My six prayer journals have grown to eight! I have two "adopted" grand boys that discovered my new colorful books and I asked if they would like me to fill ones with prayers for them. Big smiles and nods...
In my last post, I mentioned a pastor friend referring to loneliness as a gift. One week before Rob's cancer diagnosis, we attended our church's annual youth camp as sponsors. We always looked forward to Scot Pollok's messages. I don't think the video of that Wednesday night's sermon made it online, but it's embedded in my memory.  On that hot summer night, I clearly knew Scot's [God's] powerful message was directed at me. That's only happened a few times in my life and it would be affirmed in the hard days ahead. 
As I was unpacking storm boxes yesterday, a folded note with one of the quotes from that sermon, slipped out of a rescued book. No accident, I believe!

Loneliness is a gift because it gives you a chance to become very intimate with God.

When is the last time I embraced loneliness as an invitation for intimacy with my LORD?   Instead of struggling with my present loneliness, I wish to  cherish this uninterrupted time with Him. 

Lingering with God always spills over to others; like a seed germinating in the dark soil, intimacy with the Master eventually produces. 

My prayer: God grow something useful from the hours alone with You. May I become crazy jealous for our time together...

I will not waste this year!  Neither flood nor displacement will seize this year. This conviction continues to grow within me, one of the rich lessons of trauma.
Although I've lost a good portion of my stuff, intimacy will not be recorded on my inventory.  Intimacy...the desire of my heart! I'm reminded today that we were made for just that. Intimacy is not a waste of our time.
Last night, in the bustle of Wednesday night church activities, I locked hearts with another woman who too had walked chest deep through the waters. Her eyes brimming with collected tears, she poured her evacuation story in detail and I listened as if my very life depended on it. It did! Listening to the stories has become my passion; no waste in that. Whether we realize it or not, we need storytellers and ready listeners.  This is how we all will pass through the waters. 
And this is how we deepen our relationships.
The courageous both spill and absorb life's narratives.  Are you doing both?
But even more importantly, I draw near to the God who hears, the creator of intimate relationship. Jesus stops, Jesus really listens, and Jesus weeps. 
As a novice writer, I'm clearly eager to disentangle my thoughts, but my true desire is to become a good listener like Jesus. Listening will not be a waste of time.

He who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life. . . . Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer