Goodbye Ordinary

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us. Isaiah 63:7

Psalm 102 September 7, 2012

Filed under: Faith — Lori @ 9:13 am

I have a CD with several psalms written as hymns and today I was humming this one because I was thinking about and praying for a friend who is going through a very difficult trial.  It is a psalm of grief, but grief anchored by hope and trust.  I really like it and I think I will sing this song in my head all day!

Psalm 102

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.

1 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you!
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call!

For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my flesh.
I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl[a] of the waste places;
I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.
For I eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,
10 because of your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
11 My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.

12 But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.
13 You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
14 For your servants hold her stones dear
and have pity on her dust.
15 Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
16 For the Lord builds up Zion;
he appears in his glory;
17 he regards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.

18 Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:
19 that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
21 that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
22 when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

23 He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.
24 “O my God,” I say, “take me not away
in the midst of my days—
you whose years endure
throughout all generations!”

25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27     but you are the same, and your years have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.

 

…And They Lived Faithfully Ever After September 3, 2012

Filed under: Adoption,Faith — Lori @ 10:51 am

I just read an article on Empowered to Connect and it really connected with how I have been thinking about adoption lately.  I am copying it entirely here:

His Master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant…” Matthew 25:21 (NIV)

Everyone loves a story with a happy ending.  It’s the stuff that best-selling books and box office hits are made of.  Happy endings lift our spirits and inspire us to dream.  They get us started, keep us going, and give us reason to believe.

When families adopt they too dream of living out a story with a happy ending.  And well they should.  After all, adoption is full of joys and blessings, and for many these experiences are the hallmarks of the journey itself.

But there’s just one problem when it comes to our enchantment with happy endings – they don’t always happen.  Not in life and certainly not in adoption.  Happy endings are far from guaranteed, no matter how much we pray or believe.  Even if God has called you to the adoption journey, none of us are promised a fairy tale ending.  And far from being a letdown or a depressing thought, this reality can, if we allow it, re-focus our hearts and minds on how God desires the story that He is writing with our lives to unfold.

As we turn the pages of our story with each new day, we discover that the story is full of twists and turns, ups and downs, unexpected lows and unimaginable highs.  We quickly come to realize that it is not so much what happens to us that creates the meaning in our story, but what God is doing in and through us.  And what He, not us, accomplishes ultimately determines how our story “ends.”

No matter where we are along the adoption journey we must remember that God’s call, God’s provision, and God’s blessing is not defined by or even reflected in our circumstances.  Instead, He has called us to be faithful…and to live in the hope that is able to do so much more than we could ever ask or imagine, according to His power at work in us…until one day we stand face to face and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”  Surely that will be the “happiest ending” of all.

Lord, help me remember Your unending faithfulness and guide me by Your Spirit to respond faithfully in each and every moment as I travel this journey You have called me to. Amen.

By:  Michael Monroe

*Adapted from …And They Lived Faithfully Ever After: Devotionals for Adoptive & Foster Families, due out by December 2012 from Empowered To Connect.