Encouragement

---

Discovery


Life seemed to be such a mess for one who had lived only fifteen short years, and yet there was no doubt about what she had to do.

“Go to the forest,” the small voice said from within her heart. “Go and wait.”

There was no option. She had no one to talk to, no other place to go, and doing nothing felt unacceptable. So she packed up her small pup tent and sleeping bag, those left from Girl Scout days, and headed to the family campsite. Her parents were gone for the weekend; not a soul would even need to know she was there. Heading for the woods in back of the barn, she invited the company of Tyler, the family farm dog.

The afternoon mirrored her mood. Gray clouds hung low in the sky, and a chilly wind whipped the fall leaves around her feet like scampering little rodents on a holiday, free at last to chase their dreams. She envied them; their blustery ups and downs. By comparison, she felt flattened – like that fallen tree over there. It had been knocked down months ago by a lightening bolt, which is exactly how she felt – fried, fallen, forlorn. It lay there with summer’s leaves in place, all brown and crispy, hardly free to dance like their colorful neighbors. Again, she realized how “stuck” she felt, how dried up, how…well, how ugly inside.

A whippoorwill called from the nearby pasture full of tall grasses, their seed heads bowed prayerfully. Tyler bounded through the golden stems, bounding up and down like a deer on the run, and soon the “Bob White, Bob White” became silent.

Why did everything seem so confusing when nothing had changed? Or had it?

“Your heart has changed,” the voice said from within. “You have been hurt. You have scars. You don’t know what to do – you’re trying to cover them up.”

“That’s true”, she whispered to Tyler as she reached the fire pit and shook out her tent. “I don’t want anyone to know. I just want to get on with my life – like it never happened.”

The trees overhead spread their branches, forming a partial canopy made of stubborn chocolate brown oak leaves mixed with a few red and gold maples. She seemed protected here, and able to let out a sigh. The emotional paralysis seemed less crippling somehow.

“Tyler, c’mere boy.” The happy, panting dog bounced over to the stump she always used as her prayer chair and snuggled up against her legs. “You’re lucky – you don’t have to figure out your mistakes.” He reached his nose into the cup of her hand as if to request a pat on the head. “Well, not that you don’t make mistakes – like chasing those baby calves yesterday. Shame on you.” She ruffled his furry head and he plopped down at her feet.

“Tyler, I’m going to talk to you and pretend that you’re God, okay? Because God is really listening, too…only it’s just easier to talk out loud when I see you’re paying attention.” Tyler lay outstretched with his chin on his front paws, but his ears flicked back at the sound of her voice, as if to say, “Go ahead, I’m listening”.

Her angry questions spilled in torrents over the wild daisies and black-eyes susans growing in profusion along the forest’s edge. “Why, Lord, why did You let him do this to me? Why couldn’t I stand my ground? Why do I hate myself so? Who am I now – some used woman? What am I supposed to do get over this?” The flowers looked at her, their yellow and black centers bugging out like the eyes of watchful and unbelieving parents, stunned but not accusing.

Hugging Tyler and sniffling into her sweatshirt, she strained to listen for an answer, knowing that God heard. The trees moaned around her in the wind, and a barn owl spoke from deep within the woods. “W-w-whooo are y-y-yooo?”

“YOU ARE A PRINCESS.”

What, who said that? No one, of course, it was a thought, an impression…that small voice… the Holy Spirit?

“You are a daughter of the King. You are destined to have influence. You will, by My decree, move mountains in your life and in others. Believe Me.”

She tearfully noticed the first night star peeking through the trees. “I wish, well Lord, I wish I could start all over – become new, like before this happened.”

“Now, precious Princess, leave that to Me. I am in the business of making all things new. Climb into that sleeping bag and get your beauty rest. ‘Do not worry about tomorrow…’”*

*Matthew 6:34

copyright 2005 Beth Muehlhausen

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE