Bad News? Maybe Not.

 

But You, O LORD,

are a shield about me,

my glory,

and the lifter of my head.

I cried aloud to the LORD,

and He answered me

      from His holy hill.

            Psalm 3. 3-4

(The email appeared

       late one evening.

When I opened it 

         with baited breath,

the answer was not what 

 I thought I was waiting for.

What surprised me most

    was not the verdict,

            but my heart.

I was not devastated

    by a door slammed shut.

  but surprisingly encouraged

  by God's redirection.

He indeed lifted my head

                     and heart.

Bad news?

             Maybe not.

God had not just gone before me,

  not just shielded me,

but through it prepared me

     for His something different.

Before we even know to ask,

      God's got us,

in ways we don't ever expect.

How differently would we

      go into this day,

deal with the difficulties,

   the joys and disappointments,

if we wove these words

  into our hearts?

We do not after all walk alone.

Follow Me into this.)

O LORD,

We cry aloud to You.

And You answer.

Help us to listen.

Help us to respond.

Empower us to see

   not that a door is closed,

but that You are actually

   opening something far deeper.

And that would be 

      our intimacy with You.