THE LORD IS____________

The LORD is _______________________________________.

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Fill in the blanks of all the LORD is to you after reading and meditating on these verses.*

The LORD is my strength and my song; (Psalm 118:14)

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; (Psalm 16:5)

The LORD is my strength and my shield; (Psalm 28:7)

The LORD is near to all who call on Him, (Psalm 145:18)

Take those descriptors to heart as a part of your Monday musings. 

Later come up with you own "The LORD is" verses that speak to you and share with me or someone else.

LOL!

LOL---and it's not laugh out loud! 

It's my version of Language of Lament! (Think Lots of Lament)

My thrust of trust!  Too often, it's difficult to live without complaint. 

I beat myself up when I fail. If this idiom were true physically, I'd be black and blue daily. No one can criticize me or punish me more excessively than my own "self-critical" intense feeling of guilt. 

But God reminded me, through a Mark Vroegop article that part of the book of Psalms deals with the Language Of Lament. That's my LOL!

Vroegop states, A Psalm of lament "is pain that leads to trust." 

Self-criticism is never mentioned.

(No Bibliography info available on my torn out sheets)

Today for me, prayers prompted from Psalm 71 

also  focused on Vroegop's four elements of lament from Psalm 77, Psalm 22, and Psalm 13.

• Turn:---Talk to God while in Pain (Psalm 77:1-2) (I Think filled with fatigue as Psalm 71 subtitle, ESV p. 586) states, "Forsake me not when my strength is spent.")
• Complain:--Something I try not to do but Vroegop recommends as a part of Biblical lament---as one lays out the nature and depth of his.her sorrows.(Psalm 22:9-11)
• Embrace: biblical promises. (Psalm 22:9-11)
• Trust: Believe in God's trust worthiness (Psalm 13:5-6)

Mark Vroegop sees these elements as a legitimate framework for lament, a track of grief which allows a believer's prayers to move his/her journey from heartbreak to hope. 

HEARTBREAK TO HOPE!

Legitimate reasons for lament can bring darkness into one's life....even in the midst of the joy of the Christmas season.

Dark clouds require deep mercy, as Mark Vroegop says.This morning as I jot notes for my "dear to my heart," cousin Joy's funeral, I am asking for that mercy. Lament is pain that can lead to trust. May my time in His word lead me to that today.

Lament tunes the heart so it can sing about trust. (Vroegop, p. 82)

I am still struggling. "How long O Lord?" (Psalm 13:1) 

Help me to discover the grace of "lament" during this dark time.

May this lament fuel my faith.

May I place my broken heart in God's hands today and lean into the hope only He can give.

As I remember Brenda Joyce Davenport Tanley at her funeral, may my words offer hope. Others my call her Joyce but ever since childhood, she's been "my Joy."

Transform me, O Lord that others might see Christ in me, the hope of glory! For in your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures  forever more. (Psalm 16:11)