Cast all your Cares

My friend, Suzie, sent me a great email that I read this morning. She sent along 2 excellent verses for me to ponder, and I'm going to use them one at a time for my devotions. Today's verse is Ps. 55:22: Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

This Psalm shows the writer in great despair (David is really very dramatic a lot of the time), and he talks about how his thoughts trouble him, his enemies surround him, and his companion, his close friend, has betrayed him. Then, about 2/3 through the Psalm we see the hope.

It starts with vs. 16: But I call to God, and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress and he hears my voice. He ransoms me, unharmed, from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me. God, who is enthroned forever, will hear them and afflict them.

I don't really have people who are enemies, but as I said before, my enemies are boredom, despair and being overwhelmed by the journey ahead of me. Thing is, with God on my side, I needn't fear any of it. So far I'm not bored, I'm not despairing, and I'm not, at this moment, overwhelmed.

I'm doin' ok.

Encouragement

I have to admit I've been a little blue today. I woke up with a bit of a cold, and it's discouraging. I'm weak, tired, clogged up, draining badly (makes it harder to sleep- as if I needed that!), and just generally feeling fidgetty w/o being able to really do anything!

Here is what I did manage to do today, despite my blues:

• Walk 3-5 steps further with the walker than ever before
• Take a nap on the couch, out of my recliner! Say yay!
• Open all the bandages for about 1/2 an hour and let it all air out - feels good!
• Get Si to help me clean off the guest bed for a little while. I think I might try sleeping in that bed tomorrow night- say yay again!
• Open the Bible again for inspiration, and behold, I find encouragement on every page. So many good verses, but I'll do just one, the last one I glanced at . . .

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

He cares for you . . . he cares for me . . . he will lift me up in due time. Sigh. What a comforting thought to go to sleep with.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming . . .

Watching Finding Nemo tonight, and it seems so appropriate for recovery/rehab. Talk about a great message of keeping on!

I'm reading Romans 5 today, about our position in Christ. We can rejoice in suffering, because of our position. Verses 3-5 include:

because suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us.

Hope.

Just think about what you can accomplish if you have those things: perseverance, character and hope. It's like the triumverate of success! If you can keep hopeful, if you can persevere, and if you can stay strong in your character, you can do just about anything.

You can swim through the ocean, against all odds, and find your lost fish-son, you can recover from painful injury, you can survive terrible loss and sadness . . . and you can deal with disappointments in life.

Now, add in the amazing strength you can find in partnering with God, the creator of the universe. Relying on that relationship we have (or can have) with God through the gift of grace in Christ's sacrifice can add to your strength, build up your hope on a dreary day, and help you see the possibilities of hope.

Here's the rest of this incredible verse:

hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

So, in the words of Dory, the fish with short-term memory loss, I will just keep swimming, swimming, swimming . . .

(Thanks to Maggie for sharing this verse with me on gtalk today)

taking refuge

Psalm 57

Have mercy on me, O god, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wing until the disaster has passed.

I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me.
He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly puruse me;
god sends his love and his faithfulness.



I can take refuge in these things, knowing that God will use this time for my benefit. I had a great conversation with one of my dearest, oldest, most special friends this afternoon. (Hi Scott!) We've shared so much over the years, and I've always been able to tell him anything and everything. He lives in Oak Park, IL now, and is studying to be a Unitarian Universalist Minister. His beliefs and faith are different from mine on many levels, but his grace, compassion and kindness know no boundaries.

As I was talking to Scott today, I was finally able to vocalize what I've been thinking these last few days: God didn't cause this to happen, but I know that He loves me, and that He can use these circumstances to bless me greatly. I really believe that, too. I just have to allow myself to be blessed in this. I need to allow God into my life again, spend time with Him regularly, and see what happens.

In short, if I cry out to Him, he will save me, again and again and again.

what makes us successful?

Chatting on FB with a friend right now, she mentioned this verse, in response to some frustrations I was sharing about work lately:

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

It is important to remember that God has a plan, and that His plans for us are always better than our plans. This point has come up a lot with friends on twitter, too, so I know God is trying to help me remember it.

Basic History/background

I fell on the ice on January 30, 2009. One quick slip, and it totally destroyed my right leg.

I had surgery Feb 12 to repair the tibia. The surgeon put in 2 screws and a metal plate. Once the bone is healed and strong again, I'm most likely going to need a knee replacement because 3 of my 4 knee ligaments are torn, and some sort of fix will need to happen.

All that said, I have felt, for the last few years, further and further from God. I hope to use this rehabilitation time not only to heal my leg, but also to learn to walk with God again, taking refuge in his comfort and Grace.

This blog will be my record of this journey - learning to walk physically again, as well as spiritually. I just shared the following with some church friends:

If you don't mind, I'd love to share a little daily devotion with you today. This is my first step back towards re-building my relationship with God.

Feeling the need for comfort, I opened randomly in the book of Psalms, and it opened to Psalm 16:
Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."

Seems like an excellent place to start, eh? I have no good things w/o God, so where else could I possibly find appropriate refuge?

I can tell you all are praying for me. Thank you for your faithfulness,