Love Remains

A ghost of its former self, but love remains....you see dear hearts, this is where the grief, the sorrow live...in wishing to cut love off at the root; like the taking of an arm due to gangrene, the poison flowing on streams of blood moving to the heart, through each chamber, then from the heart to infiltrate each cell...this is where the struggle lies, where the mouth speaks from the heart... beseeching God to take it from them in the stillness of morning before the sun rises, in the darkest of night as they lay woken from a dream, a nightmare filled with ghosts of the past...filled with wings of angels as they fight battles in the spiritual realm as we sleep.

Oh I believe...no matter where your path leads in spiritual ways...agnostic, atheist, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity...no matter where the mind and heart rest in regards to God and the name we give, there are domains in the heavenlies we know nothing of.

Ephesians 6:12 'For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.'

Taken at its word, as a historical book if not a believer, it speaks to that which we have no control over, the battles behind the scenes so to speak.

In the darkest of night, God began a work in me...in the darkest of seasons, in my desperation and in my pain He showed up...this is why I believe...why I have breath and life in these bones, a heart mending and a spirit rejuvenating....He saw me, knew where I was at all times in that pit of vipers and stayed the hand of evil that would have stolen that breath, that life...I bear witness today of the goodness, of the absolute will and mighty Hand of God to save. I will not speak of the moments yet...one day...not for sympathy, nor for pity but for witness of the angels that kept watch over me in the direst of times.

My heart lifts and yet sits heavily as I pray for those still in the mix, still standing on that battlefield and feeling so desperate for rescue, so alone in the fight...staying upright as bullets pass all around, some piercing, some passing...crouching under cover as bombs explode, shrapnel biting into skin, piercing heart, spirit, soul with darkness until no light remains.

Believe it my friends...this is a daily, minute by minute battle...never knowing where the landmines have been planted, picking their way through ground fraught with evil, poisoned and dead...making their way hoping for change, for rescue, only a small spark remaining to guide their steps over uneven and unseen land.

He covers us....He protects until we come up for air and make our way out and away....

I spent the day yesterday driving the back country Forest Service Roads once again...a boon to the spirit as I witnessed the sun flitting across trees covered in hoar frost, lighting in streaks of gold and orange across frozen surfaces of lakes, creeks and rivers...the glare on slick and slippery ice covered dirt roads...and oh dear treasures, the quiet as I stepped from my work truck and just stood in awe among silent sentinels, gazing out across lakes and meadows tipped in ice...once more I stood a moment and viewed the man-made wonder of Kenney Dam holding back the mighty weight of water.

It occurs to me that it is similar to what we battle in our lives and God holding back the mighty weight of distress, of pain and sorrow until we can safely manage a trickle, a stream until it has drained fully away.

Do not despair dear hearts, light remains...

Do not lose hope, there is a plan for your life...a life of love enfolding, of joy unceasing, of peace that passes all understanding.

Stand tall dear treasures...walk proud in the knowledge that you are unique, loved without reservation or constraint, and worthy...worthy of all that is good, all that is lovely, all that this life has to offer.

May God richly bless you this day and each day forward...with courage, with determination and vigour, with strength born of battle...you got this, you do...you are able, capable and equal to the task in front of you. Always.