Psalm 13

If you read my last post, you know that it's been crazy around the Nance household lately.  When I wrote that post less than a week ago, I honestly didn't expect what would follow it.  I talked about seeing the forest through the trees, but then trees kept popping up right in front of me.  Right smack dab where I was about to set my foot every time I was about to take a step. 

My job has been absolutely insane this week; I won't bore you with gruesome details, but I will assure you that gruesome is an apt description.  Billy's job has been crazy too. So, we're both stretched thin and stressed out.  Then, Audrey got in trouble at school, the kind where mom and dad have to sign paperwork and send it back to school.  And, if you think Barrett was free from the bad mojo, well, he is constipated, which is making him whiney and crabby. 

The hits just kept coming, and there were so many tress, that I got to the point where I thought the only way I could go was up.  So, that's exactly what I did, figuratively speaking.  I prayed...a lot. 

A few months ago at church, we had a sermon series on lament in the Psalms.  We talked about how the words of the Psalms are a guide to us in times of joy and sorrow.  So, I now I turn to the Psalms as my guide, and I let myself cry out. This week has been terrible.  I am tired.  I feel defeated.  I don't know where to go from here.  I feel lost and surrounded with no where to go. I am wondering if I am fighting a losing battle.   

In the Words of Psalm 13:

How long, Lord?  Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will the enemy triumph over me?

So, I am turning to the Lord.  I lay the challenges and worries down at his feet.  I ask him how he will use this, how he will use me, for his purpose and his glory.  I ask him to help me see it.  To guide me to it and get me through this.

 

Look on me and answer, Lord my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

and my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"

and my foes will rejoice when I fall

And finally, I turn my attention back to the Lord.  I find my perspective again.  These are human problems.  Earthly problems.  While they may seem insurmountable to me, they are nothing my God cannot handle.  So, I hand those problems over, and I lift up my praise instead.  I thank God for his unending love, for listening to my hurt, and for his grace.  I remember that I am not alone and that this is not a battle I am fighting alone.   

But I trust in  your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing the Lord's praise

for he has been good to me.   

 

So, now we enter a long holiday weekend.  It's a much needed time of rest and recuperation.  I pray that God will use this time to bring our family closer to each other and closer to him.