When I think about high school, it seems like it was so long ago. It just seems so far in the past that it is something that I don't really think about a lot. I actually laugh sometimes when I think about how young and unaware of things I was, but at the time, I thought I had an idea of how life worked.
One of the best ways to engage readers is to be completely open and honest about everything and that is what I do when I write because I care about people and want to encourage and inspire.
In high school, there was a girl that I dated for about two and a half years. We had a super good relationship. We happened to live right across the field from each other so we were able to see each other quite a bit. As we grew up and both matured, we felt that it wasn't God's plan for us to continue dating. There was a time in the middle of that relationship where we broke up for a month or two. That time was extremely tough for the both of us and our families. I remember making some decisions during that month or two that weren't the greatest. I had a good relationship with her parents and her mother actually wrote me a letter encouraging me to reevaluate things and to remember that God is control of everything and is all-knowing and omnipresent. In the letter she wrote to me she had written out all of Psalm 139 for me to read.
You know how there are certain things in your life that you never forget and those things seem to be so random? Well this is one of those instances. She encouraged me to read through Psalm 139 every day. I knew that I was making the wrong decisions and understood that she probably knew what was best. So I read Psalm 139 everyday for a couple of months. Each and every time I read through there was a something new that stuck out to me. I was so encouraged by that Psalm that I got things back on the right track and that eventually led to her and I getting back together, but more importantly made me come to the realization that God needs to be the number one thing in my life.
I believe that the trip down my memory lane can be encouraging for you today. I am going to share Psalm 139 with you and I encourage you to read it everyday for the rest of the week. Maybe you are in a place in your life where you need to be reminded that God is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present. God is with us, and his greatest gift it to allow us to know him. I pray that this Psalm can be as life changing for you as it was for me a couple of years ago.
I encourage you to really humble yourself. Don't just read this and think to yourself that everything is okay. I know that there are people out there who are struggling with lots of things. Really dig into this Psalm and recognize that we all need to really be attentive to what is be written by David. Everybody needs this. Recognizing the need for God is the first step to growth and change so I pray that the Holy Spirit works in your heart.
I have to be honest, when I read that letter from her mom and saw she wanted me to read a Psalm everyday, I thought it was a crazy idea. Then the Holy Spirit worked in my heart and I understood that reading through this Psalm was what I needed.
Psalm 139
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I can from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I got up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will die me
and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the septs of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand-
when I awake, I am still with you.
If only, you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is an offensive way in me,
and lead me to the everlasting.
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