Last month, we drove south from our home in Sydney to the
edge of Melbourne, Victoria, for me to speak at a special women’s event—a
journey of about nine hours. We then headed to Bendigo in central Victoria and
home again via a more inland route through Wagga Wagga and Bathurst and back
over the Blue Mountains. We enjoyed our trip very much—the countryside was
green, the scenery beautiful and, to top it off, we found lots of interesting,
old gold-mining towns to explore along the way.
Then this month, we undertook an even longer road trip north
to Queensland—around eleven hours of driving. We headed up what is commonly
called the coast road, a route we love. There is one spot that is my absolute
favourite where, just after cresting a hill, we always gasp in amazement as we
gaze at the beautiful hinterland of the Northern Rivers area, with its lush
hills and valleys, stretching away to the blue Pacific Ocean in the distance.
We decided to come home via an inland route, through country
towns such as Armidale and Tamworth. Again, I was blown away by the vastness of
our land, as we drove through wonderful cattle and sheep grazing country, as
well as farms where crops such as wheat and canola were being cultivated. We
love this route too, away from the lushness that characterises a large proportion
of the coast road, but equally breathtaking with its rocky mountain outcrops, typically
Aussie bushland and wide, rolling plains.
As we undertook these long drives, I began to realise God
was using them to change my heart attitude and widen my perspective on things.
These past few months have been very busy for me, with lots of speaking
engagements, the launch of my latest novel, The
Inheritance, and extra grandchild-minding duties—not to mention my writing!
In it all, I had become quite ‘me-focused’, trying to balance everything and
being consumed by each little task. I believe God used the vastness of our land
to show me how insignificant all my little worries and cares truly are when
compared to the vastness and wonder of his creation. Surely God, the
all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of our entire country, is well able to
empower and sustain me in my little speaking and writing journey!
The psalmist says it all, don’t you think, in these first
two verses of Psalm 121:
I lift up my eyes to
the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker
of heaven and earth.
With the Lord as our Helper, watching over us day and night
and over all our coming and going, as this psalm goes on to say, what more do
we need in our writing journeys?
