I met Darlene through the university. We began chatting on a school message board, then began having email conversations. Darlene was pursuing a PhD in the same program I was pursuing MA. We both loved to write. We both loved the Lord Jesus. We had a lot in common.
Darlene made a huge first impression. She has two dozen (or more) published works on sale on Amazon that have collectively sold over a million copies. She was a teacher and mentor to people starting out in a writing career. She loved to chat and encourage people.
Darlene lived in a nursing home due to chronic health issues. But that didn’t matter in her mind. She kept a strict schedule and routine and continued her work in spite of her health and living conditions. She was inspiring.
Darlene died in January 2021 after announcing a diagnosis of Covid19. She will be greatly missed by many.
It has been a season of loss and sadness for so many people. As the crisis creeps closer to home with friends and relatives experiencing loss and suffering, the sadness seems like a gray fog enveloping the entire world. The closer to home and more personal the loss is, the more we feel the pain of the rest of the world. There are days that are overwhelming in magnitude. How do we process so much sadness?
I pray for the sick and their families. I pray for the health workers and scientists trying to get ahead of a global pandemic. I ask God for the ability to carry their burden into His presence. It would easy to sit in front of Netflix or self-medicate or pretend the world isn’t in the struggle that it is in.
The people of Bible times certainly experienced their share of plagues, famines, destruction by foreign enemies, slavery, natural disasters and other hardships. They looked to God, not with the expectation of all their hardships being magically removed, but that God Himself would be with them to comfort and strengthen them. They looked forward in anticipation, as we do, that when the new kingdom comes, He will restore everything that is broken about this world and we will be with Him in the new kingdom and a new creation healed of all its sadness.
While we wait, we turn to Him for comfort and strength.
The Psalms have always been a comfort to me in difficult times. I was reading through Psalms the other day and came across a familiar passage in Psalm 84: “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young- a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God” (Ps 84:3 NIV). As I read, I was suddenly transported in my mind back to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. I remembered vividly the sound of birds singing as we explored the Temple grounds. It is a beautiful memory. How sweet it is that even the swallows are welcome in God’s presence. Even the birds are awaiting His return.
Let us, like many before us, turn to God and find strength, comfort, and help in times of need. I am praying for all of you, my friends.
Psalm 84[a]
For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.[c]
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.[d] 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. 9 Look on our shield,[e] O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
12 Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
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