What Can I Say?

Isaiah 61:3 - To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

What can I say? I praise the Lord. 

I thank Him for who He is and what He does, for what He takes us through, over or around. 

I thank Him that I love Him because He first loved me. Somehow in my self-oriented life He managed to reveal Himself and I managed to see Him. He managed to speak and my ears were no longer deaf to His voice. He managed to say, "Come, follow Me" and I stepped out in faith. 

How I praise the Lord. In good times and bad, I will praise the Lord. He takes us into wildernesses and valleys to grow us and on mountain tops to refresh us, to edify us. When we have learned to praise Him in the valleys, we can know the abundance of life He brings. Joy in the midst of sorrow, beauty for ashes, filthy rags to clothes of righteousness. All because of Jesus.

Who wouldn't want this life? In talking with a friend today we pondered how we are who we are in Christ. That out of all the people in the world, we can be called His. And He is ours. Yet there are so many who desire not this life in Christ. Never have, never will. It's one of those mysteries. 

Are we perfect? No. But He works at peeling the layers off that we might one day look like Him. That's a very long way off, I'm afraid...

We have a hope, however, something very real to cling to. It is not born out of earthly desires. It comes to us from God the Father. How precious and amazing is that? A perfect gift. One like none other. One He offered to us. One we cling to. 

What can I say? I praise the Lord.

Psalm 31:19 - Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!