On His mind

My thorn in the flesh remains just that – a sharp, relentless thorn.  We’ve prayed for months, and still it sticks; stinging, burning like fire (some days more than others) as we wait for relief to come. 

It’s been redemptive, that thorn has.  Even now, I can see the purging it’s brought.  Can see the deliverance that’s come.  Can see how The Master Gardener has used it to prune, cleanse, strengthen.  In an odd and peculiar way, it has been a pearl of great price, and the health that’s come through its prick has certainly come at a cost.

I’m thankful – deeply – for it all.  And yet…

And yet, in my humanity, there are days I bottom out; hit the skids; feel the breath of those familiar enemies, old and dangerous defaults, singeing my back and pulling at my heels, dragging me back to the edge of the pit.

Knowing sure where my comfort lies, I open the fresh-bound leather cover, bend low over the steaming cup, and find these words, “The Lord remembers us and will bless us.” 

“The Lord hath been mindful of us,” the King James says.  The ancient words soothe the troubled heart, the anxious mind.  And I breathe in grace again.  He is mindful.  He remembers.  He will bless.

My thoughts turn to you, dear one.  In your own distress, in your own uncertainty, in your own season of ‘thorn living,’ He is mindful of you.  He has not forgotten.  He remembers…

And He will bless.  “You who seek God, your hearts will live,” the Psalmist proclaimed.  “The Lord hears the needy and does not despise His captive people.” 

You are safe in His hands.  He is working in you and for you and – yes, even through you.  Take it to heart, know it in your bones that “He remembers” and will “perfect that which concerns you.”  You and I, we are blessed, great and small, whose God is the Lord.

Grateful to be on His mind,

The Writer

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