Wildflower Writes

Even as a lifelong Christian, Sheila Walsh struggled to trust God completely.  It took a complete emotional breakdown for her to address the fear and shame that had kept her from making a final step of faith so that she could live completely for God.  Even then, as her Biblical profiles exemplify, faith involves a moment-by-moment commitment to believing in God's provision. I was astounded that a Christian with such a public life as a writer, speaker, and singer would lay bare what are probably the darkest moments of her life, in order to demonstrate her understanding of trust in God, forged in the trenches, so to speak.  In fact, I was encouraged by the idea that we can trust God to make our dreams come true, when those dreams are of God and for His purpose.  Welsch blends in her personal experiences, with detailed stories of people we think we know from the Bible:  Anna, Joseph, Martha, Abraham... letting us see through fre...

If you don’t know where you’re going, you probably won’t get there. That sounds obvious, but even in the everyday, simple things of life, it can be a little bit of a challenge to figure out your destination and the best path to get there. Suppose, for example, if someone were to be headed to church for a youth meeting, and instead started driving to work without thinking about it, even though it was a Sunday evening. That person would not have made it to the church if she had not suddenly asked, “Where am I going?” In life, you have to decide where you want to go before you start moving in one direction or another. If you don’t have a goal, you will waste a lot of time and energy doing things you don’t really care about. With summertime in northern Indiana comes construction. Even though I know that my usual route to work is blocked off, it took a few times driving to a dead end street before I learned to turn at the intersection prior to the construction site. You have to learn ...

After a huge barbecue at my sister’s house, a large group of us went for a walk. We followed my brother-in-law’s lead on a winding trail across a field, through a wooded area down to the river, back through the woods and across another field, and onto the neighborhood street. The walk brought back childhood memories of being gone all day during the summer, exploring uncultivated areas, creating forts in the woods, and munching on wild mulberries. As a child, I didn’t plan my day. I got up in the morning, and rode my bike to a friend’s house or to the drug store or to a new place to explore. Whatever “good idea” popped up, I’d pursue, looking for something interesting and fun to do. As I got older, these strange new questions started to pop in my head: “Who am I? Where am I going? What am I doing?” I thought these were questions that I would figure out and have answered by the time I was an adult. I’m not sure how I got the idea that people choose a college major, get a job, an...

Pre-Mapquest, for those of you who don’t remember, finding an unknown address relied on memory, hastily written notes on a napkin or scrap of paper, or a hand-drawn map never made to scale. With Mapquest, or Google for you non-traditionalists, you could get step by step directions, and an accurate point by point map. With recent upgrades, you can map out up to 10 locations on one trip. You can avoid certain roads if you know they are under construction, or if you don’t like toll roads. Even with such fantastic technology, it’s still fallible. Mapquest relies on the information that it receives. It doesn’t always know about new roads or closed roads or flooding or changed street names. Sometimes, for one reason or another, it’s just plain wrong. I think the success people experience in life is decided largely by the set of directions they go by. Some people don’t have any direction. They just wander through life, letting detours and the influence of others determine whe...

So I met tom last week. I met him through a friend of mine. He was like no one I had ever met before. He’s incredibly intelligent. He’s got this great voice, and he knows exactly where he’s going. He’s reliable, and he’s helped me through some sticky situations. I spent a lot of time with tom last week. He went with me almost everywhere I went. He’s helped me through some sticky situations. I trusted him to help me find my way, and was always there for me. He never lied, but always stayed on the straight and narrow. I don’t know what my life was like before tom. I was lost, alone, and confused. He became a beacon to me, shining the way through the darkness. This past week has opened my eyes to the possibilities. He made me feel safe, and I knew he wouldn’t let me down. Now, my relationship with tom has been severed. He was with me while my friend was out of town, but now he’s back with her. What am I going to do without him? I feel like I need him in my life. Maybe I c...