The Quiet Place.... Another of "Toni's Creative Adventures" UPDATED

This post was originally written on 1/18/2018, and is another of our dear friend Toni Taddeo's "Toni's Creative Adventures".  As I shared another of these creative adventures with you here last week, I did so in loving memory of our friend Toni, who very sadly passed away a few months ago after a fierce battle with breast cancer.  I wish that I had participated in more of her creative adventure memes because they always were fun and entertaining as well as mind challenging.  Those that I have participated with I will share with you a little at a time over the next few weeks.  Perhaps it will stir up some creative ideas in your own mind. I am certain that Toni would be pleased and honored if anyone wanted to use these same prompts to create your own stories and share them here in memory of Toni as well.

So, without further ado, here is what I wrote on January 18, 2018:

Here is my "Creative Adventure" based on Toni's meme for this past week:

http://toniscreativeadventures.blogspot.com/

The Quiet Place
1.  While looking for a quiet place to rest my tired body after a bad day at work I stumbled on a: path through the woods that I had never noticed before in my usual wanderings.  The sunlight was shining through the trees, filtering through the branches, beckoning me to follow the light...like a shimmering, glistening angel, smiling down and reaching deep into my weary soul..."Come, follow me..."

And so I did...and as I followed that glorious light into the depths of the woods,

my path diverted and began a descent down through the trees...and there suddenly appeared a body of water...and it seemed as though the woods whispered to me...

I was stunned!  How could this lovely place have been there all along and I'd never known it?

As I stumbled further down the path I gasped at what was there before me...

   2.  It was the most beautiful place that I ever could have imagined!

So peaceful, serene, calm...exactly what I needed...

3.  I turned and spotted what, to me, was the perfect place to just sit and marvel at the works of God...

And as I sat there along the shore of this quiet, peaceful little lake, I felt the cares of the world just slipping off of my shoulders and gliding down into the water, washed away and carried off into the depths of the "sea"....It was as if I could hear Jesus, as He walked along the shore of Galilee...that place where He called His disciples to Him, saying, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men..." (Mark 1:17)...and where He healed so many of their diseases and afflictions...(Mark 3:10)...
I know I heard Him say, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest..." (Matthew 11:28)

4.  After a long quiet while I knew I had to get up and head back home...and as I began my ascent back up the little hill through the woods to the dirt road that led back to the pathway home I discovered something I had failed to notice ever before.  There was a little sign saying "Lake Galilee Shore Road"...

I turned and looked back down the slope toward the water and wondered..."Could it be?"

I declare I could hear Him calling to me..."Daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace..." (Mark 5:34)

What do you think?

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Although the story may be a bit altered by creative license, the pictures are of a real place along the shores of Lake Galilee...not in Israel, but right here in Florida, not very far away...

"Go in peace..."

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Back to the present (3/25/2020), I would like to give you a little history on the pictures above of "Lake Galilee Shores"...Yes, that is a real place, located not far from where we are currently living.  When I took these pictures a couple of years ago, we had just begun our search for a potential location for our new home. We had decided that we truly wanted to relocate to this area, and we also knew that we wanted to look for property that was on the water in one way or another.  We came across this piece of property, and it was for sale. We fell in love with it immediately, and thought seriously about purchasing the lot with the intention of eventually building our home there.  However, it just wasn't in God's timing. The more we checked into the reality of building on that property, the more we knew it would quickly get beyond our ability to afford it, and so reluctantly we had to give it up.  But it was a struggle. I loved the idea of living on the "shores of Lake Galilee".  I could envision writing a book of devotions with that theme, and I thought for sure it was where God was leading us.  But God had another plan.  It would take another 18 months before His plan was revealed and brought to fruition, and now we sit here on the shores of "Still Waters Pond".

And even though it isn't on the shores of Lake Galilee, Jesus is still calling us to "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men..."

So my little creative adventure really did come true after all!  I love it when God's plans come together, don't you?
I hope you enjoyed this brief interlude from your "captivity at home" with this little creative adventure and also "the rest of the story", as our old friend Paul Harvey used to say.  
Have a blessed day my friends, and stay healthy and safe! And "Go in Peace"....