A Sister's Gift
Day by day the Spirit of God speaks to us in many ways. One significant way is by the way the Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures, speaking through the words of the Bible, bringing to life the words initially written so long ago and making them pertinent to our daily lives, situations, relationships and prayers.
Beverly Illauq is my sister. We shared a room and daily life as children growing up happily in rural central Ontario, but our paths have taken very different courses. Bev is a woman whose pilgrimage has covered a lot of rough terrain. In some of her darkest hours, as she cried out to the Lord for help, He began to answer her in very specific ways through daily Scripture readings as set out in the church lectionary.
Bev began to find each day, buried in the midst of the readings of the Gospels & Epistles, nuggets of truth that zeroed in on what she and her family were facing that day. She began to write down the pithy words of wisdom, exhortation, warning, encouragement, consolation that she mined each day, sometimes in the wee hours of sleepless nights, and some days only after several hours of grappling with the text in the context of the day.
What mystery it is that the historic records of the life and teaching of a man who lived two millenia ago can be so pointedly current to the specific situations faced by people in the 21st Century! Yet over the years this is what Bev has found to be a consistent reality. And these gifts have provided treasure not only for Bev, her children and grandchildren, but for family, friends and acquaintances. To this day, a conversation with Bev about what's going on, in her life or beyond, is usually punctuated with at least one pertinent reference to, "...today's Gospel Mystery..."
Besides referencing the day's mystery in conversation, Beverly shares these daily gifts via an email list. Many people are inspired and challenged, encouraged and consoled by having each day's Gospel Mystery delivered to their in-box.
For years Bev has dreamed of having a web site through which to share not only the daily Gospel Mysteries, but also the gifts of her first hand experience with the way God has supplied her needs while living in a family rife with the complications of Post Traumatic Stress Disorders. This web site is my gift back to her at the beginning of the new church year, and to all who will benefit from the gifts the Lord has given her to pass on to her fellow pilgrims. ssg Advent, 2014.
Beverly Illauq is my sister. We shared a room and daily life as children growing up happily in rural central Ontario, but our paths have taken very different courses. Bev is a woman whose pilgrimage has covered a lot of rough terrain. In some of her darkest hours, as she cried out to the Lord for help, He began to answer her in very specific ways through daily Scripture readings as set out in the church lectionary.
Bev began to find each day, buried in the midst of the readings of the Gospels & Epistles, nuggets of truth that zeroed in on what she and her family were facing that day. She began to write down the pithy words of wisdom, exhortation, warning, encouragement, consolation that she mined each day, sometimes in the wee hours of sleepless nights, and some days only after several hours of grappling with the text in the context of the day.
What mystery it is that the historic records of the life and teaching of a man who lived two millenia ago can be so pointedly current to the specific situations faced by people in the 21st Century! Yet over the years this is what Bev has found to be a consistent reality. And these gifts have provided treasure not only for Bev, her children and grandchildren, but for family, friends and acquaintances. To this day, a conversation with Bev about what's going on, in her life or beyond, is usually punctuated with at least one pertinent reference to, "...today's Gospel Mystery..."
Besides referencing the day's mystery in conversation, Beverly shares these daily gifts via an email list. Many people are inspired and challenged, encouraged and consoled by having each day's Gospel Mystery delivered to their in-box.
For years Bev has dreamed of having a web site through which to share not only the daily Gospel Mysteries, but also the gifts of her first hand experience with the way God has supplied her needs while living in a family rife with the complications of Post Traumatic Stress Disorders. This web site is my gift back to her at the beginning of the new church year, and to all who will benefit from the gifts the Lord has given her to pass on to her fellow pilgrims. ssg Advent, 2014.
