The Five Minute Friday prompt from two weeks ago was SUFFERING. I did not participate because it brought up too many painful memories to process in five minutes. However, it kept hounding me until we got this week's prompt, which I thought was DEPEND. It would have been so perfect. Except it turned out that the weekly challenge was DEDICATE, not DEPEND. How I made that error, I'll never understand. The two words don't even look or sound alike.
Anyway, the word depend brought to mind a time when I left everything behind and relocated to accept a job and a marriage proposal from a man I believed was a mature, trustworthy, responsible Christian and who made a big point of telling me how his word was something I could bank on. In the end it all fell through and there was no turning back.*
Lesson learned was that only God's word can be banked on. His word alone can be trusted one hundred percent of the time. People make commitments they don't or can't always keep. Sometimes it's because they make them impulsively without considering the ramifications. Other times it's because circumstances get in the way. Even the most honorable, best intentioned folks are subject to unexpected events such as sickness, unavoidable delays, and death.
We have been going through the Book of Psalms in church on Sundays, and today our pastor gave an excellent message on Psalm 96, which is about worship, and about singing to the Lord because He is worthy of our praise, and for the things that He has done, and when he asked us to think of things we are thankful for, this lesson--albeit painful and confusing at the time--was definitely one of them.
At the end of the message he gave us a challenge to sing a song of worship to the Lord for what He has done, out loud, every day this week. As I wrap up this post, I commit to dedicate myself to doing just that.
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*This was one of the major pivotal points of my life. It is included in my memoir Sincerely Wrong: An Improbable Journey.
Well, I think depend was a good word to focus on. Thanks for this post reminding us of who we can truly depend on!
ReplyDeleteYes, God is always there for us, even when we don't feel like He is.
ReplyDeleteoh this is so good!
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely Sandra :) thank you so much for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteLife has a way of surprising us with unexpected turns, sometimes leaving us feeling adrift.
ReplyDeleteYour realization that only God's word can be wholly relied upon is profound and speaks volumes about the strength of your faith.
Hugs and blessings, Sandra