Write Away

Those of you who are frequent readers of this blog know how much I treasure my nightly walks on the trail ... the walks that began as necessary exercise for J.R. that became necessary exercise for me as well, and that have have now become necessary time of refreshing for my mind, heart and soul. I've had some deep and intimate times of prayer while I'm walking, some incredible and awesome times of worship while I'm walking, and some powerful lessons taught to me while I'm walking. And sometimes ... sometimes, God stops me in my tracks, quite literally, to get my attention and make me listen to His voice. 

A few nights ago, I was really hoofing it to get home because it was beginning to thunder, and I didn't want to get caught outside in the storm. As I came up on a set of benches not too far from my house, I realized that I needed to stop and check my blood sugar. I looked at the sky and decided I had time to test and have some juice before racing the rest of the way home. As I sat down, the gal sitting on the other bench struck up a conversation with me. She was writing in a small notebook, and I asked if she was making notes for something she would type up later. She said no and explained that she was writing a letter to her sister. When I asked why she was writing the letter by hand, she replied that she wanted her sister to have a part of her and not just words on a page.

For the last several weeks, one of the doctors I am seeing has had me writing letters ... long letters to myself ... by hand. And quite honestly, I have complained and fussed and whined and fought against the whole process, saying that I saw no point to writing the letters in the first place, and certainly no reason to spend all the time that is required to write them out by hand when I could easily do them in a third of the time if I typed them on the computer. And then I met the gal on the bench ... writing a letter to her sister ... by hand. Because she wanted her sister to have more than just words on a page ... she wanted her to have a part of her.

All of a sudden, writing my letters made sense to me ... I am putting myself on those pages, my heart, my soul, my life. And I had a moment ... one of those God moments when I finally understood His plan. As I sit at my kitchen table and write away, it's God who is doing the "writing away" ... writing away my hurt, my pain, my anger, my fear ... and in the process, He is replacing all of those feelings with His love, His compassion, His strength, His truthfulness.

So I continue to write, grateful beyond belief that He writes away my sin when I come to Him with a repentant heart, a broken spirit, and a mind that hungers and thirsts only for Him.