Skip to main content

Picking Apart

This week I began praying through Psalm 27. I love praying through verses because it helps me study the bible, and to really dig into praying more intentionally. I pick apart each line, praying and reflecting over the words and how they apply to my life.

Verse one says
"The Lord is my light and my salvation
-so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble?"

 I picked it apart.

"The Lord is my light." I am going through some things right now, and had been calling this time my darkness. But this verse says the Lord is my light. There can be no darkness where there is light. I am going through a valley, but there is no darkness because I have Christ.

"And my salvation." My salvation is not dependent upon me. And in fact nothing I do can really stand in God's way, so why am I afraid?

"So why should I be afraid?" Well, imagine my chuckle after thinking that previous ending thought, and then reading these next words.

"The Lord is my fortress." Not the shell I have retreated into. It's not a fortress so much as an illusion of one.

"Protecting me from danger." My shell has not protected me, but instead caused harm by shutting others out, by putting me in that mental place where my insecurities and fears attack and break me down. God provides me a safe fortress to protect me from even myself.

"So why should I tremble?" Why am I cowering in fear of these feelings of not being good enough? Not being good enough at anything, for anything, for anyone? Why am I so afraid of the opinions of others when their opinions most often are not reflective of my character? It doesn't change who I am in Christ.

In picking apart these verses in reflection and in prayer, I have been growing. In seeking Christ more intentionally, I have been finding myself more and more. How amazing that I was looking in all these places and failing over and over, yet when I get back to seeking Christ instead of myself, I find myself there!! In Him!

One of my favorite verses is verse 8.

"My heart has heard You say, "Come and talk with Me."
And my heart responds, "Lord, I am coming."

 I had been feeling Christ calling to my heart, and it took me a little bit, but my heart was responding, it was working it's way back to where it belongs. My identity is in Christ, and when I am feeling like I am losing myself, I only need to seek Him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life Gets a Little Crazy

I feel like sleeping, not blogging, so this will be a bit more rushed than normal. It's been so long since I've posted anything, I just felt that it was about time I caught up (not that anyone really cares. Haha).     Being sick got me behind in everything from laundry and dishes to sleep and school work with the girls. . . and editing photos. Now life has been full of catching up and cleaning up.     I found the cure to Courtney's inability to sleep before I go to bed. Constant music. I found a Disney lullaby cd at the library, and have been playing it all night in their room. Courtney sleeps so much better, which means I sleep much better!      My photography session scheduling went crazy the past 2 months and I have been struggling to keep up with all the editing. The editing takes lots of time. Here's an example: I sat for 3 hours straight just color correcting wedding pictures. You would normally think "WOW!! She probably got a whole lot done!"...
Post a Comment
Read more

One Liners Christian Singles Don't Want to Hear. . . Again.

So I have been misunderstood, and feel like I should redo this whole thing and put it here. Beware, I will be being myself, and if you don't know me well, may take it terribly wrong. If so, and you think I'm being mean, read it again with a different mindset until you get it right. How will you know? You'll think "Hmmm... that's bitingly sarcastic and funny!" That is unless you don't have a sense of humor. Then you're just out of luck and probably shouldn't read any farther. I have been a single mom for over 8 years. I decided that the general public needs to be reminded what not to tell us singles because, well, they keep saying the same programmed responses. Empty responses that others seem to feel responsible for telling us. Over and over and over and over. . . . Singles Christians everywhere get told the same placating remarks every day. At least once. We may be asked if we're seeing anyone, we may be venting about being tired of being ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Oh the Randomness of this Blog

I feel that life has taken some huge turns as of late. Some great, some. . . not so much. Some I can tell about, some. . . I'd just rather not. Some are yet to be decided.      First of all, I love my small group. I can't believe how great a fit we are! The personalities, the kids. We're so weird!! Last night I shared a recent issue I have to deal with. Most people would say "Is there anything we can do?" or "Can we help?". Passive offers. While there is nothing wrong with that, for someone like me, it is much more effective the way it was worded last night, "What do you need from us? What can we do? What do you need us to do?" Not asking if, but what. I put my independent "I can do this" self on a shelf, because really, I just keep getting so overwhelmed that I can't do it. I told them what I needed, they rallied behind me, made a plan, and encouraged me. This group is so tight knit, so there for each other. God really placed m...
Post a Comment
Read more