Because of my stories, I am often given more credit than I alone deserve. The writing has been a gift from God after I started reading and studying his word.  Some folks don’t understand how I have such peace of mind, but it comes from my heart. There is some scripture that captured my attention the first couple of times I read the Bible through. Each time I read it now, it gives me the piece and joy that often surprises folks when they hear about some of the circumstances I have endured.

But this explanation always blesses my heart:  Romans 5:1-5: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Once upon a time, I was a very organized person, but that is no longer one of my strong points. Perseverance, however, is now definitely something that I work at daily. My sufferings are responsible for my perseverance and the experiences that have made me who I am today, a child of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God has a plan for each of us, but sometimes it takes years to discern what He is calling us to do.

I prayed for peace through the years and the negative times. When reading the Book of Romans, I came across Romans 15: 13: “May the  God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

There is a famous quotation but I’m not sure where it originated and it has been added to or sometimes taken away from. I may have used it in one of my early stories. I think it is a real blessing to many but maybe even more so to the handicapped. It reads like this: “God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.”

When I fell in September 2013 and broke my pelvis in three places, I ended up at the Lutheran Home. I can truly say I was not very comfortable for quite some time, but I wrote stories about the experiences I had suffered. It is my hope and prayer that reading these stories has given at least one person some degree of comfort.

Sometimes God gets our attention in many ways. This experience surely turned my attention back to reviewing my Study Bible and following the call of the Holy Spirit.  Peace to all and amen!

Linda Beck lives in Rowan County.