Handwritten and Designed

By Ken and Jan Merop

Cleveland, Tennessee

“How can you read that?” my husband Ken exclaimed.  It looks like a bunch of squiggly lines going in different directions!”

I smiled and assured him I knew exactly what each symbol meant.

In high school, I’d taken shorthand.  It truly was like learning another language.  Once all the forms for the alphabet were memorized along with shapes for various phrases, I could take dictation easily and quickly.

Even after my secretarial career was over, shorthand came in handy when taking notes at a meeting, in church, or during a phone call.

One thing I remember about that class is how we were not only taught the alphabet and phrases.  We were also expected to know how to hold our pen or pencil.

The teacher would walk by our desks as she dictated to us.  You never knew if it would be your pen she’d try to pluck from your fingers.  If she couldn’t, you wouldn’t be holding it loosely enough.

Recently I saw a church sign that said, “God is still writing your story.  Stop trying to take the pen from his hand.  Trust the Author.”

When I look back at my life, I am so happy to see how God has written my story and how much better it reads when I cooperate.

Early on, I learned that I had plucked the pen from his hand in trying to create what I thought my future would look like.

Only after the trauma of divorce did I realize how intimately involved he was in my life.  How every detail mattered and that following his way was best.

Years later I could sing with all my heart the song that says that he made something beautiful of my life.  He holds the pen at just the right angle, with just the correct pressure, and with a cursive flair that blesses me so that I might bless others.

Shorthand is a lost art, I guess.  Secretaries no longer sit and take dictation from a boss.  But at that time, it was a much-needed and desired skill.

My life’s story has been handwritten and designed by God.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,” says Proverbs 3: 5 and 6 NKJV.  “And lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

God is still writing your story, my story, and Philippians 1:6 reminds us to be confident that “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Trust the Author.  Selah

Lily Pad Jewel

Flat, yet intricately designed lily pads

fill the lake waters near the shore.

Slowly…as if by magic…tiny buds appear.

Then in the early morning sun,

beautiful lavender water lilies stand upright;

Like jewels displaying their brilliance.

“Look at the lilies…how they grow…

Solomon in all his glory was not dressed

so beautifully as they are.”

Matthew 6: 28 & 29

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After six years in the mountains of Avery County, Ken and Jan Merop are now living in the hilly Tennessee countryside of Cleveland, TN…just outside of Chattanooga.  Ken’s photos can be seen at kenmeropphotography.com.

Read more Christian news from Ken and Jan HERE.

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