Psalm 139

It’s been quite a couple of weeks, hence why I chose not to blog last week.  Our family was able to go visit my husband’s brother, wife, and their daughter last weekend to celebrate her first birthday and dedication at church.  It was a wonderful weekend with lots of family and friends. 

We came home last Monday and the next morning friends of our arrived for a visit.  These are friends we don’t see often, but we care for very much.  Thanks to facebook, we are able to stay in close contact.  Our sons were born less than 24 hours apart from each other (which is still a bit of a sore spot for them, since their little boy was 10 days late and mine was born on his due date!).  There’s nothing quite like talking with someone who has not only been there, but is there right now!  And when you throw a little ice cream in the mix, it makes for a perfect visit!  

My son and his friend who came to visit.  Best buds! :)

After our friends left, it was time to get moving on preparations for my son’s 2^nd birthday party on Saturday.  It was so much fun!  We had lots of family and friends at our house and ate lots of goodies.  (I’m sure a few pics will be posted in the near future.)  By the end of the day the 3 of us were exhausted!  Needless to say, we all slept well Saturday night! 

Throughout our long, exhausting, fun-filled week, my mind kept pondering the same passage, which I read and prayed through multiple times – Psalm 139.  This is a favorite psalm of mine, and I’d encourage you to also pray through it.

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 go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go 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 hide 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 depths 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 any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

I’m so grateful to serve a God who knows my comings and goings before I even know them – a God who cares about me and my family.  The past week (with all of its celebrations and tears) has been a huge reminder of just how precious life is.  God is the creator and sustainer of all life.  He concerns himself with life – with my life.  He not only desires to be with us wherever we go and in whatever we do, but he desires to lead us in all aspects of life.  What a great God! 

~ Carrie ~