Rejoice in the Blessedness of Answered Prayer: PSALM 30

"I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You healed me. 
 O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

 Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.

 For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.

 Now in my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved.”

Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
You hid Your face, and I was troubled.

I cried out to You, O Lord;
And to the Lord I made supplication: “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?

Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
Lord, be my helper!”

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 

 To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever."

Don't Quit

I go through about 2 journals a year, and recently I have run out of space to write again. It's a personal blessing that God always provides me with a new journal when I run out of space. I mostly like to write out prayers and verses (I'm trying to justify that it's not a diary ok).  After I filled up the last page of the really pretty and ornate journal my friend, Miriam, gave me from Germany, I went on a search to find something new to write in. In one of my drawers I kept an old journal that I have avoided/ forgot about. I found it in the garage a few years ago. I wanted to get rid of it, because it looks like its from the 90's with a dumb lighthouse on it. But, as I read the poem on the front cover, I realized that this is the perfect journal for this season. 

Don't Quit

"Don't quit when the tide is lowest, 

For it's just about to turn;

Don't quit over doubts and questions, 

For there's something you may learn.

Don't quit when the night is darkest, 

For its just a while 'til dawn;

Don't quit when you've run the farthest,

 For the race is almost won.

Don't quit when the hill is steepest, 

For your goal is almost nigh;

Don't quit, for you're not a failure

Until you fail to try."

-Jill Wolf

Right before the Harvest, one of my professors explained that there is a last final and exhaustive push to finish well. It is easy to give up when the path is hardest, right before the last lap. It is sad to think of someone running a race, who gives up closest to the finish line. They are almost done, yet the final and steepest hill causes them to quit.

My brother passed away four years ago, and I had a dream about him the other night. In the car (in the dream), he told me that young people need to hear what God says about them. They need to hear God's word about them. Sometimes God lets me visit with Salvie (my brother) in a meaningful dream; it is rare, but always seems to have a message for me. This is the verse Salvie told me: 

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you 

will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus"  

- Philippians 1:6