March/April 2018

The
Anniversary
Jeanne Moran
Sharon Ruff
Lake Michigan was calm and a light breeze brushed my face as the hot sand crunched under
my feet. I didn’t have much time before I had to meet the other gals at the retreat cottage; so I
picked up my pace
Come and sit with Me a while, I sensed God saying as I passed a huge log. I glanced back but
hurried on. The temperature dropped suddenly as dark clouds and strong winds started
whipping the sand. Come sit with Me a while. This time the inner voice seemed urgent.
I trotted back to the log and sat looking at the ominous horizon when God spoke to my heart
again. This is where we first met on Lake Michigan. Forty years ago today.
I started weeping. On my birthday forty years earlier, I cried out to a God I didn’t know in the
midst of a raging storm while our boat was sinking. Now, He asked me to sit a while with Him so
we could share our forty-year anniversary together. I stood, lifted my arms high and worshipped
as the winds raged, pushing me backwards and dried my salty tears to a sandy crust on my
face. Today we are going to walk through a storm together without fear.
Thunder and lightning crashed directly over my head. Fear clenched my heart as I relived the
near tragedy forty years earlier—but I heard His voice clearly over the deafening thunder and
lightning. Be still and know that I am God.
I knew that He wanted me to walk through this storm without fear. I pulled my hood over my
face to protect me from the stinging sand and driving rain as we scaled the brush-covered hill
together. Each time the lightning crashed overhead, I would pause a moment and thank Him
for being with me. At the top of the hill I could hear my friends screaming, “Run, Run!”
I chose to walk slowly through this storm, savoring the intimacy of our forty-year relationship.
3
I felt no fear. Only gratitude.