Support in that way was unexpected.
“I’ll meet you at the nature center, Karla, and we can have our visit there.” Did she know I was unable to go the day before? As this amazing young soccer-playing, wisdom-giving, soon-to-be social worker and I trekked through the woods, our commonalities became clear. In the refuge, we conversed of cancer, Christ, and communion. We shared about family, faith, and finding hope. She didn’t HAVE to hike with me. “This will make your family feel better,” she stated. With peace, tears, and a tired body, I drove away with a satisfied soul.
Fire of Faith
Some of us met as strangers. Several of us sisters/friends. The fire of faith glowed between us. We talked of tough times. We all shared how vulnerable we feel; our past, present, and futures. Women in our second through sixth decades of life-kinship kindled around our fire of faith. We commit monthly to our safe space in nature– to share and grow our sisterhood.
My faith must be protected. How do you protect your heart, soul, mind, and peace? How do you linger with our Creator?
How can we wait in wonderment?
John Eldridge, in his new book, Experience Jesus. Really., shares, “For one thing, the Internet has discipled your soul to expect immediate answers. You inquire and you are answered–immediately. The saints of ages past would be aghast at that. Waiting was considered formation for the soul. They planted crops in the spring and harvested in the fall; there was no rushing things. If you wanted something from the market, you walked there and then you walk back, moving a pace of about three miles an hour. But now, when you turn to Jesus and you are not answered in the way the Internet answers, you feel he isn’t listening or that you can’t hear from him. You sadly believe the two of you are distant from one another, because your soul has been programmed for immediate responses. The notion of lingering before God doesn’t fit with the pace we’ve come to expect” (Eldridge, 2025, p. 2).
“Information feels like our salvation, but information is seductive and capricious, friends; it offers refuge, then takes it away the very next morning” (Eldridge, 2025, p. 4).
“The eradication of mystery would also be shocking to our spiritual forebears. Do you understand that to make Jesus and his Kingdom practical is to strip it of all wonder, mystery, and power? It’s like asking for the mechanics of falling in love, enjoying sunlight on the ocean, comforting a frightened child. It’s like refusing to trust laughter until someone explains the neuroscience. Honestly asking, “How do I love God?” is like asking, “How do I love my son, my daughter?” The heart knows how to love without being told the latest research, for heaven’s sake” (Eldridge, 2025, p. 6).
John Eldrige (2025) shares, “Weary Disciple of the Internet, your soul has also been conditioned to take in massive amount of content every day–far beyond the soul’s ability to absorb. You think it’s normal, but it is not” (p.11).
As the author explains, in quoting G.K. Chesterton, “the world of wonder and mystery children accept as real, and which Christians understand to be the beautiful unseen realm, the rest of the Kingdom of God. One foot on earth and one in the realm the scriptures call the “heavens”. As Apostle John shared with his disciples, the experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ” (Eldridge, 2025 pp 8-9).
Ah, daily encounters with Jesus
The ratings and research can’t change my real. My 5-Star Support is experienced through …transformation of the heart.
Pics of Creation by K.L. Hale. Pic of aurora borealis by my son, Jarrod, Fairbanks, AK.
Keep the faith, my friends 💚
Reference
Eldridge, J. (2025). Experience Jesus. Really. Nashville: Nelson Books.
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