My Praise Overflows . . .

How do I begin to describe the most surreal morning? I woke up around 7am, tired, not wanting to go for a walk; and feeling guilty for not finishing my Bible study last night. I stumble around in the bathroom thinking of excuses. Well, bodily exercise is not important, I need to study my Word. There is some truth to that, but  the truth is I was just being lazy. It's sixty degrees outside, who wouldn't want to walk? Me.

I lay on the floor with my Bible, my good friend, to read 1 John, which is our "book of the month." It was so good, unbelievably meaty and good.

Do not love the world  nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.   ~ 1 John 2:15-16

I finished with my reading and woke up my eight year old who's been begging to walk with me. I was still not convinced that I needed to go walking, but Luke was looking at me and begging for a walk, so I relented. Thunder finally made it downstairs and off we went. The boy wanted to run, so after a brief warm-up walk we take off at a light jog. My precious dog, the Skywalker, cuts in front of me for some bizarre reason (the Evil One) and I trip. It was not pretty. There I was face down, hands all scratched up, feeling a tad light-headed because I hit my chin on the ground. I was hoping the guys on the trash truck were not laughing at me. I was ready to come home, but Thunder said he wanted to keep going, so we pushed on.

Once I got to the top of our cross street, I was ready to turn around again, but that child is like the Energizer Bunny, so we kept going. I saw a lovely tree I wanted to take a picture of on our way back, and I made a mental note so I wouldn't forget. We walked for a while, then eventually turned for home. As we got closer to the tree, we saw a beautiful, dark chocolate skinned lady walking toward us. I started taking pictures of the tree, and the lady said to me, "Were you taking a picture of me?" I smiled and said no, but I think I lied, because look here:

 She said, she didn't mind the picture, she was just being funny. She had a lovely accent, and I think I asked where she was from. She said, "Ghana," and I smiled. She asked if I had been to Ghana and I told her no, but my friend has spent time there when I was pregnant with Thunder, and I know his Ghanaian name is Kwabena which means born on Tuesday. She laughed and said, "Yes."

She talked about Ghana for a minute, saying it was a God-loving nation, and the people are being blessed because they believe in God. She then spoke into my boy. She said, "You must humble yourself at the feet of Jesus and God will will shower you with blessings. Your parents must come together and continue to teach you about God. He will bless you with a good wife who loves him and you will be together 'til Jesus comes."

Then she turned to me, and spoke some things that I will not share, because it was so personal and so good. I have to savor it for a minute.  Her name was Rose, and she was beautiful, her words were beautiful, and the reflection of Christ in her made her glow. She told me that she meets with a few other women in the morning for prayer, praise, and dancing before the Lord. Oh, my heart melted. I asked how I could pray for her and she said she wanted to spread the gospel throughout the world, so I prayed, and after that, Rose said, "I am so full." All I could say was, "God is good." This was the most blessed and rewarding walk ever.

Gosh, there are so many lessons here: courage, fellowship, perseverance, commitment, joy, and so many others, but I'll just stick to one. The enemy comes to knock us off course, but we must persevere. Ephesians 6 comes to mind, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. . ." There was so much good that enemy did not want to have happen this morning, but I am so glad that God sent my boy to help me persevere. So, I'm praising God, even for these bloodied and scratched palms. He's good and his mercy endure forever.


Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. ~James 4:7


Love,

Simocha