Sheltered from the storm

I’ve never been soft.

Quite the opposite, it has been a rough, sharp, anything but sweet land the one God has had to work under my name. So much so, that I can’t even stand the sound of it, my first name. It still awakens a heap of broken memories; the boiling waters that hardened the egg. But in the last couple of months, there’s this word I hear at times: sweet. I’ve seen sweetness a lot, lately, but there was this one day that changed it all:

That day, my mom asked me to read the psalm at dinner and I wanted to rebel so badly… I didn’t even know why.

I didn´t, I read it.

I read the psalm and at night, it hit me:

Christ, He never rebelled. Instead, He fulfilled the Fathers wish until death, everything the Father asked.

Maybe it’s until after we decide to choose the opposite of what our flesh wants when His spirit can get through to ours with His light and love… I loved Him so much in that instant, the same instant where I got to witness a deeper glimpse and understanding of His tenderness.

How I want to be like You, You’re my life’s dream.

There, the only One I admire.

Better the little that the righteous have
    than the wealth of many wicked;
¹⁷ for the power of the wicked will be broken,
    but the Lord upholds the righteous.

¹⁸ The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,
    and their inheritance will endure forever.
¹⁹ In times of disaster they will not wither;
    in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

²⁰ But the wicked will perish:
    Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,
    they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.

²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay,
    but the righteous give generously;
²² those the Lord blesses will inherit the land,
    but those he curses will be destroyed.

²³ The Lord makes firm the steps
    of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,
    for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
    yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
    or their children begging bread.
²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
    their children will be a blessing.^[b]

²⁷ Turn from evil and do good;
    then you will dwell in the land forever.
²⁸ For the Lord loves the just
    and will not forsake his faithful ones.

Psalm 37:16-28

We have this life, and this life only, to get to know Christ the way He really is, and to love Him because of it, to live, because of it. He turns our lifeless hearts and turns everything around, giving us breath and life that slowly change everything we are and everything all around. He makes our hands full when we’re empty, even if we do not yet understand the fullness of His ways. He leads us through ways that make us live and honor Him if we trust Him, and it’s in those paths were we can find Goodness and Everlasting Life. Getting to know Him, truly know Him, how He works, how He speaks, how He saves and cares and acts is everything we need to live again.

His tenderness can give us new hearts.

Have you ever considered asking Him about your ways, giving Him your pain, offering your life wondering if He can make your heart alive?

It is when we find out the world doesn’t fulfill, that nothing here can subdue the noise, end the void, where we can turn to Him, get to know Him. For if we wait for Him, I assure you one day we’ll see His hand move and how you’ll love Him there. If you let Him, He can fix everything.

Only Love can fix this.

How I want to be like You, You’re my life’s dream.
How tender Your embrace, how sweet my King’s face.
Your gentleness where I rebelled, your humbleness higher than all my ways.
How impossible is it not to love You.
You’re everything.

How I want to be like You, You’re my life’s dream.

-SFTS