God Brings Peace & Healing at the Cabin

Packing for a recent several-day stay at a family member’s guest lake cabin, I crammed books into a cloth bag. Books of fiction and nonfiction. And my Bible. I anticipated quiet evenings snugged under a fleece throw immersed in reading.

I intended to finish Timothy J. Clarke’s inspiring book, Bind Up Your Broken Heart—When Others Fail Us, We Can Find Healing with the Lord, a resource for this blog post on healing.

But, in reality, I read only my Bible and a novel I started before leaving on vacation. I’d selected More Than We Remember by Christina Suzann Nelson from the “Lucky YOU!” display at a local library. This features popular new books occasionally set aside for patrons. Not that I was familiar with either the author or the title. But the synopsis of multiple women in crisis and their interconnection drew my interest as did the cover art of towering pines against a backdrop star-studded sky. Yes, sometimes I do judge a book by its cover. I failed to notice the book was published by a Christian publisher, a bonus I discovered as I got into Nelson’s novel.

Even though I never read most books in my stash, I have no regrets. Instead of holing up in the cabin, I sat outside around the campfire in the evenings. Among towering pines against a backdrop star-studded sky.

In that setting, I found peace and healing. A respite from personal concerns, from the outside world, from thoughts of COVID-19 and everything else that dominates the news. A former journalist, I’m a news junkie and lack of access to media reports proved a refreshing break.

As I relaxed by the campfire next to my husband, I watched flames dance and wood burn to red hot coals, then to embers. We toasted marshmallows and made s’mores and enjoyed each other’s company. Just us. Talking. Not talking. Watching the flames. And, before we headed indoors hours later, pausing to gaze into the dark sky filled with millions of stars. I felt incredibly small in the immensity of that scene. And blessed by God, who created this incredibly beautiful natural world. What a gift. What grace.

That message threads through Nelson’s novel. “If there was one thing she’d learned this summer, it was that every single person on earth was in need of grace,” says Brianne, one of the main characters. How true those words. God offers us that grace—His undeserved love, forgiveness, and healing.

This brings me back to Bind Up Your Broken Heart, Timothy Clarke’s encouraging book which focuses on healing. I finished the book upon returning home from the lake cabin. The slim volume published by Warner Press features Bible stories paired with practical advice on working through life’s challenges. For example, in referencing the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-28a, Clarke encourages the reader to let go of bitterness and hurt, allowing blessings to flow.

In the following chapter, he writes, “We wouldn’t be alive today, we wouldn’t be saved today, were God not a God of mercy, a God of grace, and a God of compassion.” He cites the story of Samson (Judges 16:18-22) with his hair cut, eyes gouged out, and imprisoned. And then, slowly, Samson’s hair begins to grow back. God restored Samson, but it was a process, Clarke emphasizes. I’d never considered that angle of this story. But the author is right. We can’t rush God.

Clarke writes: “God is in no hurry, and he wants to humble us through the process of restoration. His ultimate goal is to heal us.”

Whether we’re in need of physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual healing, God works to restore us. How? Through His Word, loving and caring family and friends, professionals, books—like Nelson’s novel about women who forgive, turn to God, let go, help others or Clarke’s book that empowers, uplifts, and offers hope and healing in the Lord.

And God heals, too, via time away from work, media reports, the regular routine. He brings healing in flames dancing in a campfire, wind rushing through tall pines and in the vast night sky studded with stars.

Audrey Kletscher Helbling writes from southern Minnesota, where she can’t see stars as readily as in the darker lakes region to the north. But she knows they are still there, a reminder of God’s beauty, light and power. She’s an avid reader, writer, and photographer, and will always be a news junkie.