blessed, still...

Thank God that He dwells with man.

His ceaseless mercy makes me more than a conqueror.

And a small victory is a victory still.

The past couple days have been filled with quiet communion... He's let me walk on my own for a few steps, His hand always sure at my back.

Even when the sun isn't dazzling me, it's still there.

Those shaky steps have been scary for me, as I know I'm always so close to those familiar pits waiting to swallow me up. It was as my foot slid once that I had a revolutionary, new idea. An idea so new and amazing that the Psalmist just wrote about it a few thousand years ago.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

Isn't it interesting how God reveals these truths to us at just the right time. He knew when I would be most receptive. The Gardener knows His vineyard.

I was lost in the midst of festering worries when these things came to me as if I'd never known them before. A language I'd never heard.

Mine is a blessed life.

And nothing can change that.

If I wake tomorrow to the voices of my dear ones or if I wake no more, I am blessed.

If my world is rocked with news of the unthinkable tomorrow... I will be no less blessed than I am today.

Regardless of all, my end is the same.

I know why Job could say "blessed be the name of the Lord."

I've always known, but now I know.

I will always be susceptible to sin, but today God has conquered a stronghold for me.

He hems me in, behind and before.

He lays his hand upon me.

And such knowledge truly is too wonderful for me.