Venturing

This summer I have ventured new roads west, north, south, and east.

New roads for me, roads previously never taken in my life, that I know. Perhaps my daughter (and for a brief journey) my husband have chosen steeper and more difficult paths, but since I am getting on in years it is always amazing to find places I haven't seen in my home territory.

Everything can be a metaphor, and my journeys are my own metaphors.

As summer winds down I am struck by the activities of the upcoming school semester, and I hope, hope that I can handle the obligations of school for this season.


You know that life is not perfect. You will deal with mockery, brokenness, disappointments. They happen daily in the stuff you deal with, family, people you meet.

To rise above and give it to God is the only way to navigate such downers.

I speak as someone who has been through much. God has been faithful, and He has brought me through countless life experiences.

I speak as one who has probed the depths of pain and the unknown (in an earthly sense). I speak as one who has stared into darkness and understood the power of the Holy Spirit. I speak as one who has seen suffering and hopelessness.

I speak because I can, and God has let me go through deep waters.

I deal with pain every day, but I go on with God's help.

I deal with memories of sadness and friends lost to time...

I deal with the struggles of my daily battles.

There are always new roads, and I go, because I know God is greater than any thing I encounter.


We grow, we learn, we understand better...

We are held accountable for what we know. We are held accountable for reacting in love to those who wish ill to us.

I struggle with this. People are expendable, really. Just ignore those irritating folk who have brushed you off or used you badly, those who ignore you, or make fun of you...

I am not an attractive person physically, and I have had my share of ridicule because of the way I look. Those who are really looking can ignore the shell of my soul and see my spirit, but there are those who see only the shell, and they find it easy to mock mine.

I am tempted to ignore those people, but God tells me to treat them with love. This is my struggle.

They badly need the love of God, so that they can go deeper and experience the things of the spirit, which are eternal.


This is my prayer. Lord, let me forgive, let me love, let me proclaim your truth, even when I am mocked.

Then open their eyes and let them see the spirit that you have renewed in my heart.

The things of the spirit are the things that really matter, and those who can see them are blessed with a pure heart before God!

When people mock, you remember that they are desperately in need of the deeper life, the life that recognizes the universe of the soul. Pray for them, forgive them, and bring them to the God who is wooing them with His love.

Remember their blindness, and seek to help open their spiritual eyes, knowing that it is the Holy Spirit who initiates this spiritual transaction.

We must wait and watch, venturing roads untraveled, marveling at the patience of God.

This is a journey, and we are expectantly awaiting the destination. We'll know it immediately, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye...

A shout, a trumpet, a translation.

MARANATHA!