I just finished the first draft of a memoir I’ve been working on the past four months. I’m writing about a time in my life when I was a young mom sailing along the seas of life. My marriage was just OK. We were an average couple in an average world of daily living. My relationship with God was also just average. I went to church. We prayed at mealtimes. I lived life. Then something happened that woke me up. And that’s what the memoir is about. A wake up call. I needed something drastic to happen in my life to wake me up to following Christ in a much more thorough way.

My writing coach recommended I “get back into that twenty-seven-year old woman I once was.” I did my best and while I was in that former person, I was reminded of  how much God loved me and wanted me to be close to Him.

This morning I read a story about a ship sailing across the ocean. There were passengers going to a new world. But there were also 36,000 birds on the ship, mostly canaries. When the ship sailed with the passengers and this cargo, the sun was shining brightly. Those birds were silent with their heads tucked under their wings. Three days into the voyage, a furious storm came upon the ship. The passengers were terrified as the ship rocked in the tumultuous seas. But the birds? They began to sing! All 36,000 of them! In that reading, this passage was included: “Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted” (Isaiah 49:13 KJV).

I like that. It says to break into song. As humans, we often need some kind of stressful catastrophe for God to get our attention. It sure was true with me. What about you?

In my case, I immediately threw myself again into my relationship with God. But my troubles weren’t over. During the storm, I sang. There were many passages in the Bible that comforted me during that time. “You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith, for they trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3). “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1). These are just a few of the passages I read and which gave me hope.

God gave me a second chance in my relationship with Him. Although the storm didn’t end immediately, I found just as those canaries, that I could sing in spite of the storm. And during the storm, I never felt closer to God.

Dipping back into that time so long ago, I am once again reminded of how much God loves me and wants me to be close to Him. I am grateful for that storm that reminded me He was there, waiting for me.

Most of my books have the word “second chance” or “second chances” in the title. I use that because God gives so many second chances to everyone. And even stubborn old me!

“Oh dear Lord, draw me close to You always. In the calm days. The stormy days. The average days. I want You more than anything, Amen.”

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