Today started just like any other day. Up at 4:30am to see Aaron off to work, downstairs with a warm cup of coffee to wake my self up. I opened up my email to find only "junk mail." Disappointment lurking as I hoped for "something" to encourage me. You know those days, the kind where you can't put your finger on it, but you are just....."something." The treadmill stood staring at me, but this morning I just couldn't do the 4 miles I've become accustomed to. My mind was working overtime now. I sat down to do my devotions and nothing clicked. "What is it, Lord?" Nothing. Just silence.
I don't know about you, but I can handle just about anything except silence on God's part. I start questioning, asking, pleading, begging, and then I get angry. I struggled like this for several hours. I had made plans with my mother in law to run some errands together, lunch and then home again for naps (the way my morning started, everyone was getting one whether they wanted it or not). I had a pile of laundry waiting for me. On top of that, my MIL just called saying she would be late, and how in the world can a clean and dressed little boy get mud on his face...where did it come from? Oh, never mind....and then I saw it. Sitting on my end table, surrounded by dust and legos, was a book I had checked out from the library. Not just any book, but one I just knew I need to pick up and read. The 283 pg. hardback titled "Ribbon of Years" was written by an author (Robin Lee Hatcher) from Boise, ID., whom I had just recently contacted and asked to come and do our 2012 Women's Retreat for our church. I had read some of her other novels and while we exchanged information, things we had in common and encouragment, she confirmed dates with me, and mentioned several books that she utilizes during the breakout sessions of the retreat, one of these being "Ribbon....."
As I read I began to see myself in this book. So quickly we become tired of the "mundane" in life and long for "something" more. Through "Miriam's" life, grace was there at every corner, over every mountain top, and through every valley. I won't ruin it for you, but somehow through this book, I felt like there were splinters in my hand from grabbing hold once again to the Cross, in thankfulness for my life, my family and for those around me and most of all for the God who loves to give us second chances. A "do Over." I am humbled by the grace so freely given that was portrayed so beautifully in this book. It is IN the mundane that God shows up. In something so simple as this book of another woman's life, that point us back to the truth- Jesus. In the midst of what you or someone else is going through He has never left. He is the "something" our hearts long for.
As I finished the book, the verse that came to mind was this: "Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart" (Psalm 86:11). There is my new "something" to replace the old.
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