The summer of 1996 was my last idyllic summer. I didn’t know it, but my life was about to plunge into the valley of shadows. While visiting my mother in Chicago, I discovered the book Cloister Walk in a local bookstore. I was drawn by the subject–an autobiographical and spiritual reflection by poet Kathleen Norris about her experience with Benedictine monks. I bought the book and read it avidly.

Shortly thereafter challenges made me question my vocation. Then I and several other Lutheran School board members were threatened with a lawsuit. My mother was diagnosed with cancer. She died moments before I could get to the hospital to see her. I began a downward spiral into an emotional and spiritual depression. I understood the cry of the psalmist, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

Norris’s book helped me survive. It moved me toward a discipline of prayer. I was blessed to have read her book before the crisis occurred. I could not have managed it when I was in the clutches of depression. Was it serendipity, a happy chance? No, I believe God put the right thing in my path at the right moment.

God often gives us things we need, but we often don’t recognize them at the time. The answer to prayer may arrive before we have even uttered a word to God. When we are in desperation, it may help to focus not on what we want from God, but what God has already graciously given us. That’s what worked for me.

Read Psalm 22:1-2, 19-31 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne