Carla's Corner: Walking in Thin Places

I’m at Mt. Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference and having a great time networking, and teaching writing workshops. I’ve also enjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones. One person I’ve seen here is my good friend Mary DeMuth.

Mary is a wonderfully authentic person. This is evident in her memoir Thin Places. In this book, she walks readers through her past filled with incredible childhood sufferings to a place of healing and rest. Mary invites us to discover those “thin places” in our own lives—those places “where heaven and the physical world collide, one of those serendipitous territories where eternity and the mundane meet. Thin describes the membrane between the two worlds…where we see a holy glimpse of the eternal—not in digital clarity, but clear enough to discern what lies beyond.”

Mary’s story brought back to my mind and heart, places where God gave me a glimpse into eternity. I encourage you to read one chapter at a time, meditating on Mary’s words and recalling those times when God reach through that “membrane” to touch your heart. Mary shares some pretty gutsy things that happened in her life and she is a brave soul for sharing so openly and honestly. Although she suffered a lot of abuse and neglect growing up, Mary never whines or shifts blame for her circumstances, but points out how God used her family experiences of sexual abuse and drugs, to reach her and make her the woman, wife, mother, and friend she is today.

Thin Places was a tough book to write, and it encourages me to stay vulnerable in my own writing, revealing those “thin places" in my own life.

Is there a “thin place” in your life? Tough times that you know God allowed in-order to shape and mold you into the person you are today? I personally experienced some pretty tough times as a child as well. Like Mary, I struggled with my relationship with my parents, especially my mother. At twenty, God freed me with the following passage:

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us, (Acts 17:26-27).

This passage lifted the burden of guilt and longing for a good maternal relationship. God had purposely put me in the family he did so I would cry out to him—which by his grace I did. How amazing is his love and wisdom.

I have three copies of Thin Places, that I will give to the first three gals who leave a comment on this thread. We would love hear about your "thin places" between this life and holiness.

www.thespiritualmom.com