Promises and Hope

Hebrews 6:13-20

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷ So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. ¹⁹ We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

There are so many amazing things God showed me about this passage this morning, and it is a passage that already had a bunch of underlines and notes in the margins.  I thought I'd share a couple with you if you are willing. If not, please exit the browser immediately. Thank you. 

We can trust and hope in God's promises. Why? Because He is God. His very character and nature is what we can hope in. God cannot tell a lie, and there is none greater than Himself. So when he makes a promise, He is saying, "I promise this to you because I am God and this is what I want to do. I cannot tell a lie and I promise it by my name, which is far greater than anything you could ever swear by. So it will happen, it is true. Because I said so." (God's the only one who can really say "because I said so" and never have anyone dispute it. It is an automatic argument win, not that he needs one...)

Have you ever heard someone say, "Don't put all your eggs on one basket"? That's bologna. Put your eggs in God's basket. We can have a SURE and STEADFAST hope in God, because He is God! We don't have to put our eggs in any other basket. We have a strong encouragement to hold fast to his hope because He promises on his name that He will never fail us, and he doesn't lie. 

Sin makes people lie. Satan uses people's sinful nature to convince other people that God's character is the same as human character, and that God will drop our eggs if we put them all in his basket. God's character is not like human character because He is sinless. We can hope in him; with all our eggs.

Now, if you are like me, you are probably thinking, "Why does God want to keep his promises to me, the horrible, wretched sinner that I am?" Good question! The answer? It has nothing to do with you or me. In fact, his promises are not even for those who are estranged from him because of sin. Sin creates a wall between us and God, breaking the relationship. Therefore, if we have a broken relationship with God, His promises are not for us.

This is horrible news. BUT WAIT! It's not over. Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins and restore the relationship between us and God. Jesus acts as the mediator between us and God because we can't go to God with the sinful hearts we have. That's what verses 19-20 are saying. We needed someone to pay the price, thereby making us righteous and able to come before God. He restores the relationship between us and God, and then all of God's promises become ours to hope in.  Does that make sense? Let me see if I can break it down.

Without Jesus, there is no hope. We have no relationship with God, and therefore his promises are not intended for us. 

With Jesus, we can hold fast to God's promises because Jesus restores the relationship between us and God, and then His promises are for us. 

God has made so many incredible promises to His children. Right now, I am clinging to the promises that God has a plan for my future, and it is an amazing one. I am clinging to the promise that He will never leave me or forsake me, even when I screw up. I am clinging to so many of the amazing promises He makes to me and I am praising God that His promise keeping has nothing, NOTHING to do with me.

Understanding

So far in my life, I have no found a feeling that compares to the one I feel when I watch a kid learning to read. They look on their face when they realize that they just read a book for the first time (cold read, never seen the book before) completely on their own.

They work so hard to learn sight words, words like "a, and, the, and it" that we use in everyday sentences and we don't even think about it. They practice and they struggle to remember what they are, their poor little brains are flooded with these little words that make no sense on their own. Then you string a few together in the silly little books that have no literary basis whatsoever, and voila! We have a reader.

"I see a cat. I see a dog. I see a fish. I see a frog."

But they read it. All on their own. Suddenly those words have meaning and structure. They know why they have been practicing those words. Yes, they have been told that this will happen one day, but they were beginning to think you made it up. They can read! And they know it!

Today was that day for one of the kids. He could read a book. Two actually. His joy was intense, and so was mine. He ran around so excited, reading the book to his family, who were also very excited, and I just thanked God for being privileged enough to experience that moment.

I think as adults we forget that learning to read was a process. Maybe you still struggle to read, and so you are reminded daily that it is a process, but I have been reading so long that I sometimes forget what it took.

As adults we go through life, and we struggle with little things. Sometimes it feels like we struggle with the same things every day. Day after day I find myself saying to God, "WHY haven't I learned this yet? Why do I still struggle with this? Why is it so hard for me to learn?"

1 Corinthians 13 is a famous passage, but the last few verses have always been more interesting to me than the ones about love. Verses 9-12 say this:

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

God promises that one day I will have my Ah Ha! moment. One day I will have full understanding. As a person who gets so excited by even the littlest ah ha moments for kids, I can't imagine how amazing that Ah Ha moment will be when we finally have full understanding. I look forward to that day, and press on though the hard days of learning, knowing that one day, I will understand.  
 

Timing

Have you ever felt like you are drowning in life?  I have. That horrible feeling of life caving in around you, a million bad things swarm around you, satan whispers lies in your head and it just seems like you are never going to be able to come up for air. It feels like this horrible weight pulling you down with no hope for escape. I am not feeling that way right now, but I know that there have been times when life just seems like it's too much. It's too hard to keep treading water, too hard to keep your head up and fight.

David felt that way too, and if anyone had a reason to be overwhelmed, it was David. At various times in his life he was being chased and hunted. I think many times when we tell the story of David we skip right from little Davey killing Goliath to David being king, and forget that he was on the run for most of his life in between that. What I love about the Psalms is that they really show the internal thoughts of David in a way that you don't get to see with many of the other people in the Bible. David spends a lot of time telling us, and God, how he feels, and it's not always pretty.

I read Psalm 69 today and the first few verses say this:
1 Save me, O God!
    For the waters have come up to my neck.
² I sink in deep mire,
    where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
    and the flood sweeps over me.
³ I am weary with my crying out;
    my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
    with waiting for my God.

He goes on to say that his enemies are getting the best of him and it is really frustrating. His enemies are pursuing him because of his zeal for the Lord and he is just about done with all of this nonsense. 

Then in verse 13 he says something incredible:

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

Even in the midst of this horrible feeling of drowning, He trust's in God's timing. He knows that he is praying to the Sovereign Lord, who has the right, wisdom and power to do WHATEVER he wants to David, and this His timing is absolutely perfect.

This was convicting to me, because I don;t always pray like that. I get so consumed with worry about the future, about what is going to happen when, that I fail to see the Sovereignty of God in all things.

In his book, Finally Alive: What Happens When we are Born Again? John Piper says,  “My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And sometimes - many times - my feelings are out of sync with the truth. When that happens - and it happens every day in some measure - I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the truth.”


David didn't let his feeling of drowning change his perception of God's sovereignty. He knew that above all else, God's timing is perfect. He didn't bend truth to justify his feelings. My prayer is that when confronted with those very feelings, I will trust in the sovereignty and greatness of God, and not in what my feelings tell me is truth.

Weakness

I was home alone this morning and the phone rang. Normally I would just let it go as my conversation skills are severely limited, but I knew we were expecting a call. I walked over the the phone, secretly hoping that it would stop ringing, but it didn't.

"God please please please please please let this be someone who speaks English!!!" I begged aloud.

I took a deep breath, practicing "Allo, pardon, parlez vous anglais?" over and over in my head.My stomach was seriously turning knowing that if it was someone who was speaking French really fast, I was going to have to be rude and interrupt, beg them to speak English and hope they understood me!

"Allo?" I said in a voice that totally betrayed my lack of confidence.

"Hi, Megan?" It was someone I knew. PRAISE THE LORD!

See, right now language is a weakness for me, and I hate being weak. I hate not knowing things, and I hate not being able to do things.

I have always been good at talking, ask anyone who knows me even a little bit. Conversations have never been my weakness (though perhaps talking too much is a weakness). But here, the thing I was once strong at, I am weak at, and it's terrible! I can't even answer the phone! 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Hmmm. See, God delights in our weakness. Why you ask? Because in our weakness He gets the glory. When we realize we can do nothing, when we realize we are weak and powerless, His grace and power picks us up and HE gets the glory that HE deserves! When we are weak, then we are made strong.

When I am weak in conversation, I need to rely on Him for even the littlest things, like answering the phone. His power is made perfect in my weakness because when I realize that I don't know anything and I can't communicate without His help, He gives me the strength to try, and sometimes the strength and wisdom to say things that I didn't know I knew.

When I am weak, He is strong. When I am nothing, He is everything. Therefore, I will be thankful for my weakness, and I will boast in Him.

Hungry I come to You

Have you ever sat in a church where you literally understand nothing? You want so badly to hear and learn, and yet you don't know what the people are saying at all. You have picked up a few words, enough to know when someone is praying, or when you should stand and sing, but as the message begins you feel a heaviness inside you. You have to cheat off the guy sitting next to you just to know where in the Bible the pastor is preaching from. You strain to hear just one word, any word that you understand so that you can learn and grow. It's an intense need that is hard to describe. The need to hear, understand, learn and grow.

Welcome to church in another culture. I love church. I love to learn and hear from God. I love that feeling of rejuvenation that comes every Sunday. The way all the voices melt together in praise and worship to our Savior is incredible. Church for me is a small glimpse of what eternity will be and I look forward to that glimpse every week.

There have been days in my church at home where I feel like I comprehended very little of what my pastor said, I mean, he is a smart guy, and I am not so smart. But never in my life have I felt so completely lost and I did today.

As I sat in church today, straining to hear just one word that I understood, begging God to reveal himself to me even amidst the language barrier, God really convicted me of something.

When, in my life have I ever truly hungered for Christ like this? When have I ever had this unending need to meet with the Holy Spirit, this need to understand something, or anything of what is being taught so I can grow in Him?

Have I ever truly felt the need to BEG God to reveal himself to me? Have I ever felt so desperate for a morsel of His voice that I begged Him to work a miracle?

I have been reading psalms in my devotions, and I can't tell you the number of times the Psalmist says he Hungers and Thirsts after God.

Psalm 63:1 says, "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

 I didn't understand this kind of spiritual thirst until I was in a place where I couldn't have my thirst quenched the way Church always has. My time with God has been sweeter than ever before, but it made me realize that I have been taking God for granted. 

My challenge to you is this: Do you hunger and thirst after God? When you sit in church, or read you Bible do you so long to hear just one word from God? Does your heart ache for just a glimpse of your savior? I pray that, unlike me, it doesn't take a church in France to open your eyes to the marvelous intimacy we can have with our Creator. Search Him out, seek Him and you will find him, ask and you shall receive.

This song has never been so real to me in my life. 

Learning French

This is me. I am Joey. I hope you enjoy. 

(Thank you Lisa!)

Comprendez vous?

Some days are good. Some days are not so good. Today has been a not so good day. I don't know why, but it seems that today the painfully slow speed of language acquisition is getting to me. I practice, and I concentrate, and I try so hard... yet when people talk to me I give them this glazed over look, which is quickly followed by what I am sure is a look of terror and confusion. Even if I know what they said! Even if I know what to say back!

It's just that I try to focus so hard on what people are saying, hoping that I will catch a word or something that will give me a clue, that when people turn the conversation towards creeper Megan who has been staring intently at them (these are not strangers, just to be clear...I'm not THAT much of a creep) I can't actually process what they have said.

And it is frustrating.

Some day's it's not so bad. Some days I can remind myself that I have been here less than two weeks and it will get easier. Some days I can remind myself that learning a language is a process and trying is what matters most.

Days like today, when I practice something to say to someone for 20 minutes in my head and then it STILL comes out wrong... days like today I feel discouraged and I want to quit trying.

I want to say, "I am only here for a short time, and then I have to learn another new language, so why bother."

I want to say, "I am only here to teach the kids, so I don't need to form relationships with other people."

But in that moment of despair, God says to me, "I alone know the plans I have for you. You have no idea what my purpose for you in France is other than to bring Glory to MY name and proclaim it wherever I place you. You will learn the language because you want to be able to tell the people you meet about MY greatness and MY worth."

It's a comfort to be reminded that none of this is about me. Yes, this experience will grow me in ways I cannot imagine, but my purpose on earth, wherever on earth I happen to be, is about God and His name.

Psalm 50:15 says "And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

THAT is the purpose of my salvation and my very life; to glorify Him. Right now, that includes learning the language, even when I feel I am a hopeless cause. Learning the language allows me to connect with people, to form relationships, and to share the awesomeness of the God who saved me. I am NOTHING without Him, I have NO PURPOSE apart from His purposes for me.

The End.

Ranting.

Do you ever do something that you pretty much instantly regret? For me it's ranting or complaining. There is never a reason to complain, and ranting NEVER makes me feel better. Yet, I do it anyway. Something irritates or frustrates me and instead of dealing with it appropriately I explode. I don't even explode to something like a journal, usually, I just explode to a random person.
Again, NEVER HELPFUL.

So I did that today. My computer was doing something crazy and I couldn't figure it out. Do I calmly walk away from the computer and give myself distance from the situation so that I can think rationally? OF COURSE NOT! I typed a furious message in all capitals to the last person I talked to on skype, then shut my computer down and walked away. 'Cause that is totally the mature and rational thing to do.

I spent all day teaching problem solving skills, and yet, I seem to have none.

All day I said things like, "Instead of getting frustrated or upset, what could we do instead?" and "Instead of crying about it, why don't we take a deep breath and see if we can find a solution?"

And then, at the slightest bit of annoyance, I rant. Productive right? I'm a total hypocrite, and my humanity annoys me.

So I sat down and got my Bible out. I've been reading Psalms. Sometimes I really feel like I relate to David. It gives me comfort to know that he sometimes screws up and has human responses to situations. He's so genuine and it is encouraging. So anyway, I read Psalm 45, and the last verse in that chapter says this:

"I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
    therefore nations will praise you forever and ever."

What is my purpose in ranting? My purpose in everything I say and do should be to cause God's name to be remembered for all generations. I have to admit that I don't always filter what I say by that standard. My frustration will pass, the small things that irritate of frustrate me will be resolved eventually. But the things I say can never be taken back. I realize that this is just a small example, I mean I didn't say anything really horrible, but God gently reminded me that I cannot proclaim His name with the same lips that complain about ridiculous things. 

Life isn't always pretty. I am going to say stuff I regret, but I feel like God gave me a little glimpse of the feeling Isaiah had when he was standing before the throne of God and saying “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips... for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

No Turning Back

I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.

I remember singing that song in Sunday School, and learning the story of Lot's wife, who looked back at the sinful towns of Sodom and Gomorrah with longing, then turned into a pillar of salt. I remember thinking "I won't turn back like she did! I will always follow Jesus!"

But I realized something in the last week. I though that looking back with longing to a life without Christ is what gets people into trouble, but it's not just that. Sometimes following Christ means leaving the things you love, and they might be great things, but He commands up to press on and look forward.

Proverbs 4:25-26 says, "Let your eyes look directly FORWARD, and your gaze be STRAIGHT before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all of your ways will be sure."

God is leading me in the path He has planned for me, a path that will bring me pleasure, and Him immeasurable glory and honor (Psalm 16:11, Psalm 23:3).

I know this, and yet sometimes I look back. I look back to my family and friends, to mu church and the fellowship I love and am comfortable with. I look back to things that are good, but to things that are not straight ahead, directly in the path God is leading me on now. If I look back, I am going to run into a wall. And it is going to hurt.

God promises to show is the way we should go. He says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near to you" (Psalm 32:8-9).

God will show us the path He wants us to take when we daily surrender every aspect of our lives; our families, our loved ones, our routines that make us so comfortable, our wishes and desires, and even our very lives. If we look backwards like a horse without a bridle, we will walk backwards, stumble, fall and get hurt in the process. If we surrender our lives and our ideas for the path we should take to Him, and fix our gaze on the author and perfecter of our faith, we will have a peace that passes understanding, even when things seem bleak.

Dear 7 people who read my blog...

Dear 7 people who read my blog,
         Since my last letter, the number has increased by 4... WOO HOO!!! Please take a moment to read the blog of one of my friends, and maybe pass it on to someone else.

Cami's Blog: simply HIS.

Then pray for Cami (and Miriam, another girl with her) as they seek to love like Christ.

Love,
me

History

Have you ever been struck by the fact that the places we walk have been walked on by people for hundreds of years (at least!)? Walking through Letchworth State Park always seems to remind me of that. My overactive imagination kicks into high gear as I picture Native Americans walking through the forests, fathers and sons working side by side to build the walls and steps during the Great Depression, and the countless other people who have walked the same trails we walk in the park. It always astounds me how the people and the times are always changing, but some places in the world seem to be frozen in time. Certain places give you a glimpse of the past in a way no history textbook could ever come close to doing.

Friday, I was blessed enough to go to one of those places.

Old Town Annecy is like a place right off of a post card, but pictures cannot do it justice. I will try to give you a glimpse though...

Every Friday there is a market down the narrow streets of Old Annecy.  You can buy flowers, fruit, veggies, cheese, candies, and even meat fresh from the vendors and you can sample just about everything. Picture your local farmers market, multiply times a bajillion, then add two. It's huge... and wonderful.

 I really like French cheese.

Hundred year old shops, houses and buildings line the cobblestone streets. 

Did I mention there is a Canal that runs along the streets?

 

The canal splits down the middle and goes around an old prison. I don't think I would mind being locked up here...

 

The canal opens up to a beautiful lake with the mountains in the background. 

I guess the thing I like about walking in places like this is thinking about the lives of the people who have walked there years ago. It reminds me that nothing is eternal. The houses and streets have changed over time (though in some places it doesn't look like it), and the people are long gone. The life that they lived may not even be remembered, but their souls are living for all of eternity in either heaven or hell. This world is not my home, heaven is. I want my life on earth to be spent praising and glorifying my creator, and I want my eternity to be spent the same way. God created this beautiful earth for his own glory. Praise God for the marvelous things He has done!

 

Mountians and Ant Hills

Mom and I went to Pennsylvania  a few weeks back and we drove through the Appalachian  Mountains. (see picture to the right). I was so excited. I have always liked mountains. I mean, to look at of course. I can't say I have ever sincerely desired to climb one... but still they are beautiful.

 
Well now I am in France and I am very close to the French Alps. I look back at my pictures of the Appalachian mountains and I am slightly less enthused. Let's face it, you would be too if you got to see <- that every day. The stunning view of the mountains is all around here. You can't look anywhere and not see something huge and beautiful. The Appalachian mountains are still big, and they are still beautiful, but I cannot look at them the same way because I have seen the Alps.

I heard someone once say that "When your problems seem too big, you view of God is too small." Often I look at the little foothills of life and think they are so big. It's like being in the Appalachian mountains and thinking they are the biggest mountains in the world.  I can't see over them and I just feel so overwhelmed and hopeless. Even traveling here, and later to Madagascar, it all seems so huge, so scary, so impossible.




Yet standing in constant view of these mountains gives me just a little glimpse of how great and glorious our God is. He is huge! He makes the foothills seem like ant hills in view of His greatness! When you glimpse the stunning beauty and power of God, you can't look at you problems the same way. They might still be big, but God is so much bigger, there isn't even a comparison. I trust in a God that MOVES mountains with just the slightest word. In light of a God that can do all things by the power of His word ALONE, I cannot see my problems in the same light.

The grace of God changes us; it changes our perspective on everything. It colors our world. Sin still comes in and makes mountains out of mole hills, but when we see God for who He is, we cannot help but have our perspective changed. It brings the focus off ourselves and puts it on the one who deserves it. How Great, HOW GREAT, Is our God!

Bonjour!

 Well friends, I am in France. It's pretty much awesome. It would be way cooler if I didn't continually make a fool of myself by saying Spanish words instead of French ones, but hey, I'm working on it. I have a deal with the little ones: They teach me French, I teach them sign language. It's working quite nicely. My 5 year old teacher says I have a nice French "r" (which coincidentally sounds like a very rude American noise...)



ANYWAY-- The first few days were hard. Leaving my family was not fun but as I went through security I just chose to trust God and He gave me a peace that was like nothing I can explain. It wasn't an "everything is going to work out" peace, or even a "God is with me all the time" peace. It was more like I trust God because He is great. He is taking me to the places he takes me to magnify and glorify His name. That's my purpose and it is my joy. So I had peace.



My attitude faltered a little in the Paris airport. It is seriously the most convoluted airport in the universe and I never want to go back there again. Too bad we go back in three months... I discovered something about myself though. The airport in Lyon wasn't much better. I found my way to the baggage claim, but I needed a Euro to get a cart. Fail. I asked a million people where I could exchange money, and everyone said "I don't speak English!" So my bags were coming off and I was scrambling to get those, one of my wheels broke and I was SOOOO very done. Even in my bad attitude, God was gracious. I asked a lady in an official looking uniform and she gave me a token. I thanked her and went to get a cart. It got stuck. There I am, yanking on the cart, running to get my luggage off the belt, trying to watch my other bags and basically almost in tears. The awesome lady took pity on me once again and helped me get the cart out. I'm certain she is an angel of some sort.



I have never been so happy in my life to see two people and I was to see Marc and Stacy. I almost cried. After they picked me up, we began the drive up to Le Balme de Sillingy. The Niles familt has been so incredibly welcoming! The kids are adorable and I have been having so much fun with them. We started a little bit of schooling today an we went on some walks. France is truly a beautiful place. There will be more pictures to come, but for now I bid you bon nuit!

Prayer Requests

As I head out today, I have a few specific prayer requests:

1) Please pray that I would continually walk in the path of Grace. There is no better place to be than in God's will.

2) Pray that I can be a blessing to the people God puts in my path and that I will be used by Him daily to accomplish His purpose for me.

3) Pray for safe travels, I will leave our house at around 2:30 today, I fly out at 5:05 and I get to my final destination (flight wise at least) at 2:30 tomorrow, which is like, 8:30 our time. I think. (I should really get a better handle on this time difference stuff...)

4) Finally, pray for a comforted heart. Saying goodbye is hard, and I ask you to pray not only for me, but also for my family.

Thanks everyone! 

Thoughts as I head out...

Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
² Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

³ The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord, over many waters.
⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful;
    the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
    the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶ He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
    and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷ The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
⁸ The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
    the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹ The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth
    and strips the forests bare,
    and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰ The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
¹¹ May the Lord give strength to his people!
    May the Lord bless his people with peace!

This incredible God is the God I serve. He is mighty in word and in deed. I will follow Him to the ends of the earth with JOY because I trust Him with my whole life. He takes care of the birds of the field, and He will take care of me. He alone is my rock and my refuge, He is my portion, He is my everything. 

I serve a mighty God!