If you have read any of my blogs this year, then you know I
have been slowly going through the Psalms. Occasionally, I get frustrated with
myself because I’m going so slowly. It seems that I am getting behind on some
artificial, self-imposed mandate to march through one psalm per day. But then I
read the psalm for today, and I realize the timing is perfect. I am not behind. I
am right on schedule.
You may or may not know that my sister, Angela, has
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. That is her in the photo with my daughter, Sabrina. Angela has been confined to a wheelchair for the past
thirty-plus years. She has had a tracheostomy and been on a ventilator so she can breathe for maybe the past ten to fifteen years. She has been in and out of the hospital
with pneumonia too many times to count. Each time feels like it might be the
last. When she was diagnosed with MD in the 1970’s, the
prognosis was that she would only make it to her late teens or early twenties, and she is now 46.
She is currently in the hospital again. This time with
double pneumonia and a collapsed lung. As you can imagine, she is experiencing
a great deal of fear and anxiety. Not fear of dying, but fear of the feeling of
suffocation and pain. I would be too.
This morning, my first thought was that I might skip today’s
psalm in order to read and pray over some other passage on healing or peace. But then I
decided to go ahead and read the psalm for today anyway. Yesterday, I was on
Psalm 55, so 56 was up for today. And it is perfect for today.
Would you join me in praying for Angela. Pray for a sense of peace and calm that can only come from God. Let’s pray these words from Psalm 56 together for her…
“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
I praise God for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? ….
You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book. …
This I know: God is on my side!
I praise God for what he has promised;
Yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? …
For you have rescued me from death;
You have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
In your life-giving light.” (Ps 56:3-4, 8, 9b-11a, 13 NLT)
