Stay in the River

“When you fall into the river—and it is when, not if—stay in the river. You might be tempted to swim to the side, but that’s where the crocodiles live, and they will eat you!”

When we face difficulties and long battles, we just want them to end.

It’s tempting to try to find another way or to beg God to get us out. But if we stay in the flow of what He has allowed into our lives, we find it is not happening to us but for us.

The God who created us is writing His story.

From the beginning, God wrote His precision, order, and love of beauty into everything He made, from the vast universe to the tiniest atom. He penned His Word to tell us who He is and His unfathomable desire that we know Him. Today, He brings His narrative to life through the stories of our lives so others can know His forgiveness, love, and healing.

Stay in the River tells the fascinating stories of two women, mother and daughter, who live very different lives. Eunice experiences hardship from her earliest memories growing up in New Zealand. After a childhood void of love and affirmation, it takes decades to find her voice and carve her own path. Celeste is a shy, awkward little girl who finds God at twelve years old. This sets her on a path of adventure to some of the poorest populations in the world, spreading the love of Christ.

These are two of the millions of true stories that are part of God’s story. May the details within enhance your own story as God continues to write it.

Celeste Delaney is an author and speaker who grew up in New Zealand, where much of life was lived outdoors playing in the bush or at a nearby beach. Although she left the country after studying occupational therapy and lived and worked all over the world, she gets back to New Zealand whenever she can. In her twenties, she married the man of her dreams, and they raised three wonderful children on the mission field. Now widowed, she lives in Oregon near her children and six grandchildren, who are her joy and motivation for writing this life story. She enjoys traveling, watercolor painting, reading, walking on the beach or along woodland trails, teaching, and writing.