| Sat Dec 29 | am: 18:1-20 pm: 18:21-50 | Isa 12:1-6 | Rev 1:1-8 | John 7:37-52 |
Today, I feel physically and emotionally weak. I feel mentally and spiritually foggy. I didn't sleep much. The anxiety and panic has been draining, like a tornado trying to get out from the inside. I, the elephant matriarch, told my mother she shouldn't come visit.
Sinus infections, bronchitis, sore throats, and even pneumonia. Everyone is, was or will be sick before the first of the year. The Mayan Calendar did NOT predict that. Little sleep, lots of prayer.
I don't have to be strong because God is my ROCK - solid, steadfast protection against the vulnerability of pain, anxiety, fogginess and hard decisions.
Praise God, the storm on my insides is not nearly as strong as God's violent theophany. He, as a violent thunderstorm, leaves me in a place of stillness where I can be sure HE IS. Even when I am in turmoil, his grace is sufficient. He has loved me and freed me.
In my weakness and fear, my panic and anxiety Christ invites me to draw near. He invites me to drink Living Water. He invites me to cling to the Holy Spirit. He invites me to invite others to dip into the rush, the healing and the protection of River of blood.
For Christ is the culmination of God's purposes and activities since before the beginning of time. Even our ability to HAVE faith is a result of God's grace - God's presence in our lives and hearts, enabling us to believe in the redemptive power of Christ's passion.
Dear God, thank you. I love you, O Lord, my strength. So, as David, I pledge myself to you, for you have saved me from my enemies. Thank you for reminders that you will treat me as I treat others. And so, like Isaiah I remain confident that that You are the source of salvation that transcends you anger. So, like the prophet I can sing of trust in your salvation as a source of hope when my emotions, my body, my mind, and my spirit betray me. May my trust in you cause me to read or hear and obey your word. Thank you for your grace that allows me to believe. May your presence in my life and heart encourage me to believe in the redemptive power of the blood of Christ. Remind me of my commission to share your love and to reveal to others the convergence of texts revealing Jesus as the culmination of your purposes and activities. In the power of the Trinity: Ancient of Days, King of Kings, and the Wind of the Word, may I encourage others to drink the Living Water. Amen.
