Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 18:21 KJV.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7.

And continuing our 351 Old Testament prophecies, promises of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, we come to number 75: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Psalm 22:1: My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. And, Matthew 27:46: About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

I loved this this morning in You Are The Beloved by Henri Nouwen: “Help me, O LORD, to let my old self die, to let me die to the thousand big and small ways in which I am still building up my false self and trying to cling to my false desires. Let me be reborn in You and see through You the world in the right way, so that all my actions, words, and thoughts can become a hymn of praise to You. I need Your loving grace to travel on this hard road that leads to the death of my old self to a new life in and for You. I know and trust that this is the road to freedom. LORD, dispel my mistrust and help me become a trusting friend. Amen.”

We’ve been watching on Angel The Sacred Thread, a visual Bible study exploring the historical, cultural, and geographical context of the Lord’s Prayer, hosted by Brad Gray, a pastor, and founder and president and CEO of Walking the Text. There is a sacred thread running through all of Scripture and I love going deeper than just a surface understanding of words themselves; and the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus gave His disciples goes deep for us so we can understand as we pray the full meaning of the words as they enlighten our understanding of Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. And that, truly, is what journeying with God brings to our lives. Nothing is random. We are living within a story of creation leading us back to our Creator and the Light He brings is beautiful. He helped me see this morning in prayer that our hearts are the very ground spoken of in the Parable of the Sower, in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8. In remembering my own heart’s ground needing His careful tilling and preparing in this journey with Him, I have hope in God for all of us. Truly a sacred thread that is God’s Love unbreakable and enduring.

***STEADFAST LOVE The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I will hope in Him.” Lamentations 3:22-24 (RSV).***