I won’t bore you with the gritty details of my life’s downs right now – You’ve had ’em too. We’ve all been there. When life seems to be throwing more lemons at you then you have the patience to turn into a pitcher of lemonade, what are you to do? Well, pray. But, I’m a type A person (or at least that’s what people have told me on occasion). I think that means I like to solve my own problems – moving mountains to get to the finish line without stopping to take names.
Most of the time that works for me. During several, memorable junctures of my life, however, I found myself amidst an ocean of unanswerables, sadly lacking a life-vest, or shark repellent, or sunscreen – one of those times we are knocked to our knees and reminded that the best thing to do in that position is to pray. It is the refusal of prayer and the stubborn trust in “me” when the other guy wins.
I learned my lesson twelve years ago that prayer is sometimes the only thing that’s left and that I need to trust with abandon when there’s nothing else to cling to. That’s why, when I don’t see an end to the tunnel, I am again reminded that I can’t solve everything by myself and the best thing to do is pray my Lord reaches His hand out in the storm and pulls me up, for He is truly our Shepherd and will protect us.
~My Shepherd~
Oh my Lord, he draws near again.
My Lord, my God I beseech Thee.
Through pain or prize he seeks to reign,
but Jesus Victor my King shall be.
When I was weak he conquered me.
Forgetting to kneel, proud I stood –
too bold, to blind to bend my knee,
neglecting Your sacrificial wood.
When all seemed lost, I was rescued –
for my poor heart Your grace ransomed,
by Your power my soul renewed,
to purest treasure my will succumbed.
He stands again at my threshold,
beckoning, beguiling Your frail child.
Capture me deep within Your fold.
Whisper my name as his howls grow wild.
Never more will my strength falter,
never again his seeds sow doubt.
I rest firmly at Your altar,
for through the Son lies my only route.
E.A. Henson Books 