The Life Preserver

As I was studying this morning for my Facebook live devotions, I stumbled back into Psalm 121. Man, that's a great psalm. I wrote a song from it and I read it often. It is powerful. But you know how wonderful the Word of God is and that when we revisit even the most familiar passages, we find something new. That's what happened!

In Psalm 121:5 it says the Lord is thy keeper. In the Strong's concordance, it is H8104 and it means to hedge about, guard, keep, save, wait for, preserve...that's most of the terms it could be translated as. But as I was in the Strong's on my phone it was easy to glance across the verses and what caught my eye was that same number used several times.

The same Hebrew term is used for keep, keeper, and preserve. He keeps and preserves our soul. As a matter of fact, this term is used five times in the eight verses that comprise Psalm 121. I think He wanted us to know that He's got us! He really is our life preserver! Not only does He come in and save our souls when we are overcome with emotions and think we are sure to drown, but once He pulls us out of those rocky waters, He continues to guard us...and keep us. He never lets go.

I love that.

It's like He can match any of life's circumstances. He doesn't shake His head and walk away. He reaches in, grabs us, then holds us close. While He doesn't always stop bad things or tough situations from happening - He's always got us. He walks right through the mess with us, keeping us, preserving us, sharing His wisdom and peace with us.

Picture Jesus walking right out into a storm to his frightened disciples in the boat. He calmed that storm as they sat with open mouths in shock. Now picture your storm. It may be one of the roughest times of your life. It may be a regular bumpy caregiver day. Maybe it's a confusing time for you. The storm may be over your finances, relationships, caregiving itself, or other situation. It may be a combination of several things. Picture Jesus walking out into the storm in your soul (mind, will, emotions) and saying Peace. Be still. I've got you. Because He does and He is not planning on ever letting go.

Today, I will be thankful that He keeps on keeping me. No matter how rough and tough life gets - He continues to preserve me. When my mind wonders into the craziness around me - I'll pull it back and remember that He's my life preserver. He won't let me drown. I'll trust Him to save me one more day! Will you join me?

________________________________________________________________

Check out my bookstores! Downloadable eBooks are on my DFM website. Print and Kindle versions of a few of them are available on Amazon.

Comments

Ups and Downs

Maybe it's just "that time of year" for me, but I've struggled a lot the last few weeks. I still affectionately call it the caregiver's fog. Lol. Okay, maybe it's not-so-affectionately. I know I can share my true feelings with you guys because you get it. You understand the day-to-day grind of caregiving. The military has a saying about there being no easy day. I think we live in that reality. It's just not easy caring for another whole person, is it? Caregiving presents many difficulties. We can find ourselves alone, so very alone on this journey. It doesn't just go away. We don't just work through it. It seems to go on and on. There are lots of ups and downs - and that can be about every 90 seconds some days. Right? (smile!) As I've been working through this emotional maze the last few days, I turned my thoughts to Daniel. Let's take a realistic look at his circumstances because as we read his story in the Bible, we tend to glamorize i

Seasons Are Temporary

This morning, I found myself reading in Isaiah 28. I ended up there because I was looking for something in particular, and even though I didn't find what I was looking for, I found what I needed. God's so cool like that, isn't He? My eyes first fell on verse 29, which says in the NKJ: This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. I rolled that over in my mind and heart a few times and spent a few minutes thinking about how I'd seen His counsel in action in my own life. We've all had those times when we weren't sure what to do or where to go, and suddenly, an idea drops into our thoughts. There are many ways He provides direction for us. He may direct our steps through a passage of scripture, a trusted spiritual leader such as a pastor, a YouTube teacher, and maybe even a lowly blog writer. Lol. No matter how He chooses to deliver His counsel, it comes - but we must listen. After I had rolled these thoughts and t

Seek and Ye Shall Find

Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to strategize ways of dealing with stress. It's something we all deal with, especially caregivers. I'm walking and exercising more, which helps the body get rid of stress and it helps improve sleep to some degree. But I've also been working on training my thoughts. I've been working on purposefully finding things to be thankful for. At first, it was a bit difficult because let's face it, caregiving is hard work. This morning, I was plugging Chris into a nebulizer for a breathing treatment as he had an asthma attack yesterday afternoon after we'd been out for a little bit. As I was doing his treatment and his tube feeding, I didn't even really think about it; this "thought" just rolled up out of me. I thought, thank you, Lord, for carrying us through the long night. My own thankfulness surprised me! Lol. I realized at that moment that it's getting easier and easier to be thankful, even for the litt

Daily Devotions for Caregivers

Search This Blog