Psalm 90:14

"Satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love, that I may rejoice and be glad in you all my days." Psalm 90:14

I usually change 'days' to 'day', because I figure I need to concentrate on today, and 'day' will turn into 'days' on its own.

Or from The Message Psalm 90:14

"Surprise us with love at daybreak;

then we'll skip and dance all the day long."

When all is as it should be, I start the day with the the things in the picture above, oh, and a hot cup of coffee.

My journals are full of my prayers, my deepest inmost thoughts and concerns, what I'm learning at the moment, quotes from books I'm reading, and verses from the bible. Something about the process of writing helps me sort through the confusion that is my mind most of the time. God uses that process time and time again to lead me back to the truth.

Every so often I go and reread parts of my journal. Every time I do this, my faith is renewed as I see how God is weaving together the story of our lives in a way that begins to make sense out of things that at one time looked hopeless or meaningless.

One thing journaling has taught me is to pour out my concerns before the Lord, and then wait and watch. Wait - with expectation. Trust, in faith, that He does hear me and will act, most likely in a surprising way.

Just before we left for China, I got a new journal, the one pictured above. This morning I noticed that it's almost filled up, so I went back and read the beginning. The first entry was written the morning we arrived in China. It took me back to that place. What an adventure! I'd already forgotten about some of the details I wrote about.

One of my favorite entries of that time is one of the simplest:

Thurs. 3/1/07 1:30 p.m. China time

PG has been with us since Mon. at 1:30 p.m. - I love her more than I could have imagined. She is so ours!!!

Since we've been with Piper, I've been writing on the blog instead of this journal.

Simply put:

China...amazing

Piper...beyond our wildest dreams

Thank. You. Lord. -

You are amazing and have blown my concept of you to smithereens!!!

If you could read the 2 years of journals before this entry, you would see that every word of that simple entry is packed with meaning. Sometimes the words "Thank. You. Lord." just say it all. In that moment I was thanking Him for every step that led us to that place. Every step - the exciting ones, the sweet ones, but also - the agonizing, fear filled, discouraging, overwhelming, heartbreaking steps. In that moment each one of those steps became precious to me, as I got a glimpse of how He redeems. How He works all things together for good. All things. This is something I too easily forget.