Trust your happiness and the richness of your life at this moment.  It is as true and as much yours as anything else that ever happened to you.~Kathernine Anne Porter, Letters of Katherine Anne Porter

I stopped to look up into the sky, to see the cloud formations.  I felt such peace watching them glide by, appreciating their pace.  No hurry.  I thought that clouds often seem like comforting companions to me. Diverse and artful. One morning this week at sunrise, a congregation of cloud layers seemed to descend upon me.  Light poured through billowy tiers and blushed pink. I whispered to myself, "Oh, the beauty of this day."

Sometimes, though, I have such a struggle hanging onto the richness of life.  I get easily sidetracked.  My emotions flair, and I unravel in feelings of fatigue or anxiety, hopelessness or dread.  And then images like cloud formations or giant oak trees or dawn breaking, snap my attention to more positive, powerful thinking. 

One of the phrases that appears in Scripture is the exhortation to "Be strong." (Joshua 1:1-9)  I've asked this question in prayer:  God, how do I cultivate strength?

The answer emerged as I read Hebrews 6:18-20 (The Passion Translation)

And now we have run into His heart to hide ourselves in His faithfulness.  This is where we find His strength and comfort, for He empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time--an unshakeable hope!  We have this cerain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God Himself.  Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone in before us. He is now and forever our royal Priest like Melchizedek. 

I cultivate strength by hiding myself in His faithfulness.  

One of my online mentors is the late John Paul Jackson.  I never tire of listening to his teaching.  One of his signature messages is that we are created for such a time as this.  Our age, our personality, our nationality; our appearance, where we live, our gifting and talent--none of these factors or dynamics are mistakes.  We are created for this time and generation. God takes great pleasure in our stories and providing strength to live them out for His glory.

And we live our stories a day at a time.  So let us take courage that each day we can run into His heart where we will find strength and comfort for such a time as this.  Perhaps one of the reasons clouds bring me such serenity and confidence, is that when I gaze upon them, they symbolize that gorgeious mercy seat where my hope is fastened, where the richness of my life exists.