One of my favorite stories in the Bible is about Lazarus. When this man, known by Jesus, became sick, his sisters sent word to Jesus to come heal him. Jesus did not go for two more days and by then, Lazarus had died.

When Jesus arrived no one could understand why He hadn’t come sooner or why he hadn’t just healed Lazarus from afar.  He wept when he saw their sadness, He loved them so.  But Jesus had a plan. He always does. He went to Lazarus’ tomb and brought him back from the dead.  Jesus’ plan was to show the people the glory of God.

The glory of God is the most important thing in all of life. In all of our situations, in every mundane act, every great feat. It is all for the glory of God. And every miracle blessed upon us points to the glory of God. God wants to be glorified in our lives, to be held up higher than anything else.

Jesus performed miracles on earth to bring people closer to God. He showed compassion, healed brokenness and pointed always to the One in heaven. When I wait for my Lord’s miraculous response to my pleas, I remember that His work in my life will bring glory to God and will serve to bring others and myself closer to Him. For this is the reason for miracles.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

I’ve always believed that, though God  attends to everyone in the world and every hair on each head, He still has time for me. My Grammy prayed with me every night when I was very small and there was no doubt that God was listening closely. This belief has remained with me to this day. God was in her bedroom in that little house by the bay and He has been with me ever since.

Early one morning on my walk, I saw a bee buzzing from flower to flower, not missing one. Nature flows with perfect balance according to God’s plan.  Pollination for flowers, nectar for bees, honey for me, my garden for flowers.  A honey bee is no more attentive to his work than his Maker is to His. God provides for the bee and the flower and for me.  I grow in faith that my God shines upon me and provides for me always.

You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; you greatly enrich it; the stream of God is full of water; You prepare their grain. You prepare the earth. Psalm 65:9

Stubbornness will get me nowhere. It only gets me going in circles, doing the same thing over and over again hoping to get my will. Insisting on receiving only what I want blocks me from God’s will and all of the beautiful things He has planned for me.

I hadn’t been open to Him on my prior walks. I didn’t care about the birds or the splash of the koi when they flopped awkwardly out of the pond (for reasons I still don’t understand.) I marched around that park, blocking everything out because my life had become unmanageable and I didn’t think anything could help me besides running away as fast as I could, blasting a different reality into my ears as I went.

When I removed my earbuds on the first day of my walks with God, it wasn’t only so I could concentrate on my conversation with God. Removing them was, in effect, removing my will. It was removing my insistence to hear only what I wanted to hear.

I began to listen, to settle enough to hear God speak. I heard the Holy Spirit within me and I experienced His creation speaking all around me. There is a catbird at the park who chatters at me incessantly.  I want to know what he’s saying too.

Make me to know your ways oh Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Psalm 25:4-5

I can suffer pain doing it my way, and create more pain, or I can experience pain acting in obedience to God’s way and set forth a well-spring of blessings. Can I trust God to take me to the best place? Yes, always.

My natural inclination is to find the way that appears easiest and least painful today. Sometimes I choose to avoid consulting with God and His word because I think it will require of me more than I want to do, a loftier behavior than I feel like performing. The high road is called that for a reason. It is the road that will lead to higher things. And that is what I want in life. Higher things.

To get there, I need to trust God. I need to realize that my way is never the best way.  Only God’s way is the high road. My way doesn’t lead to the most excellent. Only God’s. My job is only to trust and obey.

Three things are needed for me to remain in hopeful expectation. I must believe that God is supreme. I must be willing to feel uncomfortable. I must be willing to be patient. When I move according to God’s will and wait in faith for His response, I come to see every time that I can always keep my faith in God.

For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love. Psalm 33:4-6

This yellow leaf floated down from the sky before my eyes. It came to rest, pierced by the thin branchlet of another tree and hung like an ornament over the path. I love seeing wonders like this unfold. Who would think that a leaf from one tree would end up in the embrace of another?

Who would think that the Creator of our universe would see me falling and reach out His hand to save me? Yes, there have certainly been times when I’ve fallen flat but He caught me then, too.

One winter I slipped on ice and violently fell to the concrete, hitting my face on a metal edge on the way down. I needed stitches and had a concussion that left me terribly sensitive to light and sound. A year after the fall I complained to my doctor that I was still having bad affects so she sent me for testing. The test didn’t find any sign of my fall but it did discover two brain aneurysms. I ended up in Johns Hopkins aneurysm center, one of the top in the nation, and had an incredible experience as they fixed the arteries in my brain over the course of six months.

It is so important that I trust God and stay in faith with Him every step.  It is important that I do not draw conclusions about my situation too quickly, but stay in faith with God until He shows me His plan.  I had a bad fall but He caught me just the same.

Though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the lord upholds him with His hand. Psalm 37:24

When I was young I had three goals. I wanted to climb Mt. Everest, run in the Olympics and become a writer, all equally lofty in my opinion. I believe God has put in me the desire to do great things and I think that I can apply that desire to anything I choose. I released the climbing and the running, and drew close to God to pursue the work of my soul.

In his beautiful book, The Book of Awakening, Mark Nepo tells of two monkeys asleep in the zoo, their fingers touching allowing them to doze in their oneness, perfectly at peace.  I want to spend my waking and sleeping moments with my fingertips touching God’s.

God made me to connect.  I have experienced exhilaration, like anything is possible, beside another person.  Imagine touching God each moment, connecting to His force of love and grace.  How precious, full and golden life is in His presence.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Ephesians 6:10

Why pray if God is omniscient? Why tell Him things He already knows? Why ask Him for needs He can clearly see? When I pray most times the answer is not dropped down to me like a feather from an angel.  Why pray?

Always I come back to the truth of who I am.  I am God’s child.  I need to be reconciled to Him–once and continually.  For every moment, for everything, for evermore.

Prayer is the way I stay near to my Father and include Him in my life. It is how I stay in His presence for guidance and comfort. It is how I express my despair and yearnings and hope for the peace only He brings.  As I grow in Him, prayer becomes less about asking and more about aligning with the One who wants to be my everything.

I cherish this place with God and already love the place He’s taking me. I like the simplicity of worship, praise, acknowledging Him, and living with collected expectation of what He will bring into my life.

How great is the love the Father Has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

I took a class in oil painting once. I signed up for an adult session because I was in the city for my son’s art class and had nothing else to do.  Art had always enchanted and intimidated me.

In the first lesson, we were told to draw the still life before us with a permanent black marker. I was stunned and horrified. How could I erase all of my mistakes? I was sure to make many of them and would need to hide them immediately!

My teacher just smiled. She didn’t entertain my fears for a moment. The next week I was standing before an easel and canvas dabbing colored oils into shapes like radishes. Each time I called to my teacher for help, she whispered over my shoulder, “You’re doing fine.” I decided to allow myself to enjoy and trust the process. Soon my fears melted away and in their place was love and pleasure.

I cherished my moments in that attic above the city. Each week I’d run up to the room like a parent returning to her baby, find my canvas, situate my easel and tools and settle in to an hour of nursing and cooing at my creation. At the end of the year I won the award for the best beginner and was delighted with my work and my victory over fear and negativity.  When I approach my life with love I will create a masterpiece.

And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:14

I haven’t done anything to deserve God’s best. God is good.  Grace and goodness flow from Him.  He provides for me His grace and blessings because of the work Jesus did for me on the cross. He died for my sins and I am living a new life because of Him.

When I pray for a need, a healing, or God’s touch, I do it in the name of Jesus Christ, my savior.  Because of His sacrifice for me, God sees Him in me, no longer my sin and separation.  I remember the words of the Bible that tell me that as Jesus is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17). I remember that through Christ I am a beloved child of God and my Father wants me to have life abundant. I have faith that God will bring me to healing according to the plans He has for me.

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from he pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Psalm 103:1-5

One day years ago I dressed in my new leather mules and favorite jeans and went out to run some errands. I remember stepping out of a little store in town feeling like I was looking real good. Right outside the door, I slid on a few wet leaves and fell down on my hands and knees, tearing my jeans and bruising my ego.

Once on the last swim of a vacation, with not a care in the world, I got caught in a current and almost drown. There were troubling signs in the sea that I ignored. My husband heeded them and got out with our son.     I stayed in, wanting more fun, but found terror.

My point isn’t that something bad might happen if I let my guard down, though that may be true. The important thing is that I can be with the God of the Universe at all times. I can hear His voice and feel His majestic presence. With Him I will always have enough attention, enough joy.  God always has something good to bring to me to satisfy my desires in the highest way. His way, by His hand. No pair of mules or deflated raft can take me where He wants to lead me.  God’s companionship brings ample peace and joy to both the dark and light times.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39