Psalm 103

Mike and I have been preparing to share on Sunday and we've been looking back at how God spoke to us. Last summer Mike lost his job and it took a couple of weeks to be able to spend time with God again.  I just couldn't focus and when I did I was just crying or complaining or angry.

Finally, we were away at Camp Likely - in the middle of nowhere with no cell or internet reception, a place where we had to slow down - and so I went down to the dock one more and spent some time reading.  And this is what I read:

Praise the Lord O my soul; all my inmost being praise His holy name.  Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.  Psalm 103:1-5

At that point in my life I was taking a hard hit with depression and was definitely 'in the pit'.  It was hard to believe the Lord was going to renew me and satisfy my desires but I felt like that was a scripture to hang on to...and so I did.  That Sunday we went to church at my in-laws' church in Williams Lake and what scripture were they speaking on????  None other than Psalm 103.  The Lord was confirming this word in me.

With no job, no opportunity, no joy in sight, I wasn't sure how He was going to accomplish this but I put it my backpocket and waited to see what would happen.  We had a busy summer and it included a friend from my precious friend Sarah Gilman, a missionary from Haiti.  We talked about the possibility of me coming out and visiting her, something I had longed to do since she moved down there a year prior.

Looking at the place in life we were, I knew that this might be the perfect timing - Mike could take care of the kids, we were still on severance and I could go to Haiti.  I struggled with the thought for another month and then took the huge risk of going to a third world country for the first time and booked my ticket.  Two weeks later I was on a plane and on my way to St.Marc, Haiti.

The trip was a gift, a big kiss, from the Lord.  The minute I got on the plane, my heart was giddy and excited like a little girl, there was joy bubbling.  That was something I hadn't felt in a long time.  And it didn't stop there.  I beamed the entire bumpy ride to St.Marc, reveling in this new experience.  I took every moment in as a gift from the Lord.  I went with no expectations as to what I would do and ended up having many opportunities - to go to the jail, visit tent cities, do food distribution, even preach at the church.  And what scripture did I preach?  Psalm 103, because it was there that the Lord satisfied my desires with Good Things!  It was there that he RENEWED me like the eagle's.  It was there that he crowned me with LOVE and COMPASSION.  It was there that he reminded me how much He loved me and that this whole trip was orchestrated just for me, just to bless me.  I left the shadows of my life in Haiti and came home a changed person.  There was a lightness to my step, a new joy and excitement for what was to come.

I don't think God allowed Mike to lose his job just so I could go to Haiti, but I do know that He works all things together for the Good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.  I thought that scripture included Mike as he was the one 'in the thick of it' and yet, the Lord cares so deeply for me that He intended to make every Good He possibly could as I walked through this dark time. He is such a good God!  Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me, Praise His holy name!