...He said to Simon,

"Put out into the deep

and let down your nets

             for a catch."

And Simon answered,

   "Master,

    we toiled all night

             and took nothing!

    But at Your word,

    I will let down the nets."

And when they had done this,

they enclosed

      a large number of fish,

and their nets were breaking.

                    Luke 5. 4-6

(Do we respond to God's leading,

          or argue with Him?

What huge blessings,

     joy and strength

                have we missed

   because we haven't trusted Him?

God is just waiting

  to astonish us with the unexpected,

even in impossible, bleak situations.

Because God never works

             in singular dimensions,

our faithfulness to Him

   always directly impacts others,

even in ways we may never see.

Following God rarely takes

         the most likely path--

that we would know

   that it is His hand,                 

                           not ours.

That we would not just know

                        it is Him,

but that we would know Him.

           He is God.

Even now.

Even in this.)

O LORD,

Why are we always amazed

    at what You can do?

You are the Almighty.

Help us to walk with You

    through these troubled times.

Point our hearts to You

  that we would point others

                           to You,

that they would see

      Your steadfast love

      and Your hope,

that on which

      we stake our lives.

We will not just

             get through this.

   But let Your glory

   get all over everything.

Let what is

beyond our understanding

      and beyond our control

reach beyond survival

         to bring revival

   of our hearts toward You.