Contemporary Psalms

10-9-13

You have loosed my bonds. I will offer You the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Psalm 116:16-17

Thank You, Holy and Most Merciful God,  for choosing me to know in my heart that You are Who You say You are! Probably my earthly mother prayed for me and my brothers, and, in his way, my Daddy. And my ancestors, it appears, were Your beliers, Your saints as well. Perhaps their prayers are the reason I am chosen to be a vessel of mercy, a temple of You Holy Spirit, a living stone among others already gathered into the Body of Christ. It was not anything I did, as I was angry and rebellious (though I did not know it). I remember with shame -- and gratitude (!) -- for it was Your mercy to come to me personally:You sat with me; You turned pages of Scripture with me; You sang to me, and we sang together, and my intellectual mind surrendered to the sweetness of Your Presence. I could not deny it: You are real and alive. So... in tears of sorrow and joy mixed together, I gave up! I saw I had been wrong in most of my opinions -- and I confessed it. I was sorry for all of it, and You embraced me, and I was surrendered Your comfort and Your consolations. Over that weekend, I found myself a new creation (without any head knowledge that there even was such a thing). Really, LORD -- Your life had risen me. It was New Life! I had been resurrected from the dead, with whom I had been walking, thinking myself alive. But I was the walking dead.

Therefore I rejoice to meet with You every day, unceasingly, first and foremost --offering  my daily sacrifice, my living sacrifice, and offering this vessel for You to live in and through until the day I am absent from this body and fully present in Yours. In Christ, in Whom I live (and move and have my being) and by Your Holy Spirit who indwells me, I shout for joy that I am Yours, written into the Book of Life -- safe, and grateful, and free. 

This photograph is by Eric Jonas Swensson, whose work can be seen on his Facebook page.