I praise you, Lord my Shepherd. You have overcome for me all the shame that ever has or ever will attach to me. You are teaching me to overcome it too. By your grace, I drink deeply of your favor, and it restores my rest.
It’s not a little thing to face into something as painful as shame. It takes courage, and trust. Yet to experience the abundant life and rest and favor our Lord holds out to us, it’s vital to let him show us when we’re feeling shame, and how to walk free from it.
At times in this world, all eyes turn toward what seems most important, invincible, extraordinary. If we look further, the Lord will remind us what actually is.
At times, David found himself in a very dark place. When he sang, “I will fear no evil,” he confessed: “Evil is real – but God’s ever-present help is greater.”
As we come to him, our Lord shows us: “Rest? It restores.” He teaches us a new rhythm that calms our life down and turns it around – an unforced rhythm that brings our soul back from the exhaustion where frenzy and fear rule.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” sang David, the poet-king. Or in other words, “I lack nothing.” “The Lord hasn’t given us enough!” cried Joseph’s clan. We may know and love David’s words. Yet at times, it may seem that we lack a LOT. So what do we do with that?
As we struggled to reach another hemisphere and to connect with the people of Russia and Ukraine, hindrances just kept coming. Then, the breakthroughs began.
The day I woke to news that tanks rolled through Moscow’s streets, I wrote, “I don’t plan to beat down any doors. But what God opens, I will walk through.”
No longer wounded, outcast, lonely, afraid - your new name shall be Confidence, Joyfulness, Overcoming one, Faithfulness, Friend of God, One who seeks My face.
Why, in midlife, did I suddenly find my boundaries battered and my adulthood denied?