Be Not Afraid!

      “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.” Psalm 62:5

     As I gazed upon that scripture verse, hanging on the wall of my bedroom, I longed for that to be true. I knew I was so very far away from finding my rest and hope in Him alone.

Relying on the Rock

     “Only in God be at rest my soul, for from Him comes my hope. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed.”                                         Psalm 62: 7

     I wanted so to pray that psalm in truth but could not. I was far from feeling peace…in fact, I was downright full of fear! I had experienced something traumatic, and the image was emblazed in my mind. It was haunting me! The scenario kept playing itself over and over in my memory, filling me with fear.

Renewed in Love

     “Come away by yourself to a deserted place and rest a while.”
                                                                                                             Mark 6: 31


     It had been a couple of years since I’d been away on an extended retreat. Out of the blue, during my prayer time, I felt the call. It was a surprise, and not something about which I was thinking.

     After some discussion, my husband agreed to give it to me as an early birthday gift. I was delighted, to say the least!

     As the time for the retreat approached, I wondered how God would work in my heart. I pondered which area would be labeled “under construction.”

Resting In God

     “There is a state of resting in God, an absolute break from all intellectual activity, when one forms no plans, makes no decisions and for the first time really ceases to act, when one simply hands over the future to God’s will and ‘surrenders himself to fate.’” St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross



     We LONG to rest in God: To abandon ourselves completely and forever to His will. It is something we have been yearning for, but struggling to do for such a long time.

Handing it all over to God--to rest in His love

     “And when the night comes, and retrospect shows that everything was patchwork and much one has planned has been left undone, when so many things rouse shame, and regret, then take all as it is, lay it in God’s hands, and offer it up to Him. In this way we will be able to rest in Him, actually to rest, and to begin the new day like a new life.”                                                                                      
                                                                                                        St. Edith Stein


     We all have days, and sometimes even weeks like this. We have so much to do, with so little time in which to accomplish it—or so it seems. Our day is planned and before we even get started, events move out of our control, and our plans are vastly changed, and sometimes even dashed.