Mind's twists and turns all lead to God

Facebook asks, “What's on your mind?” Four words … but set them on a path in most minds and they encounter a maze. Because thoughts constantly take twists and turns.

Right now I have catching the train on my mind. Good old Sandpoint station — middle of the night. But there's something mysteriously wonderful about standing along the track in the late hour, watching for that light shining in the dark, knowing it's going to stop for me.

It's a long trip — over 30 hours—to Salinas, California. I guess I can make it for an uncle who's lived a long life of 95 years. Funny how family shrinks and expands. He's the only one still standing of that generation in my family … grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles.

Yet now there are my children and grandchildren who outnumber those I knew who came before them.

Here's a recent exchange I had with the 6-year-old grand in Spokane Valley. She was scared about something at bed. I sat in her room by the door in the dark and talked quietly with her about a time I was afraid.

It was the New Year's Eve when I was 11, and became frightened by the partiers in the street while I was babysitting. I was a kid but I wasn’t embarrassed to get down on my knees and call to God for help. And help arrived. I was so filled with what I can only describe as big fluffy clouds of peace that fear literally disintegrated. The peace was tangible, vivid. And I've never forgotten it.

After I finished telling Bethany my experience a little voice floated on the night. “Grandma, is the peace still there?” A profound question. “What's on your mind?”

My answer to her was “Yes.” Not in that same “visitation” that left me so astonished. I think that was meant for an opener: “Here I am. I am real. I see you. I know you. I can help you. You aren't alone.” But I can say those clouds of peace have anchored over the years and found a home in me.

So here I am tonight. One young family member just got home from the hospital — kidneys failed temporarily — enough to need three weeks of inpatient dialysis. And in a couple of days another close family member is having open heart triple bypass surgery.

Yes, I've got a lot on my mind. As does most everyone else. It's a winding path, those thoughts. But in the peace of Christ there are no dead ends.