Journeys - M. Laycock

I love hearing stories of people’s lives, how they came to be where they are now. I especially love it when they acknowledge that God has designed that journey for them and want to shout “praise the Lord” when they recognize his grace and mercy along the way.

I’ve been thinking a bit about journeys in the past while, perhaps because of the release of the first volume of my latest novel, a young adult fantasy called Journey to a Strong Tower book one in the Ambassadors Trilogy. It’s been a delight to write these books, detailing the harrowing journeys of two young people whose destinies are intertwined and bound by the parameters of God’s love. It’s a fantasy but it has its root in reality, as all books do. 

I believe all of us are on a journey designed by God. I once wrote a suite of poems that was broadcast on CBC called Journey to Each Other. It detailed the path my husband and I took to find one another, and our Saviour, in Canada’s far north. As I wrote those poems I was overwhelmed with God’s amazing plan and the deep love He has for us all – a love so deep that He details every step of our journey on this earth, all to His glory.

Reading the books of the Old Testament which detail the journey of the Hebrew nation is inspiring for that same reason. The record reveals the protection and plan of God and the strengths and weaknesses, the victories and failings of the Israelites  – “The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. In spite of this you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go” (Deut 1:30 – 33).

And it is because God told Moses to record that journey that we are able to read about it. Numbers 33:2 says – “At the Lord’s command Moses recorded the stages in their journey.”

I believe God still tells us to record the journey, to write down both in fiction and non-fiction, the details of how He has kept us, protected us, and yes, carried us throughout our lives. By this testimony we glorify Him and remind ourselves of the greatness of our God. 

And we can certainly acknowledge, with Moses, the truth of these words – “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness” (Deuteronomy 2:7). 

So write the record of your journey. Broadcast it in every way you can, all to God’s glory.

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Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone. Her second novel, A Tumbled Stone was also short listed in the contemporary fiction category of The Word Awards and her work is short-listed in three categories this year. 

Marcia also has two devotional books in print. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan. 

Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded here. Visit Marcia’s Website

Of Blue Rugs and Other Created Things - M. Laycock

There’s a blue hooked rug beside my bed. I step down onto it each morning and each morning I think of my dad. He made the rug in 1946, just after the end of World War II. He was living on the psychiatric unit of a hospital in Germany at the time, after joining in the liberation of Bergen Belsen, one of Hitler’s notorious death camps. What he saw there made my father’s mind stop and his soul shrivel. It would be many months before he was well enough to leave the hospital. He worked on the hooked rug a little each day. It was one of the few things he brought home with him when he returned to Canada. His only surviving souvenir, it was more precious to him than the medals he received. I often wondered about that, wondered why he would hold it so close. I never asked because he didn’t like to talk about the war and very few people knew he’d spent time in a psychiatric facility. My mother warned me not to mention it when she told me where the rug had come from.

But I think the reason he prized that hand-made item was because it had been part of his healing. As his hands performed the simple act of forming bits of blue wool into a pattern on a loom, his mind began to heal, his soul began to be restored. Todd Henry, founder of Accidental Creative once said “The creative process is a daily assault on the beachhead of apathy.” I believe it can be more. I believe it can be an assault on the evil and imbalance in ourselves and in the world, a beachhead against chaos and destruction.

I believe that as we write, as we sew or knit or quilt, as we paint or sculpt or weave, we are healed, we are made more whole and we draw closer to the Divine Spirit that guides us on. We also remind ourselves and those who will read our words or enjoy our created things, that complete health, in mind, body and soul, is the state in which we were meant to live. Thus hope is breathed out, made literal in words, in blankets, in hats and paintings and all artwork, and we are all encouraged.

That process brings us joy and satisfaction because it is what we were created to do. We were created to make life better by practicing and using the gifts He has given us, whether it be to write a novel or paint a portrait or hook a rug. Creating opposes the purposes of the evil one who is set on destruction, and flows with the purposes of God.

And, as Oswald Chambers is quoted as saying: “If you agree with God’s purpose He will bring not only your conscious life, but all the deeper regions of your life which you cannot get at, into harmony.” (Oswald Chambers, from Called of God in The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers) That is true health, true holiness.

“Therefore, my dear friends ... continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” Philippians 2:12,13).

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 Marcia Lee Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she is a pastor's wife and mother of three adult daughters. She was the winner of The Best New Canadian Christian Author Award for her novel, One Smooth Stone and also has three devotional books in print. Her work has been endorsed by Sigmund Brouwer, Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and Mark Buchanan. Marcia's second novel, A Tumbled Stone was recently short listed in the contemporary fiction category of The Word Awards. Abundant Rain, an ebook devotional for writers can be downloaded here. Visit Marcia's website