Page 365 began early as I woke up in the middle of the night not feeling well.  I decided to see if a hot bath would relax me enough to go back to sleep and perhaps I would wake up feeling better.  It was a good idea, but whatever was going on inside of me was keeping sleep from returning.  As I tried to rest, I spent the time mentally going over the sermon I’ll share Sunday and even changed one of the points.  As I tried to keep my mind focused on anything other than how I felt, it soon became apparent that plan wasn’t going to work as everything inside of me decided it needed to be outside of me. 😦  The rest of the night and the entire morning was spent trying to rest as much as I could in between necessary times in the bathroom.  

By early afternoon, I was finally empty and could spend longer times resting and trying to recuperate.  I eventually began sipping liquids to try to avoid dehydrating and to see if whatever had caused the internal warfare was done — so far, so good.  In between long times of rest, I spent part of the afternoon and evening going through the photos I took during our recent getaway.  As I did so, I was so thankful that if I had to be sick that it was today and not while we were away.  Some things are better if they don’t have to be dealt with in public or semi-public areas.  While that is true of physical sickness, it is also true of the spiritual warfare that we find ourselves faced with.  Social media seems to have amplified our society’s inability to realize that many things that happen between people really should be dealt with outside of the public arena of social media.  Many times people forget that their battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of darkness.  It is far too easy to find ourselves attacking a person rather than taking the time to understand the warfare that is taking place.  Yes, issues need dealt with and problems need addressed but it is far less harmful to everyone involved if those things are done in private.  Once the public sees us “vomiting” hatred and insults onto someone in public, it is extremely difficult for those watching to get that image out of their mind when we attempt to tell them of God’s love.  My mind seems to still not be firing on all cylinders, so I hope and pray that today’s page makes some kind of sense in a way that is useful.

Today’s photo is one I took this week as we came up out of the beautiful gorge of Old Man’s Cave at Hocking Hills State Park.  The sun had begun to set and as I went through the photos today, this one seemed to call me to a time of peace.  Even when we face turmoil, whether it is through sickness or conflict, God calls us to find peace in the midst of whatever we face as we rest securely in His presence.