Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: PEACE (12/02/21)
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TITLE: The Presence Is Enough | Previous Challenge Entry
By Linda Lawrence
12/09/21 -
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I needed no reminder that I was young and inexperienced. My husband and two-year-old daughter and I had been in the Philippines for six months, but I was still definitely a stranger in a foreign land. There was so much to learn—everything from language to expectations.
Even the culture of our missionary compound was foreign to me although there were several American families, besides the Brits, Australians, and Asians.
I was relieved to see my husband again when he found my room. He seemed to be at home anywhere in the world—even hospitals. It was comforting to have him with me, but it had been a long day so I soon urged him to go back to the compound and be the one to tuck our daughter into bed. She needed his presence more than I did.
However, after he left I wasn’t so sure. I felt very alone.
Being in a maternity ward was unsettling with the moans and cries of women in labor. The cacophony from their family members added to my angst. From outside came honking of jeepneys and raucous music from . . . somewhere.
My thoughts raced from questions about the necessity of the biopsy to what might be next. Everything was so unsettled. How I longed for peace. But where was it to be found amidst the noise and anxiety and loneliness?
And then—I wasn’t alone.
In that strange time and place, I experienced for the first time in my life an astonishing indisputable awareness of the Lord’s presence—even though I couldn’t see Him. He said not a word. Instead, He breathed on me. I was the child being tucked into bed. After that, I easily slipped into a full night of peaceful sleep.
In the morning, my first memory was of the previous night’s surprising visitation. The undeniable awareness of His presence was gone, but the peace remained.
Then I was given word that the biopsy results were negative—good news. I was released from the hospital.
However, when my husband picked me up he came with bad news. Something negative and unexpected had happened to him and he said we were returning to the States—in three days! I was shocked. Frustrated at not knowing what had happened. I was never given an explanation of what had transpired. But the peace breathed into me the night before carried me through the confusing days that followed. The Lord knew where I was and where I would be—and He was with me. That was enough.
Fifty years later, I still often wake up sensing I need to get my bearings. I remind myself of the Lord’s very real presence. I can then rise from my bed, robed with peace, for whatever surprises await me.
Memoir
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