The Lord has blessed me with an abundance time in this season of my life and I am so thankful for this. It has been a much needed break after the unmanageable chaos I attempted last year. This lovely Sunday afternoon I was able to spend several hours sitting on a bench in a beautiful little alcove on my school's campus. It's surrounded by towering trees and cascading ivy. Flower beds bring brilliant splashes of color to this beautifully reflective place. The gentle wind was blowing the trees and the temperature was just right to wrap a shawl around myself and sit comfortably for hours. The focal point of this alcove is a large stone structure that provides a back drop for what I believe is a statue of Mary, but what really caught my attention was the small cross above the stone structure with the rays of the sun spilling from behind. The view is simply spectacular and very refreshing. I sat there reading in the Valley of Vision today and creating art with pastels. I came back covered in pastel chalk (my face, my arms, my hands, my jeans, everything) and feeling that "it is well with my soul". I couldn't describe it better than this. This prayer guided my time...
"Creator and Redeemer God,
Author of all existence, source of all blessedness,
I adore thee for making me capable of knowing thee,
for giving me reason and conscience,
for leading me to desire thee;
I praise thee for the revelation of thyself in the gospel,
for thy heart as a dwelling place of pity,
for thy thoughts of peace towards me,
for thy patience and thy graciousness,
for the vastness of thy mercy.
Thou hast moved my conscience to know how
the guilty can be pardoned,
the unholy sanctified,
the poor enriched.
May I be always amongst those who not only hear but know thee,
who walk with and rejoice in thee,
who take thee at thy word and find life there.
Keep me always longing
for a present salvation in Holy Spirit comforts and rejoicings,
for spiritual graces and blessings,
for help to value my duties as well as my privileges.
May I cherish simplicity and godly sincerity of character.
Help me to be in reality before thee as in appearance I am before men,
to be religious before I profess religion,
to leave the world before I enter the church,
to set my affections on things above,
to shun forbidden follies and vanities,
to be a dispenser as well as a partaker of grace,
to be prepared to bear evil as well as to do good.
O God, make me worthy of this calling,
that the name of Jesus may be glorified in me and I in him."
~Valley of Vision
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