I just had to share this beautiful excerpt from the “Lenten Reflection by Dr. Larry Crabb” that I’m receiving daily via email:
God says, the Psalms are not an anesthetic. They are not a cup of hot chocolate on a cold night. They are the prayers of someone lost in a dark wood, shivering in bitter cold, unable to stand in fierce wind. They are the praise that flows from that person’s heart when he abandons himself to Me for deliverance, when he trusts that My hand has grasped his and that I am leading him home, very slowly but very surely.
Face the hard questions that life requires you to ask. Gather with other travelers on the narrow road, pilgrims who acknowledge their confusion and feel their fears. Then, together, live those questions in My Presence.
Your tears will become the melody of a new song. Your darkness will become the window through which new light will appear. Your doubt will become new ground, solid ground, on which to stand. Your longing to feel your emptiness and ask your questions in My Presence, in the company of other authentic pilgrims, is good. That longing releases true worship and opens your ears to hear the music of heaven and to awkwardly but rhythmically begin to dance.
Decide, again and again either to cling to Me as I AM or reshape Me into who you want Me to be. The stakes are high. Either you will find yourself in finding Me, or you will lose yourself in creating Me to fit your foolish expectations.
Make the right choice.
(from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb, ©2009.)
The book is absolutely fabulous! I highly recommend it.
~robin
