We watched church DVDs and sang the songs together. When people gave their testimonies she said, "I remember when he went through that."

Thank you, Father God, for rescuing Patty from her suffering. Thank you that she is home for Christmas, no longer in pain, no longer trapped in her paralyzed body, free to walk in the garden in the cool of the day, free to dance or bow in your presence. Thank you, Jesus.

Rest

I don’t think vacations are all they are cracked up to be. Summer is filled with expectations of getting away to our favorite places to relax and have fun. Yet the last week before we leave work or home we have to work twice as hard to get things ready. Then we go away for a few days, which hardly seems like enough, and we return home and to work, again to do twice as much work catching up.

What do you do when you feel stressed and overwhelmed with a too busy lifestyle? I cry out to God. Some of the following passages from scripture come to mind and give me comfort: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I will not have to want for anything. He makes me lie down by quiet waters.” (My paraphrase of Psalm 23:1) God provides for all my needs. That means I don’t have to worry about anything, and He makes me rest. I often think I don’t have time to rest, but when I do, my sleep is sweet. Sometimes just reading a book for a while can be refreshing to me.

“Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. I am gentle and humble.” (Again my paraphrase of Matthew 11:28) This tells me that God is waiting to help me. He has a yoke of lesser burden. I can take orders from a gentle and humble God, instead of inflicting myself with circumstantial stress. I can slow down and learn how to set priorities for what is really important.

God brings me love, joy, peace, hope, gentleness and kindness to soften the stressful nature of my life, and I need to remember to rest in His care more often.