I am doing well, finding great joy in sharing ‘Kingdom Lessons from my Garden’ in short episodes on www.DieuTV.com (type Jardin de Dieu on the site’s search bar). But the moments of loneliness still happen, the most intense when I’m with friends we knew together.

Last week I spent a couple days with the group of Swiss spiritual leaders we prayed regularly with for over 30 years; I was the only single, and kept thinking, “She would have loved to be here!” Good people, good food, beautiful setting in a completely-renovated old mill.

We were in Protestant territory in southern France, and our host is one of the world experts on the history of this people. He reminded us of the 5 major moves of God that had impacted the area, and told us of the hundreds of Protestant pastors who gave their lives for their people in the 16th-18th centuries. They would go to the scaffold singing the ‘song of the martyrs’, Psalm 118, and especially verse 24.  We have sung “This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it”, so lightly; they sang it in the moments preceding their execution; and it so strengthened the watching believers that finally the French authorities banned the song.

We were very conscious of the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us there (Hebrew 12.1); of which Cynthia is now a member.

Let us remember when the solitude becomes more intense, that we are never really alone. We have friends and family who have crossed over already, and the Spirit within us to comfort us. The veil grows thinner as the time passes . . . .

Here’s another thought that came to me: pain can bring us closer to God, and to each other. But we have to take it by the handle, not the blade . . .