by Joanne Wiklund
So often I think of my parents and grandparents and what they endured in their lives. Wars, the Great Depression. Some of my relatives were optimists, others were pessimists. As I sorted basement books, I found a copy of Hard Times by Studs Terkel, a journalist and radio personality. Copyrighted in 1970, it is an oral history of The Great Depression. Filled with quotes from interviews with elderly people who actually experienced it, the reader gets a different perspective of how it really was, not as told to by the media as it is today.
In our Bible, we have oral history, written by people who experienced stress and viewed miracles. They were people who were living then. But it has a component which no other book has. It has stood the tests of time, and even tests of today. Written by men, inspired by God, the Bible shows us how God keeps His promises. Down through the years, He’s been there and is still here. In the dark storm of night, He is the light we seek.
My word for this year is still Onward! But looking back I can see so many places where His protection and inspiration saved and moved me in His direction. I don’t understand the why of everything that happened, but I know from experience that He can be trusted to fulfill His promises.
Psalms 46:10 NIV “Be still, and know I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Definition: “Stillness: A mental state of infinite peace, rest and tranquility where man’s senses are hushed and he abides in God.”