“Certainly Your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me
where I go, always, everywhere.”
(Psalm 23:6 VOICE)
Last week I was totally immersed in a project with my family. It was a wonderful experience, but very time consuming and I did not write every day – I mostly just recycled old posts. This week I am out of recycled posts and coming back into my normal routine. I have several ideas for writing rolling around within me – and I have one ready to share tomorrow.
But, heaviest on my heart today are friends that are walking through very rough situations. I have three widow friends especially on my mind – one caring for her daughter and granddaughter with the flu, one dealing with severe back/neck/shoulder pain, and one who is dealing with tremendous physical pain but will be attending the bedside of her adopted son when the machines keeping him alive are turned off today.
Beyond these stories there are those grieving, those caring for elderly parents or ill children, those who have been betrayed, those living with abuse, those struggling to find their way in life, the refugees from Ukraine, those addicted, wars and rumors of wars….the list goes on and on. The burdens and struggles of this world are real and heavy.
While I cannot with a few words and Bible verses alleviate all the sorrow and pain around us, perhaps hearing these words again will help to lighten the burdens:
““Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened…, and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest(renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29 AMP)
“But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.” (Acts 2:24 NRSV)
“Yahweh is my best friend and my shepherd.
I always have more than enough.
He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love.
His tracks take me to an oasis of peace near the quiet brook of bliss.
That’s where he restores and revives my life.
He opens before me the right path
and leads me along in his footsteps of righteousness
so that I can bring honor to his name.
Even when your path takes me through
the valley of deepest darkness,
fear will never conquer me, for you already have!
Your authority is my strength and my peace.
The comfort of your love takes away my fear.
I’ll never be lonely, for you are near.” (Psalm 23:1-4 TPT)
“God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (Psalm 46:1-11 NIV)
God of Comfort,
Thank you for being our ever-present help in times of trouble, our comfort, our fortress, and our strength. Thank you that you love us and grieve with us when we grieve, and you hold us when the sacred is torn from our lives. Thank you that you offer us a resting place in your luxurious love and your oasis of peace, knowing that the comfort of your love takes away our fear and loneliness. Help us to call out to you when we are weary and heavy ladened and to seek your rest and peace. Remind us that even when it seems our individual lives and the nations around us are in an uproar, you are faithful to be with us and you are exalted among the nations of the earth. When our hearts are heavy and burdened, remind us that just as Jesus was raised from the dead because it was impossible for him to be held there, we, too, are raised from the burdens of this world because of your love and grace. Comfort those who mourn, encourage those who are discouraged, and give us hope to face this day and the next. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
“Held” by Christa Nichole Wells; © Weimarhymes Publishing, Inc.
This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell, we’d be held