As the flowers follow the sun, and silently hold up their petals to be tinted and enlarged by its shining, so must we, if we would know the joy of God, hold our souls, wills, hearts, and minds, still before Him. God speaks for the most part in such silence only. If the soul be full of tumult and jangling voices, His voice is little likely to be heard.

~ Alexander MacLaren, Scottish Baptist minister who lived from 1826-1910

I’m sitting in the solitude of WaterBrooks overlooking the Cross. As I watch the mountain mist burn away in the morning light, these verses from James 4:14 NLT come to my mind,

Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”

It’s a great reminder to make every moment count.

The last few years Sue felt so helpless simply sitting in a wheelchair. Her hands had become numb and useless from MS. There was really nothing that she could do even to help herself. And yet In her increasing weakness, she was my greatest encourager to keep focused on what was really important. Even though she was by nature a high energy, ‘let’s get it done’ person, when her Lord set her down in that chair with various pains and afflictions, she received it as a gift from Him.

She trusted Him that He knew what was best for her, to polish her and prepare her for life with Him.

I am definitely a couple of decades behind her in my spiritual walk! Being her nurse, primary caregiver, and travel companion, I would often become stressed and overwhelmed by things that needed to be done in order to keep moving forward.

Sue’s quiet response to me from her chair,”Honey, life’s too short! Come sit down with me. I want you to have the joy of the Lord!”

Now as I sit here on the porch alone, I’m thinking of her words. “Lord, give me your joy! You will show me the way of life. Bless me here with the joy of Your presence and fill me with delight at the thought of living with You forever.” Psalm 16.11

After all, this life is the dressing room.

We only have a short time to get ready.

Then that door will open and we will take that single step across the threshold and into the real world we were created for…

Life in Eternity!

After 2 weeks hiatus in Ohio I’m back at WaterBrooks. Because of recent rains there is a roar of the water from the falls (in picture) cascading into the brook. Everything is so green. Definitely a healing place. I can feel the touch and the breath of God here.

Pray, pray, pray for the blessing of God to be poured out from the windows of heaven so that we can continue to move forward so that others can be here and be blessed through the beautiful quietness of His creation!

The cost of the next phase has nearly doubled since it was first appraised in 2018. That was pre-COVID. We had a recent estimate done for the septic and we still need another $15-18,000 to complete that task.

To break that down, that would be 36 love-gifts of $500.

Or 180 donations of $100.

If the Lord provides above all that we ask and think, we would also like to do foundation work for the Manna House while we have the excavator on the property, so that we’re not having to pay costly transport for it twice. The Manna House will hold the first guest rooms, a real kitchen, and best of all, real flushing toilets and hot shower!

Yes, all these years Sue was content to return every summer, even in her frail health, and live without hot water or flushing toilet and until the last years, even without electricity, simply because she believed that this property held a special vision and promise from her Lord.

During the years of world traveling and speaking to the multitudes, she gladly went from hotel life to simple primitive cabin life in order to be in the stillness of a place dedicated and set aside to meet the Lord Jesus.

Let me tell you why the vision of WaterBrooks is so important. In this crazy frantic world, fraught with stress, driven by technology, we are in overload, assimilating information and knowledge. Just like your computer or phone, you may need a ‘restart’ so you can be reset, renewed, and restored. But those updates cannot take effect until we’ve shut everything down and done a deliberate pressing of the pause button.

We need a quiet place where we can disconnect from the cares of world for a short time. Only then are we able to wholeheartedly return… refreshed… to the busyness of living in a world where the Lord has called us to reflect His Image.

Hosea 14:1-7 was dear to Sue’s heart. Those verses hold the promises that He gave to her on the longest darkest night of her life before He broke through with light and, as she says, He broke her silence with audible words as if He was right there speaking to her as she read them.

She often said she saw the fulfillment of the promise He gave her that night. If you have an autographed copy of her book, Silent Night, she just might have written that reference under her signature. And this is why…

He healed her of her sin; He loved her freely; He turned His anger away; He made her beautiful as a lily. In God’s perfect attention to detail, even the name her parents gave her, Susan, means lily.

But there was one aspect of the promise that for many years kept her puzzled.

It was verse 7…that God’s people would return and rest beneath His shadow. There they will be revived, and flourish and grow like a grapevine. They will have the fragrance of the Lord upon them.

Why had the Lord given her this particular promise? What did it mean? And then she realized that WaterBrooks was such a place where people would come in the quietness and rest beneath His Shadow. WaterBrooks is the final promise fulfilled.

This is why she loved this place so much.

As I sit here on the cabin porch watching the morning sun burst through the layers of mountain fog, the flowers are lit with glorious color. The Cross on the island is radiant. The white noise of the little water falls tumbling over rocks down the mountainside envelopes me with the sound of silence.

In the beginning of this world God Himself walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day. Interestingly, Genesis 3:8 says, that Adam and Eve ‘heard the sound’ of Him walking in the garden. What an incredible thought! Sometimes when I’m out pulling weeds or working among the flowerbeds, I like to stop and just sit and listen.

Because one day again, we will hear the sound of the Lord walking among us! He has said over and over again in His Word that he will come and dwell with us and be among us. Emmanuel… God with us! Revelation 21

Until then, Sue Thomas Ministries, a Ministry of Encouragement, has set apart Water Brooks as a place for you to come away from turmoil and technology and take a deep breath. A place to be still and to listen for the direction of God.

Whether you’re going through family troubles, or a period of grieving and sorrow, confusion, brokenness, or simply weary from day to day ministry in an increasingly difficult culture, WaterBrooks is a place to get alone with the Lord, away from other distractions. A place to be surrounded by His creation, and to wait for Him to meet you in the Garden.

The hand of God is on this place. He continues to touch hearts here. He is dramatically transforming lives. He has said He will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing.

Even if you cannot physically come and experience the peacefulness for yourself, wouldn’t you like to be a part of what He is quietly doing and become a bit of that blessing, poured out from heaven to encourage others? Your financial gift of any amount will help with this next phase so that we can open WaterBrooks to those who need to get away from the clamour and commotion of the crowds, just as Jesus Himself set the precedent by “going up into the mountain to pray.”

We often overlook the importance of prayer. We get so busy doing, that we forget being. Being alone and being still. It is in the place of prayer, alone with the Father, that strength can be found for the next leg of the journey of life.

Now, let me bring you back down to earth! We cannot begin to host people here properly until we have a flushing toilet, and running water!

Whatever you are able to give towards this project, I can assure you it will all absolutely “go down the drain!” We have been waiting a long time to break ground for this septic system. Won’t you help us with this groundbreaking project today?

You can either follow the link below, or email me to find out how you can help!

Giving to Sue Thomas Ministries

I bought this dish at a local garden center one of those long weeks when Sue was in the hospital in 2020. It was such a reminder to me that even in hard times she remained in God’s good hands.Hands were very important to Sue.

Hands speak.

Not only do they communicate through sign language but also they speak of a person’s inner state of Being…of who they are and what is going on in their heart.

Uncared-for hands.

Grabbing hands.

Nervous hands.

Rough hands.

Quiet hands.

Gentle hands.

Healing hands.

Sue often told me I had healing hands. That my touch was healing. I’m not exactly sure what that means because when I have a headache my hands don’t really do too much to help me!! But I do recognize the many ways hands communicate.

The first gift I ever gave Sue was a hand. I had only known her a few short months when her birthday rolled around. She was turning 54.The TV show was still being produced, and she was traveling extensively as a keynote speaker, staying in fine hotels around the world. I had a dilemma. What do you give someone who appears to have everything? I’m someone who always likes to give a meaningful gift. So as I racked my brain, the realization dawned on me that there was nothing I could buy for her that she couldn’t buy for herself.

Suddenly divine inspiration hit me. In the years before I met Sue I had worked with a midwife and delivered babies in an Amish community. Because photos were not permitted, every little one that came into the world had his feet inked and precious footprints preserved. Sue had also attended one of these births with me and witnessed a first breath, and saw a first cry. And was in awe when she felt the pulsating umbilical cord as the lifeblood flowed through. She was fascinated with the power and energy of these beginnings of life.

I had my own ink pad in the closet so I pulled out a parchment paper, inked my entire left hand (And yes, I am left-handed!) and carefully pressed my hand on the paper, gently rolling the fingers to make sure I had the fingerprints. For some reason, it just seemed like the perfect gift to give someone who started their FBI career reading fingerprints!

Then, I found my calligraphy pen and wrote in freestyle script those enduring words by blind hymn writer from the last century, Fanny Crosby. “He hideth my soul in the depths of His love… and covers me there with His hand.”

Putting it inside of a yellow manila envelope, I printed Happy Birthday on the outside.

I was pretty shy in those days, and it felt like such an inadequate gift!

But, it was a gift from the heart and Sue absolutely loved it! She loved it so much she took it to a professional framing company and spent hundreds of dollars on getting it matted and framed! She repeatedly reassured me it was one of her most prized possessions and she wanted me to bury it with her!

I had to do a lot of talking over the years to convince her that it was not a good idea to bury that expensive frame!

Today as I look at that spontaneously inked but elegantly framed handprint hanging on the wall in the master bedroom at the foot of the bed, it makes me smile. It warms my heart that she enthusiastically embraced such a simple little gift.

She had the wisdom to interpret the inspiration behind it, seeing that it was actually the Lord who was giving her words of encouragement. Often, on some of those long dark days of MS pain, she would be resting in her room. From the kitchen I would first hear humming sounds from the bedroom. Before long she would be triumphantly belting out the words, her voice growing stronger and stronger. “He hideth my soul in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand!”

No matter how rough the day or how rotten she felt, she clung to the truth that Jesus was holding on to her with His good and gentle hands, and He would never let go.

Even now, if I close my eyes and listen carefully, I can still hear her unmistakable voice reverberating His praises and His promises throughout the house. And I’m encouraged to trust the same good Hand.

He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved; He giveth me strength as my day.

He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land.

He hideth my life in the depths of His love,and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.

(Fanny Crosby)

In this world preoccupied with getting followers or signing up as a follower, we really need to reevaluate Who we really should be following!

He’s not out there frantically trying to get our attention with crazy posts, either! For generations, even millennia, He has constantly…and consistently… been surrounding His people with quiet reminders of who He is.

Whether it is in the beauty of His natural creation which can be discovered everywhere…

or seeing the endless galaxies when we take a moment to gaze upward…

or the joy and laughter of friends and family…

or the love and acceptance of our furry companions…

Just like the moon is a reflection of the sun…

or the mirror reflects your own face,

all of these joys are little reflections of His goodness.

The Lord GOD, the Holy One, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the King of this world and the world to come.

In the midst of all of the commotion,
He is whispering these words,

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30.15

Be still…
and wait on the Lord.
Then,
and only then,
will you know
deep inside,

Who is directing your day.

Step aside and wait,
quietly trusting…

Then Follow.

(Inspired by the Garden Sign hanging on the porch of the little Cabin at WaterBrooks.)