Gratitude for a Renewed Heart

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

(Psalm 16:8-10)

I praise you, good and loving Lord,

for the ways that you have filled my heart

during these forty days.

Your presence has

  strengthened me,

  comforted me,

  encouraged me,

  filled me with hope,

  convicted me of my sin 

          (and that’s not a bad thing),

  inspired compassion, mercy, and grace within me.

  given me peace.

Oh, that wonderful peace that only you can give!

And in this past week, as my heart has

meditated on your passion,

I am humbled by the magnitude of your love.

"Love so amazing, so divine,

demands my life, my soul, my all!"

I thank you for these forty days of Lent.

I have needed them.

But then again, you knew that long before Lent began.

Sometime last year, you began to whisper to me,

"My child, you need prayer. 

You need to open your heart to Me."

I offer this prayer in the shadow of the cross.

I have left the tomb, with you wrapped in burial cloths.

I know how this ends, so I cannot spend my Saturday 

in mourning and fear.

I know that Sunday is coming.

I know that death cannot hold you in the tomb.

And because death did not hold you in the tomb,

then I also know that death will not hold me there, either.

For you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

     nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

Over these forty days

you have shown me once again

that you are God,

  and that you are gracious and compassionate,

  and that you are forgiving,

  and that you are always with me,

  and that your blessings are more than I can count,

  and that though I cannot know the future,

        I can know you.

And that is enough.

That will always be enough.

You, Lord, will always be enough.

I love you, Lord. I really do.

My heart is glad, my tongue rejoices,

and my body will rest secure,

in You.

Amen.