30 More Days of Grace

I stumbled into church Sunday morning a whopping 7 minutes before the service started, and I was feeling pretty good about that accomplishment.  I wandered over to my typical, might-as-well-be assigned, seat in the back corner and dropped my purse onto the chair, but before I could even sit down, I was intercepted by a great friend whose mother-in-law in the hospital with end stage vascular disease.  His wife has been camped out at the hospital with her mom for the last 10 days or so, and he was at church with the family and extended family.  I hadn’t heard an update for the morning, yet, so he quickly filled me in on the night and the exhaustion they all were feeling.  I’ve sat in that same hospital, in those same rooms, and even worked with those same surgeons, and as he explained all the things happening in that hospital, I felt that weight on my own shoulders from my own hours in their shoes.  Before he even finished updating me, a friend from bible study st...

Psalm 3 Covered by the Glory King David’s song when he was forced to flee from Absalom, his own son The Humbling of a King 1 Lord, I have so many enemies, so many who are against me. 2 Listen to how they whisper their slander against me, saying:   “Look! He’s hopeless! Even God can’t save him from this!”   Pause in his presence The Help of God 3 But in the depths of my heart I truly know   that you, Yahweh, have become my Shield;   You take me and surround me with yourself.   Your glory covers me continually.   You lift high my head when I bow low in shame. 4 I have cried out to you, Yahweh, from your holy presence.   You send me a Father’s help.   Pause in his presence The Song of Safety 5 So now I’ll lie down and sleep like a baby—   then I’ll awake in safety, for you surround me with your glory. 6 Even though dark powers prowl around me,   I won’t be afraid. The Secret of Strength 7 I simply cr...