So excited to have a “guest” post on gloryrenewed. I approached my very creative daughter-in-love a good while back to consider being a guest blogger on this site. I’ve read her endearing posts with her amazing photos on Instagram and Facebook and knew she had a gift with words and pictures. I know her sold-out heart for Jesus and welcome her offering to this space. Enjoy this true experience from Emily Bonnette Hendershot.

  Holy Ground

 I had this certain pair of shoes on my mind. A certain look. A certain feel. A certain protection they would provide. Able to withstand the depths of rain and snow, yet light and rigid for the spring and summer camping trips ahead. A certain amount of research given to know these shoes were the ones. A certain sense of adventure they would bring. A certain joy they would be. A certain ease knowing my feet would be happy. And even more a certain assurance that these shoes would make my feet feel better on ground that hadn’t been so steady lately.

 After too much thinking that these were certain to be the ones, my husband said I had to go get them. Wow, he is awesome. So we went. Babes packed up and out the door. Into the store. 

 And it all failed. The shoes. They weren’t at all what I thought they would be. My certains crushed. My ground feeling even more unsteady. 

 And then I looked up. On display right in front of me were a pair of boots. Ones sure to meet all my certains check listed in my mind. And more. Way more. Until my husband said after sometime of my “trying them out” that I probably wouldn’t wear them and that they wouldn’t serve the certain purpose I had been looking for in the first place.

 So we left. My heart crushed. My ground breaking so it felt. 

 The next few weeks after that were not so good I could say. Nothing big or bad, but just, unsteady. It seems silly, but in my prayers I prayed for those boots. That somehow in my uncertain seconds of the day, God had his hand on me, and he knew just what my heart and feet needed. 

I went back to the store. Straight to the display. An employee came right to me with a smile and said, “you seem to know what you’re looking for.” I said “yes, I’ve been praying about these boots and they are the ones I want.”

I tried them on again and conversation with the sales lady was easy and flowing. As if we had met before, our hearts knowing. We went to the cash register, and she rang up my total. As I gave her my cash a certain smile overtook her face and a light shined in her eyes just before she spoke.

She said, “you know, we pray for the shoes we sell before each shift. That the soles of the shoes we sell will go out and share the gospel”.

Wow, God. Wow. Steady my heart for you. Steady my feet for you.

A for certain “these will” I answered.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bring good tidings, that publishes peace: that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Thy God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7

Thank you, to the sweet lady, a daughter of Christ, at the shoe store for publishing salvation. For bringing good tidings and sharing that God reigns in your life.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bring good tidings, that publishes peace: that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Thy God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7

And that’s our certain purpose. To publish Christ. To share that He reigns. To share that He is our look. Our feel. He is our protection. Our happy. Our joy. Our purpose. Our blessed assurance.

My researching to find the perfect pair of shoes to satisfy a desire other than Christ in my heart didn’t publish any sort of notion that He reigns in my life. It didn’t value His redemption. His liberty. His good news. The price He paid. It didn’t share that He is my certain in the uncertain steps of life. Rather it published my uncertainty, my worries, my fears, and even frustrations.

 And Christ came forth through the heart and feet of one His daughters to meet me in a Holy place.

“And that’s our certain purpose. To publish Christ. To share that He reigns.”

I know for sure that those in the book of Isaiah publishing the good news of Salvation didn’t have Keen Koven Gortex or Timberland Keele Ridge Mid Hikers. What I do know is that they had beautiful feet.

Feet that stood on Holy ground.

My mother in love recently told me that all ground we walk on is Holy. Wow, that is a certain. We walk on Holy Ground at all times. We stand on the same Holy Ground that Isaiah stood on. No matter what shoes we have or the places we are. All ground between our feet is Holy. And our God is still reigning.

Jill Briscoe shared this, too, “Go where you’re sent, stay where you’re put, and give what you’ve got.”

It’s easy to publish uncertainty instead of Christ. To wonder if what you say, where you go, what you do, if it will be right. But we have a God that is with us always. On His Holy Ground.

My prayer for myself, for my family, my friends, church, and world is to take that Promise with us everywhere and in every moment. That the place beneath my feet is beautiful and Holy. What a gift. What a fire that sets to publish peace. To bring good tidings of good. To publish salvation. To share that God reigns.

 –Emily is a Graphics Design graduate of Otterbein College, wife to Mark, Momma to Lilly and Garrison. She is the founder and owner of EBH Creative and makes all kinds of beautiful art from her heart. Check out ebhcreative.com for more.

Thank you Emily, I love you and am so grateful God brought our lives together!