WISDOM FROM THE PSALMS FOR 6/27/13

Psalm 38:10

My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.

Emma was as old as the hills. She had mothered a dozen children, tended a hundred grandchildren, and no one knew how many great- and great-great-grandchildren. She worked every day of the first ninety years of her life, then she decided to rest. In her one hundred and third year, she lost her sight, and two years later she was confined to a wheelchair. For awhile she was resentful of losing her faculties, but in time she accepted it. After all, hadn't she lived more than a full life? Hadn't God given her more family than any one woman had a right to have? When all was said and done, Emma had had a wonderful life, and a few inconveniences at the end certainly weren't going to get her down.

We have two simple options when afflictions strike. We can moan about our fate and give up, or we can face it boldly and make the best of it. God grants us the power to become more than conquerors, if we will only choose to use it.

Prayer: I know there will be times when my strength fails and my will is drained. At those times, fill my heart with Your will and power. Make me a fighter, Lord. Amen.