Tonight I am sitting on my couch in my house here in Virginia (this is where I go to graduate school— I started in August).  There are no lights on in this house aside from the light coming from my computer screen and the front door is open revealing the screen door protecting me from the outside, allowing the cool March air to be apart of my surroundings.  Such peace this evening brings. 

I am reminded of the crazy amount of papers, book reports and every-day responsibilities pressing down on my shoulders as their due dates slowly, but surely, arrive.  I am burdened by the amount of money I owe to various venues and how quickly the money I have seems to disappear.  This morning in class, my professor spoke of how so many fail to trust in the Lord’s promises and doubt His provision because the load they bear has become so heavy they simply forget to carry on.  

“As the hay is harvested and the new crop appears
and the mountain grasses are gathered in,
Your sheep will provide wool for clothing,
and your goats will provide the price of a field.
And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself,
your family, and your servant girls.”
(Proverbs 27:25-27)

My Lord will provide.  He will always give what is needed when the time comes.  In this moment, He has given this peace and relieved this tension that so heavily inhabits my neck and shoulders.  This peace has come gracefully (and gratefully) in the form of a solo so eloquently and intricately performed that it brings tears to this gal’s tired eyes.  The peddling cricket’s melody bears the truth of His great promise to take care of those He loves.  

And He will do just as He has promised.

Isaiah 35:10
“And those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

My friend Lee Younger posted this verse and to me it holds such promise for those of us who are called Beloved.  Goodness is coming.  I don’t mean the kind of goodness we experience when we eat a triple-chunk gooey chocolate brownie or a slice of the Strawberry Summer Cake I made yesterday evening for our college/career Bible study, but the goodness Martha was jealous of Mary for having within the presence of the Lord.  There is a Sara Groves song called “What Do I Know” and the last line of the song is the best:  ”I know to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord, and from what I know of Him, that must be very good.”

The verses previous to Isaiah 35:10 are lovely as well.  They speak of a the Holy Road (this is what it’s called in the Message Remix).  Starting at verse 8- “It’s for God’s people exclusively— impossible to get lost on this road.  No lions on this road, no dangerous animals— nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.  Only the redeemed will walk on it.”  I like how this version words verse 10, too.  Imagine Aslan or Gandalf reading this to you: “The people God has ransomed will come back on this road.  They’ll sing as they make their way home to Zion, unfading halos of joy encircling their heads.  Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.”