You're listening to Encounter, a simple daily podcast to help you discover sacred moments in the middle of an ordinary day.

If you would enjoy greater access to even more free meditations, I encourage you to download the Encountering

Peace app where all the meditations are free, as they should be.

I'll never forget bringing home our first child from the hospital. He came a few weeks

early, and none of our family had made it into town yet. We left for

the hospital just the two of us, and a day later, the three of us were preparing to come home

with no operating manual. We had a long list of questions for our pediatrician when he popped

his head in the door.

He smiled, listened patiently, and told us, you will do just fine.

I printed out all that you will need to know in these early days.

Read it carefully and trust me.

You can call on me any time if you need me.

Well, the printout he gave us was worn and dog-eared within days.

His instructions were clear, concise, and they gave us rest.

But have you ever longed for such a detailed operating manual in your own times of stress

or aimless wandering?

Well, this meditation from Hebrews chapter 4 will remind you that you indeed do have such an operating

manual, one that's always available, one that's always true, and one that's always

applicable to where you are in your life. So to begin your meditation, find a place to be

open and trusting before your creator, a place to be vulnerable for God. We will be together in this divine sanctuary for about 15 minutes,

a retreat for you to be unguarded but safe, defenseless, but protected. So for now, allow your

breathing to settle and your eyes to close without effort.

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