Life now is a new normal for most of us. Some of us are longing for the good old days of last week or a month ago. It helps to keep in mind this won’t last forever though it’s unprecedented. Your daily routine might look very different from mine but here’s what I’m doing…
I’m spending time researching and writing by the fire, working on a novel set in Yorktown, Virginia with a privateer hero (he’s quite dashing!) and awaiting galleys for the James Towne story set in 1634 (which my head editor loves). A new title and cover art are in the works for this next novel releasing January 2021.
I’m baking bread which I find very satisfying, not to mention eating it:) Some of you have asked for my favorite bread recipe which I’ll post soon.
I’m listening to old hymns, each a sermon in itself, and also contemporary worship music like O Come to the Altar
I’m looking forward to Easter, a holiday I’ve loved since childhood. It’s also my birthday that week so one year nearer heaven for me!
I’m laughing at memes, remembering ‘a merry heart is good medicine.”
Proverbs 17:22
Evening Prayer by Pierre Edouard Frere
I’m praying, something I’ve never been very good at. My mind is usually out on a ramble thanks to my imagination. I have to work at prayer though it’s easier when people are suffering to persist. Often I feel too deeply for words.
I’m taking lots of walks which I love. Out west we live at the gateway of Olympic National Park so this hike along Lake Crescent is just minutes from our door.
Am I at peace? Absolutely, even if I somehow get the virus and don’t live through it. But that’s okay, too. As a believer, this is my temporary home. I’m made for heaven and dying is the door to get there. I don’t live in fear of it.
‘Do not fear’ is used repeatedly in the Bible, with fear mentioned 68 times in the Psalms. More than 60 times we are told to fear the Lord, a positive spin on a mostly negative feeling.
During this time of change and uncertainty, John 14:27 in the Amplified version speaks to me:
Peace I leave with you; My own peace I give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.
I’m praying for my readers, family, and friends, that we live out this verse, now & always. Wishing you shalom, too, another timely word with a multi-layered meaning far beyond the concept of peace. Psalm 23 is another keeper for we are truly like sheep and He, thankfully, is our very capable Shepherd.
So, shalom, fellow sheep, our good Shepherd has all in hand.