Psalm 22- Troubles

You had my mother give birth to me. You made me trust you while I was just a baby. I have leaned on you since the day I was born. You have been my God since my mother gave me birth. So don't be far away from. Now trouble is near, and there is no one to help. (vs. 9-11)

Life can just be so tiring sometimes. Struggling with daily trials or deep hurts, our lives are not usually carefree and easy. Money, success or a big 401K are not the answers to all that ails us. Relationships falter, children stumble, health fails or we just don't seem to be able to call forth the energy to cope with all the minutiae of life that once was a piece of cake. In it all, perhaps we need to remember what David recalls here: We have always belonged to the Lord. My life is not my own.

Many years ago, when I was twenty-one, I began my teaching career in a small Texas town outside of Dallas. On the first day of school, I spied another young teacher across the room at the faculty meeting. She was beautiful. Long, thick dark hair, huge green eyes, ridiculously darling dimples and she was as tall as I am! We became fast friends. I was privileged to walk with her into a deeper commitment to the God she had loved since she could remember. A Catholic, she had even considered becoming a nun at one point. She did not know her God as deeply as she wanted, so our friendship was an encouragement to both of us to love Him more.

My friend married later in life. On her honeymoon, she fell ill with mumps. A few months later, she found a lump in her breast. She was scheduled for surgery. I found out I was pregnant for the third time on the same morning that she was told she had cancer and they had removed her breast. I did not know her diagnosis when I walked into her room post-op. Her new husband was standing beside her at the head of her hospital bed, teary-eyed and anxious. No one had to say a word. I knew.

"Oh, friend!" was all I could muster.

I took her hand. "I am the Lord's.". Her reply.

Never have I forgotten the serenity in her face nor the fervor with which she averred the wonder of grace that brought her to that pronouncement. She had always been His and no less then when trouble overwhelmed her, changing the landscape of her life forever.

"I am the Lord's."

No matter what. No matter where. In the best of times and the worst of them, I have learned to lean on Him. Like my friend, who is looking at the face of Jesus now, I know trouble is a part of life. When there is no one else who can help us, it is He who knows our way. And though we don't always understand what He allows, we know that He is good. Troubles come to everyone....Christian or not. We are not exempt, but we are certain of what those without our God cannot avow - we are His. He has written our names on the palm of His hand. Troubles are not without purpose and we are not without recourse because we love the One Who first loved us.