Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 March 2016

Better Than a Fairy Tale? Not Yet

A continuation of my spiritual journey.
Thank you Google Images for the wonderful snapshots.
So what happened next? There were many things of course, but what is really important? Eventually Mom and Dad separated and Dad took some of us younger ones to a runty little shack he built himself and we were supposed to start school in a new, far distant area. I was appointed, or rather accepted the job of head cook and clothes washer. With wood heating, which I wasn’t familiar with and inexperience combined, well, let’s just say it was a new experience for me.
I was introduced to a new ‘religion’ also. I wasn’t used to his new way of worshipping which included speaking in tongues that reached a higher and higher crescendo and numerous people walking in and out of the building during services and it made me fearful.
I did a lot of searching and praying during this time. It is still precious to me how God illuminated the Word for a sincere young teenager. I can still clearly remember how various Scriptures came to life for me and I knew He was giving me direction.
While I was holed up with my younger siblings in that out of the way homemade ‘trailer’ I got really sick with Hepatitis which must have lasted at least three weeks. Not a fun time, too be sure, but there was not only a silver lining in the clouds after this happened, but better than that it was like a rainbow in my memory.
It was the fall of the year so the leaves were turning color. One afternoon while I was still weak, but slowly getting better, I went for a walk in the woods and they were graced with natural autumn beauty. This meandering stroll was a time of communing with God. I felt him so close amidst His creation that later I wrote a rather long essay about it. Had I found ‘heaven’ at last? No, but it was another oasis of peace in a troubled lifestyle. I treasure to this day those little touches from God that kept me going.
Mom had found her way back to ‘her own people’ and their quiet, peaceful, loving ways were a drawing to me. I had a cousin my age who reached out to me but when Dad intercepted one of my responses to her there were dire consequences.
S. Please check out my book. (Link below.) If you want to escape from a troubled past and hope for a better future, this may be the most comforting book you will ever read, 


Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Stepping Stones of Life

  In the beautiful valley of Somewhere    
Lies a woodland green and lush
Where the melody of a songbird
Scatters the evening hush.

The dewdrops are sparkling sweetly
On the bluebells, violets and rose
And through the slanting sunlight
A moss-covered footbridge shows.

Meandering footstones are leading
Leading me who-knows-where;             
Sometimes through wild flower meadows
Sometimes near Wolf and the bear.
    
Flat rugged stones of beauty
Marking the pathway for me
But in the deepening darkness 
They fade to obscurity 

A tiny frail lantern is lifted
As I pick my way through the gloam*  
 This lovely, faint footpath I’ll cherish
For it is guiding me Home.

Marilyn Friesen

Life is pretty good with Jesus by our side, right.