Friday, 15 April 2016 20:19

An Answer From Where The Thunder Hides And A Lion Padding By My Side

Written by  Priscilla K. Garatti

Sometimes the week is a collective of hard things.  Things that, if I'm honest, I rail against.  I feel self-pity.  I have a dress rehearsal as the victim of "Life Most Unfair."  The title of my imaginary play is apt.  The client's son died a year ago at age four, and she misses him. "I sit in his room sometimes," she says.  "I remember him laughing. I still see him laughing."

Another day I bite down on a Skittle.  I never eat Skittles.  It is purple.  My tooth breaks.  My tongue keeps darting to the tooth's ragged edge, even with the bonding material the gentle dentist placed on it for a temporary repair before the crown can be affixed. I looked at that little sliver of white in my palm when I bit down hard and realized it wasn't the shell of the purple Skittle. Such a small thing to break.

Broken hearts.  Broken teeth.  Where does God fit into the cracked places?  Does he speak to us?

I do believe so.  There is no denying we live in a harsh, often shadowy world. And I can only speak from my experience, but even in this week with its sorrows and annoyances, I sensed God gave me a metaphor to encourage me.  I sensed he said, "You know bad things happen in this life.  But think of me like a powerful, glorious lion padding by your side. I am your protector.  I fight for you.  You can count on me to see you through.  I pad by your client too.  I'm helping her.  I'm comforting her."  And, surely, I could see in my imagination a golden-colored, muscled giant cat at my shoulder as I moved along my pathway.  I felt better and received God's consolation.

Then I read this in my Bible.  How I adore the Bible.  God speaks from this literature so very frequently.  He is the kindest person I know.  He is generous and wants to give to us.  There is always a gift from Him.  But I must receive--give up the pity party and stop my acting career in "Life Most Unfair."  This is what I read in Psalm 81:6-7 (The Message)

I hear this most gentle whisper from One

I never guessed would speak to me:

"I took the world off your shoulders.

Freed you from a life of hard labor.

You called to me in your pain,

I got you out of a bad place.

I answered you from where the thunder hides.

PS You might enjoy listening to this link while you read:Paul Cardall Time

 

   

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What Readers Are Saying

In Missing God Priscilla takes a brave and unflinching look at grief and the myriad ways in which it isolates one person from another. The characters are full-bodied and the writing is mesmerizing. Best of all, there is ample room for hope to break through. This is a must read.

Beth Webb-Hart (author of Grace At Lowtide)

winner"On A Clear Blue Day" won an "Enduring Light" Bronze medal in the 2017 Illumination Book Awards.

winnerAn excerpt from Missing God won as an Honorable Mention Finalist in Glimmertrain’s short story “Family Matters” contest in April 2010.