Mr. and Mrs. Jackson Ayers
I have been a long-distance runner for 6 years now. I run for the physical benefits, but even more for the mental benefits, a complete and total escape from my own thoughts. As I set off on my run early Tuesday morning, I found myself crippled with thoughts of uncertainty. As I began to feel like I couldn’t breathe, I walked a bit and then sat down in the sand.
My mind raced between focusing on the music playing loud in my ears and the beauty of the crashing waves in front of me. A woman walked past me, grinned, and then sat in the sand to my left. She introduced herself as Deception and proceeded to say, “I can see you are overwhelmed; it must be tough feeling like you can’t catch a break; everything just keeps going wrong.” I looked at her in disbelief. I thought to myself, “what an intrusive comment to make”. I then said, “you’re right, I am feeling overwhelmed, but I have so much good I can be focusing on.”
The silence was deafening as I began to mentally list out the ways God has blessed me greatly.
A few minutes passed and another woman came walking up the shoreline. She too smiled at me and then parked it in the sand to my right. She introduced herself as Peace and then proceeded to say, “I can see that you are overwhelmed; you must find so much comfort and rest in knowing that God’s plans are currently at work and that even though you feel this way, you are exactly where He wants you to be.” I looked at her and smiled, “Thank you!
That is the reminder my soul was craving to hear.”
Then a third voice rang through my head, “Trust me”, it said, with complete and total calmness. I leaned forward expecting to see a third person coming to sit, but I saw no one. As I shifted my gaze from the ocean to my left and right sides, I saw no one.
Deception and Peace were not physical beings but rather the voices in my head. One fostering a mentality of self-pity and the other empowering me to lean into the Spirit. But who was the third?
The voice of God. A voice so calm yet so powerful
that the other voices residing in my head were now silent!
This is an allegory written last year by Alexandra Grace Ayers,
my 21-year-old, newly married, granddaughter.
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
