I will bless You at all times, Your praise will continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in You, the humble will hear of it and be glad. Oh, come magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought You, O Lord, and You answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and became radiant, and their faces are not ashamed. I am the poor man who cried, and You heard me, and saved me out of my troubles. The angel of the Lord camps around those who fear Him and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in You. Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints; for the ones who fear Him will not be in need. The young lions are in want and suffer hunger, but the ones who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves a long life in order to see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against the ones doing evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and saves the contrite of spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of all. A righteous one keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. Evil will slay the wicked, and those who hate righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of His servants, and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished. {Psa. 34}
What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of my salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones. [Psa. 116:12-15] Therefore I am always confident, knowing that while I am at home in the body, I am absent from the Lord. For I walk by faith, not sight. Instead, I say that I am confident and will to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. So whether present or absent, I labor so that I may be accepted by You, Oh Lord. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his recompense in the body, according to what he has done, whether it was good or bad. [2Cor. 5:6-10]
Holy Spirit help me to realize as Peter did when Christ questioned if the disciples were going to leave Him also, and say as Peter did who else would we turn to? As broken as I can get from losses in life, from failures, from difficult trials and very difficult times, my life is still better with the hope that is in Jesus and an eternal life than a world where there is no hope and only death and destruction. I may have times where I don’t understand, where my raw emotion is anger for what is happening to me, but I cannot give up on the one thing that keeps me living as hard as I can, hope in Jesus my Savior. Without Jesus there would be no hope in my life, no true love and definitely no truth, freedom or justice. Life without Jesus would mean that life is meaningless and that death is the end. My mind, body and spirit cannot accept that as a truth. I believe because it is what sustains me through life here on the earth. No matter how low I am brought down to in life, Jesus, help me cling to You and the hope that You have placed in my life. Amen.