My Life Song -- 200th Post!
>> Sunday, April 26, 2009
This post is very special, not only because it's the 200th post of my blog, In My Daddy's Arms, but because I have declared it to be my life's song.
Sometimes it may seem as if we get all vowels or all consonants - almost impossible to make a word to begin a Scrabble game, let alone score big. There's almost always one little letter, though. As you push the shuffle button on the keyboard, you watch the letters mix up and all of a sudden a word jumps out at you. You lay the tiles down and tell your fellow gamer - yt (your turn.) It's such a feeling of accomplishment.
When the letters are a perfect blend of consonants and vowels and many words can be made and they fall just perfectly on the TW or DW spots - it's fun but you almost feel bad for your partner who is sitting there with nothing. And then - just as you feel very confident (and maybe a bit bad because your score is so high) the screen refreshes and you see your partner scored big and is now ahead. If the game of Scrabble was easy and the perfect letters were in your possession every time, it wouldn't be near as much fun.
Life is like that. It's not perfect. It's challenging. It can be scary. It can be fun. And it helps so much when you have friends to share the good and bad with. BUT the very best thing - the thing that makes living life possible - is when we have the Master inside us. Always. He keeps us going even when the way is too hard.
The last two months have been long - a time of waiting for my surgery to finally happen. It hasn't been an easy wait either but you know what? I've had lots of good things happen along the way. Many days I've had up to three cards come in the mailbox right when I needed the encouragement. I've had friends pop in bearing gifts. I've had awesome emails and written and phone call prayers. I've had texts come right when I needed to know someone was thinking about me. I have balloons --well, I did have balloons. It is crazy windy here and they escaped out of my room where they had been floating around. When Jim opened the front door, they found the freedom they have been striving for:) oh boy. (that was late-breaking news by the way!)
I've had boxes come to me, too - full of goodies. And one box had a book, Psalms/Now. Below is the 23rd Psalm that I just love. Read it in a whole new way through this woman's "poetic restatement." It speaks volumes to me and defines my walk with the Lord.
When the letters are a perfect blend of consonants and vowels and many words can be made and they fall just perfectly on the TW or DW spots - it's fun but you almost feel bad for your partner who is sitting there with nothing. And then - just as you feel very confident (and maybe a bit bad because your score is so high) the screen refreshes and you see your partner scored big and is now ahead. If the game of Scrabble was easy and the perfect letters were in your possession every time, it wouldn't be near as much fun.
Life is like that. It's not perfect. It's challenging. It can be scary. It can be fun. And it helps so much when you have friends to share the good and bad with. BUT the very best thing - the thing that makes living life possible - is when we have the Master inside us. Always. He keeps us going even when the way is too hard.
The last two months have been long - a time of waiting for my surgery to finally happen. It hasn't been an easy wait either but you know what? I've had lots of good things happen along the way. Many days I've had up to three cards come in the mailbox right when I needed the encouragement. I've had friends pop in bearing gifts. I've had awesome emails and written and phone call prayers. I've had texts come right when I needed to know someone was thinking about me. I have balloons --well, I did have balloons. It is crazy windy here and they escaped out of my room where they had been floating around. When Jim opened the front door, they found the freedom they have been striving for:) oh boy. (that was late-breaking news by the way!)
I've had boxes come to me, too - full of goodies. And one box had a book, Psalms/Now. Below is the 23rd Psalm that I just love. Read it in a whole new way through this woman's "poetic restatement." It speaks volumes to me and defines my walk with the Lord.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my constant companion,
There is no need that He cannot fulfill.
Whether His course for me points
to the mountaintops of glorious joy
or to the valleys of human suffering,
He is by my side.
He is ever present with me.
He is close beside me
when I tread the dark streets of danger,
and even when I flirt with death itself,
He will not leave me.
When the pain is severe,
He is near to comfort.
When the burden is heavy,
He is there to lean upon.
When depression darkens my soul,
He touches me with eternal joy.
When I feel empty and alone,
He fills the aching vacuum with His power.
My security is in His promise
to be near me always
and in the knowledge
that He will never let me go.
Psalm 23 from the book, Psalms/Now
by Leslie F. Brandt
The Lord is my constant companion,
There is no need that He cannot fulfill.
Whether His course for me points
to the mountaintops of glorious joy
or to the valleys of human suffering,
He is by my side.
He is ever present with me.
He is close beside me
when I tread the dark streets of danger,
and even when I flirt with death itself,
He will not leave me.
When the pain is severe,
He is near to comfort.
When the burden is heavy,
He is there to lean upon.
When depression darkens my soul,
He touches me with eternal joy.
When I feel empty and alone,
He fills the aching vacuum with His power.
My security is in His promise
to be near me always
and in the knowledge
that He will never let me go.
Psalm 23 from the book, Psalms/Now
by Leslie F. Brandt
Isn't that awesome? "My security is in His promise to be near me always and in the knowledge that He will never let me go." No one else can promise that and carry it through - not even your very best friend because time, distance, and life gets in the way. But God is always always always right there. Always. Always.
So when you feel empty and alone, remember this. Cry out to Him. Listen to praise and worship music. Open up the Bible and let it speak to you. Life isn't easy but it is an adventure. My life song right now is one of pain but I don't think I would do anything over again if I had the opportunity. If not for what I've gone through, special people that mean the world to me, would not be in my life. I probably wouldn't feel such a close relationship to God, either, if life were easy. I'm sure I wouldn't have started writing.
No, my life song was written and composed by God and I will gladly sing it and live it with my hands raised high, either in praise or in needing help over the rough spots.
So when you feel empty and alone, remember this. Cry out to Him. Listen to praise and worship music. Open up the Bible and let it speak to you. Life isn't easy but it is an adventure. My life song right now is one of pain but I don't think I would do anything over again if I had the opportunity. If not for what I've gone through, special people that mean the world to me, would not be in my life. I probably wouldn't feel such a close relationship to God, either, if life were easy. I'm sure I wouldn't have started writing.
No, my life song was written and composed by God and I will gladly sing it and live it with my hands raised high, either in praise or in needing help over the rough spots.
