I
can’t read Psalm 46 without thinking of my high school friend, Della Ray. Our senior year in high school as she was
trying out for the talent show she collapsed and almost died. At first they thought she had sucked gum down
her throat but later found out that it was a heart condition, mytro-valve
prolapse. I remember the day this
happened, taking a walk down the road I lived on. I stopped to rest on a rock that had been
placed at the end of one of the side streets off my road and I prayed for
her. I really felt God’s presence that
day in a way that I never had experienced.
When you grow up in the church from
the time you are two weeks old it’s very easy to fall into a routine of
learning lots of head knowledge about God and the Bible and you run the risk of
it never connecting to your life and your heart. I could win Bible Trivia hands down but had
not experienced that deep soul connection God longs to have for us.
My Uncle Stan became our Youth
Minister when I was in high school. He
began to breathe scripture into our everyday lives. Along the same time I met and became friends
with Lisa Butler and Della Ray. Lisa
also had a talent for breathing scripture into everyday situations and I began
to connect with scripture in my heart.
During the time that Della was in the hospital I began reading the
psalms and it was in this psalm that I found the greatest comfort. “The Lord is my refuge and strength, an ever
present help in times of trouble.”
Today, I rarely breathe a prayer that I do not breathe this scripture as
part of my prayer. Isn’t it comforting
to know that God is present with us in our everyday lives and provides us with
shelter and strength. Thanks be to
God.
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