I find C. S. Lewis’ wisdom immensely encouraging. If a spiritual giant such as Lewis had to begin again each day at the beginning with his faith, it seems reasonable for me to have to not only begin all over each day with relying on God, but sometimes several times a day I begin again. As a human on earth I will not ever ‘arrive’ at perfect faith.
The relying is a daily and moment by moment thing.
Each morning I arise and purpose to turn my life and will over to God, give it a good go, but like as not, ten minutes out of the prayer chair I’m worrying about one thing or another, get irritated with something, and strive in my own pitiful strength to hold up my world, as well as that of everyone else. Good thing I get to start over tomorrow, and after a good night’s sleep. Good thing I really can begin my day over any time I need to do so.
In Lamentations 3:23, we are told: “Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
With all the small and large trials crowding in–the fear that I won’t have the ‘right’ words for rewriting Chapter Two, that I lack the organizational ability to manage my writer-self-widow-life, that dog hair will overrun me if I don’t get the floors vacuumed, the health concerns and heartaches for family and friends–let me remember and rely on God’s fresh mercies coming to me each morning. His mercy gives me all the wisdom and perfect ability that I need for living my life. I can rely on it.
The relying has to be done afresh each day, and it is designed that way to bless us. I think of it and smile.
Grace and peace,
“Readers should hold on to their hearts; losing them to these unforgettable characters is a real possibility.”
Publishers Weekly
“I think if you are looking for feel good books, you have found your home.”
Amazon Reviewer
Curtiss Ann Matlock 
Amen! Blessings, CAM!
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Amen, CurtissAnn, each day is a “new beginning” with God as if nothing happened yesterday❣️
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Hello, Curtiss Ann—
Just got back from France. Bonjour! Dirty clothes are out of their suitcases and into the washing machine. Personally, I feel like a walking croissant. But your discussion today has touched two places in my life—one of which is waking up each morning with sets of unexpected challenges.
When we arrived in France, we were met by several strikes that could have adversely affected our ability to meet with the french side of our family:
First, the Eiffel Tower was on strike! I know! Who ever heard of that? But we couldn’t go up the tower to see the splendor of Paris all around. So we walked all around its base and then down some little streets that radiated from the tower. That’s where we ran into a young couple—him down on one knee, her covering her mouth in surprise at the proposal that he had planned for ON the tower. Another example of always looking for the joy.
The second strike was the Transportation strike—no trains, no buses, no car rentals. We planned on going from Paris to Nantes, from Nantes in Brittany to Arromanche in Normandy, and then back to Paris. My young niece was with us—and an expert at using her cell phone. She did a recheck : no trains, no buses, no car rentals available. But she immediately found out that Uber was still working. She figured that the 3 of us with all our luggage would cost each of us about $150 in train tickets. Since trains were not available, we could Uber to the places we wanted to go—for the same price! And so we did. Gosh was that a great decision —much better than staying in Paris and complaining about the strike Our driver was , if you can believe it, named Muhammad Ali. He was a perfect driver (we also drove into heavy rain and wind storms). He asked us to let him know if we needed to stop for coffee, a walk to stretch our legs, or to use « the facilities « and he would stop. Every woman who has traveled knows what a nice thing that is!
We had a great couple of rides and the discussions between my niece ( a Christian) and Muhammad Ali (a Muslim) about their two different religions was a joy to observe and hear. It may be the first time an Uber driver got a goodbye hug from all of his passengers!
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Oh, my goodness, Louise, what a grand adventure! And you tell it so wonderfully that I can see and even hear it. The Eiffel Tower on strike, who would have thought! Thanks for posting and giving me a vicarious trip with you. I am inspired! Hugs, CurtissAnn
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Oh how I needed these words today , CA! Thank you .
Dana
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Dear Dana, it warms my heart to know that something I wrote helped you. I must say that seeing your name inspires me to take care of myself and get moving. Hugs, CurtissAnn
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