It’s almost summer in South Texas, and we’re beginning to feel it. 2020 was the year of the pandemic that came in like an unwelcome intruder, and 2021 has brought us weather the likes of which I’ve never seen—a February snowstorm lasting a week and then a hailstorm in early May. But the news of the virus and vaccinations gets better with each day, the valley is green, the ponds are full, and my potted plants are thriving. All signs of life and promise.

I’ve written about my lemon tree that I started from seed from a grocery store lemon about five years ago. According to the expert gardener, my tree was never supposed to have lemons. I gathered over two dozen last November. Oh, but in February with six days of subfreezing temperatures flirting with single digits, that lemon tree was in peril. I did what I could to protect it, even to using my homemade heaters from terra cotta pots and tea light candles. It lost every leaf, but I watered, fertilized, and I confess that I prayed for that tree. Well, this week, Bill said it was time to let it go and replace it with something living and colorful. He got the hedge trimmers and snipped at thorny, dead limbs. As he got closer to the trunk, he commented, “You know, this stem looks like it has some life.” I got on my knees to look and found a green sprout protruding from the root. I was so excited I nearly jumped off our second floor deck. More fertilizer, more water, more care, and the promise of more lemons. A sign of life and promise.

Most everyone I know loves the month of May. I do not. Sudden thunderstorms with hail and high winds are not my favorite things. In early May, Bill and I were in our comfy chairs with only the clicking of our computer keys disturbing the peaceful quiet at the Nichols’ Nest. Then came the phone alert about an approaching storm. We both laughed and kept working because there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But all that changed within about fifteen minutes. I sensed a growing darkness in the room and looked up. I grabbed my home and headed for the deck. I knew there would be a rainbow. I just knew it. I had done research on rainbows when I was writing my devotional book, and I knew the conditions were perfect: water in the air and the sunlight behind me at an angle of 42 degrees. Bill just chuckled and kept writing. I didn’t have to wait long for the arc of the rainbow to appear, and in less than a minute, it became a full rainbow framing the hill out back. I watched as though God was painting that arc with His invisible brush. I was taking photos when loud crashing sounds disturbed my mystical moment. Hail the size of tennis balls--no rain--just large chunks of ice falling from the heavens. It pummeled the tile roof, shattered our neighbor’s windows, and demolished several cars in the neighborhood. This eerie event went on for a full ten minutes before the rain started. But even with all that, I got my rainbow. A sign of life and promise.

You’re getting the first news of the release of my new book entitled SACRED SENSE from a SECOND LOOK. This  is not your typical devotional book. I’m not a preacher, so you won’t get a sermon. I’m not a professor, so you won’t get instruction. I’m a storytelling pilgrim always seeking God and trying to write the Truth. And through the years, I have learned that God shows up in the miracles, and He shows up in the ordinary. If we but take time to take a second look at events, at creation, and at others, we will see God’s hand and His presence in our everyday-walking-around lives. He is there. I simply write about some of the times when I have experienced God and His sacred sense in my daily days.  Here is an excerpt from one of the lessons entitled “Some Things Just Don’t Need Messin’ With.”

“But this one last thing is the most important, and there’s no room for even a hint of exception. Don’t mess with TRUTH. Truth is the realest and most important thing there is. Truth is God’s measuring stick, and while it is deeply personal when we accept it, Truth is not personalized or individualized. You don’t stretch the measuring stick and expect to get accurate measurements. Absolute Truth does not change no matter how our culture attempts to change it. Who are we to transform Truth? We ask and allow God’s Truth to transform us. And contrary to what movie stars and public figures say about  'living your personal truth,' we need God’s perfect measuring stick to keep us living God’s Truth, His way, making us purposeful and fulfilled people.” 

You're getting this news before anyone. The book will be released on June 29, but the ebook (not the print) is available for Pre-Order on Amazon at a reduced price now. Then on the release date, your ebook will be delivered to your phone or the device of your choice. Click this link. .Sacred Sense: From a Second Look - Kindle edition by Clark Nichols, Phyllis. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. 

A few years ago, Bill gifted me with his painting entitled "Loving Cardinals Awaiting Daybreak." I am thrilled that this painting became the cover of SACRED SENSE. The cardinal is my God-Alert, a reminder that God is present and active in my life. If you look carefully at the cover below, you will see the face of Jesus in the foliage of the tree above the cardinals. Once you see it, you can't un-see it. That's the way it is with Christ.

God is present, and He gives signs of His promises: His sign of resurrection promise in the sprout of a lemon tree thought to be lifeless, and  His sign of the rainbow in the midst of a storm. I hope you’ll take a second look and listen for His presence.

Always with joy,
Phyllis