Friday, September 12, 2008

Dear God,

We sat as symbols of hope to one another. Three breast cancer survivors. Two others with their own hardships in life.

We had come together to work on a mission project. We needed a supervisor, an expert to help us. Recovering from a near-death experience, she showed us how to wrap baskets. Thin and still weak, she was still her perky self. A lot of prayers had been invested in her to bring her back to us.

We worked together for several hours. We knew that our combined effort would raise the price of items that will be sold to help others.

Hope comes in many colors, sizes and shapes. When I find myself skidding downward, all I have to do is look around to find a sign of hope. As I grab hold and begin the climb upwards, I always find you along the way. Of course, my belief is that you were with me on my ride down as well. You prodded me to open my eyes to the signs. The first glimmer can cause me to make a choice for faith, to trust in you, to take your outstretched hand, to make a change.

Every day you set before me a challenge, sometimes an old one, one that regularly serves as my thorn in the flesh or a new one. The challenge is an urging on your part to grow me, to shake cobwebs on my neglected faith, or to uproot a fledging seed that is not bearing fruit. It is never easy and some days I'd like to have a day without the challenge. But I know the purpose and I know what happens when the challenges fail to come or when they come and I ignore them. Flabby, stale, stagnant faith that causes a decaying in my soul.

Today I needed the sign. Not that my faith was stagnant, but I was weary from a conflict, a sadness in my heart. I was worn from my work around it. But you came. You laughed, teased, tickled and helped my spirit rise, yet another sign of your glorious presence.

You came
into my darkness,
shining your light.
Like a
bud that bursts
through the soil
and one day flowers,
you come
and call something
out of me.
You grow
my faith
from a bud
to a flower.
You remind me
that hope
is innately present
in the soil
of my soul.
Your light
restores my sight
and I breathe in
the air
of new life.
You are wondrous,
Most Gracious
and Loving God.
May I always
grow toward you.

Love, Andrea