At the end of the day, after I have walked away from the things that have kept me busy, after I have set the coffee pot for the next morning, after I have tended to the cats and made sure my child is in bed sleeping safely, I come to my favourite place.

It isn't the quiet solitude of the back porch rocker, or the soothing warmth of a lingering bubble bath. It isn't even the enveloping comfort of the overstuffed easy chair in the corner of the living room.

Over all other places, my all-time favourite spot is in the crook of my husband's arms.

There is a feeling of safety as I cradle myself within that special place. I sincerely believe that the Lord designed it in my husband when he was created, knowing that someday, I would rest in that very spot. It is a perfect fit.

All the cares of the day seem to fall away as I nestle up against my husband, the strength of his arms surrounding me. And I desire to lean in ever closer.

Oh Lord, how much more do you desire that we lean into You? How much greater is Your longing that we would learn to rest in Your faithfulness, and relax in the safety of Your arms?

In You is release from the things of this world that rob our peace and mask our joy. Through Your Word, You become reality in our minds and in our hearts, enabling us to entrust ourselves to You. The psalmist understood this when he wrote, "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4:8 NIV) In the midst of Saul's pursuit, David understood the undisturbed rest that You provide.

Teach us, Lord, to rest in You and to extend to You the same trust that we place in our loved ones. Help us to seek You above all others as the one true source of safety. In the midst of our troubles, hear our cries and reveal to us that perfect place in Your presence that You have created, knowing that one day we would come, desiring to lean in ever closer to the One who loves us most. Amen.

Lately, I have been convicted of my lack of focus on the things of God. It seems that the transition into my new marriage has not been without conflict. As my new husband and I attempt to adjust to the changes that come with my leaving a single-parent lifestyle, and his leaving 35 years of singleness, we find occasion to "disagree".

The circumstances that trigger our disagreements are really not of significance when put into kingdom perspective. At the time we are in the midst of "ourselves", however, they appear to be insurmountable. Pride, self-centredness, hard-heartedness, feelings of rejection, anger, and shame take centre stage away from the attributes we have been given through our salvation in Christ.

The fruits of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22 become invisible as we focus on each other, rather than on our Father in heaven who calls us His own. But His grace abounds, and sooner or later, (more often sooner, thank God), we come to a place of prayer, repentance, and forgiveness. We are brought to our knees by the realization that once again we have dishonoured our Lord by disrespecting each other and the gift He has given us in our marriage.

It is in such moments we realize that, left to our own accord, we are doomed to failure. Only by learning to walk in the Spirit can we fully experience the love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness and faithfulness that is promised us in God's Word.

These fruits of the Spirit are essential to the health and well-being of any relationship — especially one between a husband and wife.

Walking in the Spirit…

As a baby must learn to walk, so must we learn to walk in the way the Lord has set before us. Peter compares us to newborns, and, as newborns must learn to get up from their knees and walk, so must we learn to walk in repentance and forgiveness. We are to step out in faith, believing in God's trustworthiness to lead us out of our sin and into his righteousness. This is the goal that my husband and I have. Together, one step at a time, we are learning to walk in the ways of the Lord; to die to self and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to develop in us those fruits that are pleasing to our Creator.

In the learning, we are sure to fall, but determination spurred on by the Holy Spirit who lives in us, will help us regain our footing. Again and again we will go through this process, and with each new attempt, our spiritual growth increases.

First steps: wobbly, unsure, scary, covering short distances, induced by a desire greater than fear. Before we know it, we have reached the object of our desire — and He is waiting with open arms.

Prayer: Father God, thank You for the love that is unconditional. Thank You for the forgiveness that reconnects us when we have come undone. Help us to die to our own selfish interests so that we may be filled with the desires that You have for our lives. Teach us to walk anew in the way that You have determined for us. Amen.

As a newlywed, God is continually redefining my ideas of what marriage is in His economy.

Having been married before, but without verification in Christ, I had relied on my husband for my identity. In him was my value. My sense of worth was gauged by his responses. Time spent together was equated with love by which I measured my self-worth. If he made plans or decisions without considering me, which was often the case, I felt there must be something wrong with me — something unattractive, something undesirable. If he was upset by something I said or did, I became a total failure in my own eyes — unlovable, worthless.

Now it is seven years later, and a new relationship is in front of me. Nothing of the past will work in this marriage. God is doing a new thing. However, I find myself at times relating to a situation in the "old" way. Such was last evening, when a disagreement with my new husband left me with a very troubled and hurting heart.

"Lord, I know you placed me in this marriage, but right now I do not feel thankful… I don't know how to be a 'couple' in your economy. The understanding I have of who I am supposed to be in this marriage doesn't work. I need you to show me your definition of who I am to be and how I fit." With that I went to sleep, and in that sleep, the Lord gave me a vision.

In my mind's eye, I saw a train. There was no engine or caboose, just a single boxcar — the kind with big doors on the side, like the hobos would ride in — and I saw myself sitting inside this boxcar. The direction of my life, my "identity", was completely defined by the train car's comings and goings.

Then came another vision.

This time, there were two boxcars sitting on a track: two separate cars, one behind the other. Each had its own identity, its own exclusiveness, its own design. The cars did not touch each other, but rather were connected by a "coupling."

I looked up the word coupling in the dictionary. Webster's defines it as "act of bringing together; a device that serves to couple or connect the ends of adjacent parts or objects."

Therein lies the strength and the unity. Jesus Christ is the almighty "coupler". He is the strength in a godly relationship. He has made us to be individuals. He has made us to think differently, to see things from different perspectives. He has not created one to be "right" and one to be "wrong"; we are "different". The right and wrong of life is set forth in His Word. That is the only absolute truth.

Ephesians 5:21-33 speaks very specifically of our position in marriage according to God's will. We are "coupled" to our spouses through Christ Jesus. As we are "washed in the Word," we are cleansed of "self". As we are cleansed of "self", we become open and available to be used by Christ as vessels through which He can show his love to our spouse.

Our identity comes from Jesus. His death on the cross gives us our value, our worth in God's economy. There is no other who loves us so completely, so unconditionally. And there never can be. It is part of His divine design.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that you have given us our identity in Christ. Thank you that we may realize a marriage relationship in your economy. Thank you that we do not have to carry the burden of fulfilling one another's desires and destiny. We have only to wash in your Word and allow you to cleanse us of ourselves, that your love would flow through us to our spouses and to all whom you put in our paths. Amen.

It's Sunday and I hesitate to leave the comfort of my bed. I push the snooze button on the alarm and drift back off to sleep. Minutes later, the alarm goes off again, and I drag myself out of bed and into the shower. Last minute decisions on what I will wear leave a feeling of frustration in my heart. A sense of "hurry up" fills me as I realize that I have once again left too little time for preparation.

Forgive me, Lord….

Often, when I was a child, Sundays were not about going to church — they were about going to visit Grandma. Oh! the excitement: the thought of seeing her face, feeling her hugs, smelling the cooking that filled the little apartment where she lived, realizing the safety of being in her presence. Added to the excitement was the feeling of joyful anticipation as we dressed up for relatives and our wanting to look our best for them.

The hour-long ride to the city seemed endless, but for the landmarks along the way: a factory building that said "only half an hour more"; the toll booth which meant only another 15 minutes; the familiar neighbourhood stores that increased my delight at the realization that I would soon be in the presence of the one person who loved me unconditionally. How swift my feet were to run up the stairway to her back door and call out, "Grandma, It's me; I'm here!"

How much greater should be my excitement at the thought of spending time in my Father's holy temple!

Prayer: Father, God, forgive me my complacency, and change my perspective. Oh, that I would visit Your house with a feeling of joyful anticipation, remembering that this day I would soon be in the safety of Your presence, worshipping the One who loves me unconditionally — the One who thinks I am special enough to merit the ultimate sacrifice of His Son for my sins. Awaken in me the child-like glee that comes with the knowledge that before this day has ended, I will knock at Your door and call out, "Father, It's me, I'm here!" In Jesus' name. Amen.

I watched her as she lay there in her hospital bed, angry and bitter over her misfortunes. Surely the Lord simply wanted to hold her in His arms of love and carry her home, but I could see that she would go kicking and screaming all the way to heaven.

Audrey was 76 years old. I had prayed for something to take my mind off my single parent circumstances, and God put Audrey down the hall from where I lived. She was wheelchair bound as a result of a hip surgery gone wrong. The apartment was not handicap-equipped, and I could see she was going to need some help.

Audrey had been a professional ice skater. She had skated for the troops in World War 2, had been a calendar "pin up" girl and had continued to skate well into her 60's. When the hip surgery failed and she was confined to a wheelchair, an ugly root of bitterness began to grow in her heart.

As we talked those first days, I shared with her that I was a Christian, and she said that so was she. Somewhere along the way, she had accepted Jesus as Lord and prayed the sinner's prayer. Noticing she didn't own a Bible, I brought one to her, a big print one, so she could easily read it through her broken eyeglasses. I'm not sure if she picked it up much, but I shared with her whenever I had the opportunity.

I wish I could say that as a result of our time together, Audrey came to understand the love of the God that she had given her life to years before, and how in her crippled state He was using her. Unless it came to her in her last minutes on this earth, I would have to say she did not, until she stood in His presence. However, through knowing Audrey, the Lord stirred in me the desire to tell others about the love of Jesus; about how He, if they would only allow Him, can bring comfort to their hearts in the midst of their suffering; and about how, when their time on earth is over, He will be waiting for them to rest in His arms of love and be carried home.

Prayer: Lord, as we go through this life, help us to seek out those who need to remember who You are. Speak through us to their hearts. Thank you for a yoke that is light and easy. Thank you for enabling us to rest in You. Thank you for being there to carry us home. Amen.

Today I opened an e-mail I had received to find what appeared to be a blank page. As I scrolled down to the bottom of the page, I found a familiar signature, which told me that whatever was written above, was done in colours my computer couldn't "read". I knew that by the process of sending this letter through to my printer, it would be revealed to me what had been written, and so I clicked the "print" button. Sure enough, out came two pages of writing which when read, brought me to a greater knowledge of the Lord.

I see faith working in my life in much the same way. There are times when I feel as if I have all but lost my faith, as I look at my circumstances and am unable to see God's hand or feel His presence. However, as I continue to go through the process of seeking Him, I begin to see His handwriting on the pages of my life. Ultimately, I am brought to a greater knowledge of how He is working in me and in those around me.

When you come to those times when your faith seems invisible, take time to scroll down to the bottom of this page in your life and recognize His signature. It is then that you will remember that He is revealed through the process of seeking and persevering. And you will begin to recognize what you are experiencing, not as a trial, but rather an opportunity to get to know Him better.

Prayer: Father God, I pray that as we walk through the pages of our lives here on this earth, we will not fail to recognize Your signature. Amen.