When I was a young woman my friend Bobbie suggested I read Corrie Ten Boon’s “The Hiding Place,” on vacation. We always went to my parent’s cottage at Lake Wallenpaupack in the Pocono Mountains, drawn by rustic roads, boating, swimming, … and Grandma’s cookies. Often there were daily showers before the skies cleared and we settled on the beach for the afternoon.

I always took books to read as my kids splashed in the lake or played in the cottage loft. To me it wasn’t a vacation if I didn’t have a book in hand, usually lightweight Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, that my parents collected.

When I asked what her book suggestion was about it didn’t sound like vacation reading – a story of survival in a Nazi concentration camp. Nevertheless, when Bobbie placed it in my hand, I took it along.

That book changed my life. I learned about how God performed miracles and comforted Corrie and her family, who died there. She talked about this Jesus she loved as her hiding place, where the Bible says she could run in and not be afraid.

There I was, lying on the beach, my heart aching for this Dutch woman who lived by faith in a death camp. I delved into psalms that were her life line and that have become mine.

Living with cancer is deadly serious. How do I respond? Some of our COURAGE and Cancer friends are doing a Zoom Bible study on Psalm 91, verse by verse discussing God’s protection in the face of danger. Pastor Kathy Mihoerck is guiding our conversation using Peggy Joyce Ruth’s “Psalm 91, God’s Umbrella of Protection.”

One of my notes beside Psalm 91 is “Grandma Wesp’s Psalm,” one reason I turn there, often. I think of my grandma reading this as an orphan due to tuberculosis, and weep.

The first verse says, (NIV, paraphrased): “Jan, who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” I love the image of dwelling, abiding and sheltering in place, resting in the Almighty’s shadow, where there’s plenty of room for all of us.

Verse 2 begins with “I will say to the Lord.” Most of the time we read the Bible silently, but this is encouraging us to express our faith out loud, where all the heavenlies – and the people we live with – can hear our voices lifted to a living God. Praise and prayer release power, strengthening our interior life.

“I will say to the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” (91:2). God is my high tower, my safe hiding place from pestilence, arrows and traps.

When I was in Ireland we saw high towers where watchmen kept an eye out for enemies, who they could see from afar. I circled around three of these towers, my hands skimming the ancient stones, and felt connected across the centuries through God’s Spirit to the people who lived there long ago. They utterly depended upon him to be their tower of strength and provision.

Another passage I pray out loud is, “THIS is the day the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!” That’s a good one to proclaim as I open my eyes in the morning. Whatever this day holds, I know Who holds me.

I also SHOUT passages, because the Word says, “Shout to the Lord!” There are other things I occasionally shout too, that I won’t mention here. If anyone hears me, they know I sometimes stumble on my spiritual walk, but step by step and day by day God and I are moving to higher ground.

When I shared with my cancer support group that I shout verses Pastor Kathy turned to her guide book and showed us how she highlighted directions for believers to shout out their faith and her personal note, “This sounds like Jan!”

One woman shared that a friend has her grandmother’s Bible, full of border scribbles to God. Pastor Kathy said now that grandmother is in Heaven, where God is still reading her notes and prayers to him back to this precious daughter as he holds her close.

That, like the message of “The Hiding Place,” is a gemstone to me, something to anticipate when I reach the other side.

I don’t know how you’re filling your time during social isolation, but I’m tremendously blessed to have a sense of community with friends and family. I am never alone, even when times are tough. In this hard time, I’m blessed by conversations with my Father in Heaven, who I hope to bless with every word that comes out of my mouth.

All will be well.

Texting Thru Recovery/Indiana Gazette

Corrie Ten Boon’s photo by Wikipedia

Glendalough stone photo by Judy Shipley