Walking Around in A Fog By Marcia Lee Laycock

Walking in a Fog

I was in a hurry and it didn’t help that I had to warm up the car and brush the snow off the windshield. Then I realized I’d forgotten something on my desk so I dashed back into the house. My glasses immediately fogged up but I just kept going. Wham! I whacked my knee on the bench in the hallway. Ooff! I bumped into the end of the couch in the family room. Finally I stopped long enough to take my glasses off and let them return to normal. It only took a few seconds for them to clear and I was on my way again.

We often walk around in a fog, bumping into obstacles that hurt. We get aggravated and anxious when there is a simple solution. Stop. Stand still. Wait until the fog clears, then proceed. Of course in real life we think there isn’t time to stop. There isn’t time to stand still and wait. There are deadlines to meet, important people to see, vital decisions to make. The world will whiz by without us if we don’t keep up. So we plow ahead, and usually end up in a mess.

Often we wander in a fog spiritually as well. Something happens that causes us to lose our faith or to challenge the goodness of God. Though we are confused, we plow ahead on our own, bumping into false philosophies and destructive ideas. Our logic becomes the fog of disbelief. The solution here is the same. Stop. Be still. Wait.

Waiting for the fog to clear is a biblical principle. David knew about it as he wrote, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14). He must have felt like he was living in a fog as he was chased into the wilderness. He’d been anointed king of the land but it didn’t look like he would ever rule. It didn’t look like God was going to come through and fulfill his promises. But David held on to what he knew about the character of God. He knew God’s faithfulness. He knew all he had to do was stop, be still, and let the Lord clear the fog away.

God has said it himself – “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). No matter what’s happening around us, we can have that single assurance. God is God and he will never leave us. No matter how confused we are, no matter how angry we become at him, he will never turn his back on us. He will clear the fog away, the fog of doubt, pain, anger or fear. Nothing is too thick for him. Nothing is too dense. He will blow it away like the thin smudge from a tiny candle. He will fulfill all his promises. All we have to do is take the time to be still, hold on to him, and wait. 
****

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was also short listed for a Word Award. Marcia has three novels for middle grade readers and four devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Her most recent release is Celebrate This Day, a devotional book for special occasions like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving. 

Visit Marcia’s Website

Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur

A Few Sound Bites From History By Marcia Laycock

Scene One (Exodus14) - Over a million Hebrews are camped at the Red Sea. The massive Egyptian army comes against them. They are trapped. Imagine a T.V. commentator asking Moses, “How far will your God go, Moses?” Moses answers, “Just watch Him,” as he touches the water with his staff and leads his people “through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.”

Scene Two (Joshua 10) - Joshua’s” army is assembled to save the people of Gibeon from the armies of five kings united against them. For days the battle rages. Imagine the commentator again - “How far will your God go, Joshua? Joshua answers, “Just watch Him,” then prays aloud to his God, “O sun stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” And the sun “stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day,” and the battle was won.

Scene Three (Judges 7) – Gideon’s” army is assembled. The Midianites, Amalekites and other Eastern peoples had oppressed the Israelites for years. The Hebrews prayed and God sent them Gideon. But God said, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands,” so twenty-two thousand men went home. Again, God said it was too many. Imagine the commentator now - “How far will your God go, Gideon?” Gideon answers, “Just watch Him,” and with only 300 men against thousands, he defeats the Midianites.

Scene Four (1 Samuel 17) - Two armies are massed for battle - Israel with her King Saul, against the Philistines and their giants. A small Hebrew boy is the only one brave enough to face their enemy. The commentator asks, “How far will your God go, David?” David answers, “Just watch Him,” and fells the nine foot Goliath with a single stone.

Scene Five (1 Kings 18) - The people of Israel are assembled on Mount Carmel. They have come to watch a performance, and they won’t be disappointed. The prophet has given the challenge to the prophets of Baal - “Call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord.” The commentator asks, “How far will your God go, Elijah?” Elijah answers, “Just watch Him,” then gives the order for buckets of water to be poured over the sacrifice and the altar, enough to fill a trench around it. When the site is soaked, Elijah prays, and “the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench” (v.38).

Scene Seven (Luke 23) - Once more the Hebrews are massed to watch a spectacle. They jeer and spit at one of their own, while the Roman execution is carried out. The commentator climbs a rough ladder leaning against the cross to get the microphone close enough to the victim’s lips. “How far will your Father go, Jesus?”

The man’s agony apparent, He groans, “Just watch us.”
****

Bio
Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was also short listed for a Word Award. Marcia has three novels for middle grade readers and four devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. 

Her most recent release is Celebrate This Day, a devotional book for special occasions like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving. 

 Visit Marcia’s Website

 Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur

Falling Leaves By Marcia Lee Laycock

Fall Leaves

We once lived on a hillside facing a small wood. In the fall, the bush across from our house would be a blaze of gold and russet. When the sun fell on it, the effect was startling, as the colors seemed to glow. But the fall temperatures, winds and rains would eventually do their damage; the trees would look more grey and dismal by the day as their colour was stripped away. Soon there would be nothing but barren tree trunks with the odd withered leaf hanging on.
Just as darkness was falling one night, I was looking out my kitchen window, thinking how this time of year can be a bit depressing. Then I noticed a twinkling through the branches. The lights of the town below were coming on, and because most of the leaves were gone, they were showing through the trees. As I watched, it became a delightful dance of light. The next morning I noticed, not the barren trees, but the view emerging beyond them. With the foliage disappearing, the river valley was emerging. I could already see the main street. Soon the river would be visible, and the bridge that connected the two halves of the town. Soon I’d be able to see it all.

There are times in our lives when it feels like everything is being stripped away, when there is no colour left, no joy in the day. At these times it’s hard to see the purpose in what is happening, hard to find meaning in it. But it is often during these hard times that we gain new perspective and begin to see what was hidden. When hard times come, all that is superfluous is stripped away and what is real, what matters, comes into focus. It is often at such times that we are able to see God.
The Bible is peopled with those who were in this situation; lepers cried out to Jesus, blind men groped to be close to Him, the sick reached out just to touch His robe, believing they would be healed. Their hope came from a clear-sightedness that resulted from being in barren places. When all is stripped away, we have an opportunity to shift our perspective and see what lies beyond. It is an opportunity to reach out for God.

But we don’t have to wait for that day. We can gain that perspective at any time, simply by seeking God with a whole hearted earnestness. One of His greatest promises is found in Matthew 7:7 – “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Not only that, but God has also given us a helper. When Jesus left this earth He promised to send His spirit to guide and direct us. That same Spirit is available to us today. He will help us to see what is hidden, to see beyond the distractions of life to what is real and important.

The trees might look beautiful but the view beyond is magnificent. 
****

Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. The sequel, A Tumbled Stone was short listed in The Word Awards. Marcia also has four devotional books in print and has contributed to several anthologies. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan.

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded on Smashwords or on Amazon. It is also now available in Journal format on Amazon. 

Her most recent release is Celebrate This Day, a devotional book for special occasions like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving. 

Visit Marcia’s Website

Sign up to receive her devotional column, The Spur