I bow before your holy Temple as I worship.
I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness;
for your promises are backed
by all the honor of your name.
Sometimes a day can be so busy and so traumatic and so crazy that it’s hard for me to remember to praise God for everything He’s’ done for me. That’s another reason I love the Psalms. They always serve as reminders to praise, to worship, no matter what is happening in our lives.
God is faithful. God loves us. He will never leave us or abandon us. He’ll never let us down. He’ll always be there when we call on Him, and even if we don’t call on Him, He’ll still show up.
Have you ever had a friend like that? Someone who you can depend on no matter what? If you have a friend like that, are you thankful for them? Do you appreciate them?
Because, you know, the beautiful thing about a friend like that is they chose you. That’s what’s awesome about friends. There is usually very little obligation in friendship. Now in family, obligation and duty are usually pretty common. But not in friendship. You choose your friends, yes, but the amazing thing about friendship is that they have to choose you back.
I have a lot of friends. But in the strictest sense, I am an introvert, so while I may know a lot of people and consider most of them to be friends, there are very few who I will truly open my heart to. And you all know who you are.
And I am stunned and amazed every time we talk or when I know that you are praying for me becuase it is shocking to me that anyone would choose to be my friend. I know myself. I know how crazy I am and how I get bent out of shape over silly things and how sometimes I get so busy with work and life and ministry I seem to drop off the face of the earth and disappear entirely for months at a time. But then–when things calm down and I am able to rebuild any sort of social life I used to have, my friends are there waiting for me like nothing has changed.
And when that happens, I am so thankful–so very thankful–for the friends in my life who have chosen (and who keep choosing) to be friends with me.
And as thankful as I am for my friends down here, I am infinitely more thankful for my friendship with God. He is amazing to me. And just like I don’t understand why anyone here would want to be friends with me, even more so I’m amazed that God would too.
Because I haven’t done anything good enough to even be in the running to be chosen as “God’s Friend.” But He chose me anyway. Just like He chose everyone else.
So I should say that I am thankful to God for His faithfulness to me and because of His love for me and because all of His promises are real and true . . . but that’s not entirely true. I am thankful for Him because He’s my best friend, the One I can tell anything, the Person I seek out when I’m in trouble or when I’m hurting.
And even though I can’t ever do anything to deserve His friendship (nor does He expect me to), I want to be a good friend in return.
Always Peachy 