Surrendered Refreshment by Sharon Heagy

Yesterday I woke up in my son’s basement bedroom to the patter of tiny feet on hardwood.  There by my bedside stood our seven-year-old grandson, waiting for an invitation to enter the cocoon of warm bedclothes.  Smiling, I gathered him into my arms and cuddled this treasured bundle of love.  As I lay with him, my mind wandered to the theme of this month’s post – ‘refreshing’. Was it possible, I wondered, to transform this gifted moment into a time of refreshing? The Word says “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights…” (James 1:17NIV) How could this moment become a perfect gift?

As I reflected on the situation, the word surrender repeatedly crossed my mind.  I began to surrender this moment to God and as I did so it became so much bigger. Suddenly I was filled with thanksgiving for this wonderful little person who fills my heart with overflowing joy, and for his siblings and his folks and for my entire family who do the same. For God has created us all and holds this family in his righteous right hand.  There was a focus shift from the moment, to the child, to the one who created him; and God, in His grace and mercy, poured out refreshment like a sudden rain shower.

Is this where refreshing begins?  Each event, each circumstance, each moment of our lives surrendered to God? What about the painful times? Can refreshment be found there too? The Lord says he ‘will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.” (Jeremiah 31:25NIV) Something is accomplished in God’s purposes and plans through the tough times.  Romans 5 speaks of rejoicing in suffering because the process produces perseverance, character and ultimately hope. Not wishful thinking but true hope in God. I think it will all take practice. Surrendering each moment to the one who has blessed me with them. 

And what of writing, do the same rules apply? Shall I surrender each project and each turn of phrase? What about the balls of wadded paper sitting in the trash basket and the bricks from the  wall of writer’s block? Shall I surrender them too, hoping to glorify His name but also to allow Him to mould me into a vessel for His purposes?  Refreshment, true refreshment, is only found in Him and I need to surrender and let it pour over me like a healing, restorative balm. This will indeed take practice. To surrender the moment.

As I type these words my gaze falls on a framed poem that sits atop my desk. It offers encouragement, not only in writing but in the perseverance to forge ahead in the learning, in the process, in surrendering and it too brings refreshment as the Lord has used it many times to keep me from giving up. The author, Marcia Lee Laycock, has given me permission to share it with you and I hope it will bless you, encourage you and lead you to surrender to Him.

What If?

By Marcia Lee Laycock        

What if the words I write here on this earthly plain have an effect in eternity?

            What if the Lord is smiling with approval even when the rejection letters keep

             piling up?

            What if the next article or poem or book I write is already planned, just for me?

            What if all of those words will be put into just the right place for the right people

            at the right time?

            What if all of those words are just as much for me as they are for my readers?

            What if some day the veil will drop and I’ll understand why all the struggle and?

            frustration was necessary?

            What if all that I do, all that I write on this earth is just a training ground for what I

            will do, what I will write in the realm beyond?

            What if this career I strive so hard to maintain isn’t the point of my existence?

            What if the more I struggle with my craft the more I get to know the One who wants

            me to develop it?

            What if I remember all of the above each time I sit down to write?

            Yes, what if?