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Thursday, April 12, 2007
This week has been a challenge. More so than the normal week at my place.I expected it would be a wild one...but it's turned out to be much more of a struggle than I had anticipated. A series of crises, large and small, physical and emotional, have left me worn to a place of hollowness.
Perhaps it's my age, but at times like these I recall my grandmother's words, "Heaven is going to be so sweet..."
You have enclosed me behind and before...
But in these days, God has whispered welcome comforts, painting the future with hope: the promise of a new life in the family...the gentle touch of my husband...the soothing, sheltering words of my friend...the pleasure of an upcoming trip to see my daughters and grandchildren.
And I remember, too, that He has just given sweet days of rest and strength-gathering, a fortification against coming storms.
And then I remember the Psalmist's words
You have enclosed me behind and before
And laid Your hand upon me.Psalm 139:5
How incredibly He has enclosed me: behind me with rest and nourishment, before me with signs and words of "a future and a hope," and best of all, His hand on me in this very moment, protecting me and mine from being consumed in the fire.
Is there a greater comfort than this--that the Rock of Ages is cleft...for ME? That He encloses me on every side with impregnable defenses? That His hand is laid on me, a promise that He will never leave me? There is no storm, no fire, no challenging week that can overcome that kind of protection!
Is there a greater comfort than this--that the Rock of Ages is cleft...for ME? That He encloses me on every side with impregnable defenses? That His hand is laid on me, a promise that He will never leave me? There is no storm, no fire, no challenging week that can overcome that kind of protection!
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life with the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand!
Labels: Devotional
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