Dear Reader:

We mortals seem programmed to make our lives so much harder than they need be… and , unfortunately, count me in the group!

Isn’t it amazing how when we get in situations,like life crises, and call out to God and He answers ” Hold my hand”… we are able to feel God’s presence so intimately… we start living life by faith?

I felt God’s close presence going through breast cancer surgeries, rounds of chemo and radiation and embraced the calmness that accompanies faith -true faith. But like chasing iridescent floating bubbles, as a child, to catch, we can only watch them pop and disappear before our eyes. Holding onto real faith is similarly just as difficult.

As soon as we see a light at the end of the tunnel that our personal circumstances are taking a turn for the better… we start lessening our grip on God’s hand. We got this now… back in control… until, of course, the next crisis.

As I reflect back on my life in the last 15 years… I can practically draw ( from memory) an ebb-flow chart from the ups and downs of the status of different treatment outcomes.

Isn’t this a great headboard and reminder to go to sleep by each evening? I can always tell when my faith starts ebbing because all my overthinking ” monsters” come visit me and stick around all night. They are the 2 am ” What If” monsters that terrorize and monopolize every waking thought. They can even immobilize our hand from reaching out to God.

I realize now, upon reflection, that never once has God ever dropped my hand along my well- trodden path. I, am the one, who has dropped God’s hand. And yet He is always ready to squeeze and clasp my hand, once more, as needed and/ or wanted. What a friend we have in Jesus.

So until tomorrow… Let us keep reminding ourselves in these terribly difficult and upsetting global and national crises ( of every description imaginable) that only God can bring us peace.

My old-fashion, thin stemmed sunflowers are smiling back at me in spite of the extreme heat and lack of rain this past week… they always bring a smile to my face!

James Bryan, former state social studies coordinator, had these two cartoon pictures on the heat wave in South Carolina-😉