by Phyllis Grimes

Created on: September 09, 2009   Last Updated: September 11, 2009

Our God is sweet and surprising indeed. Every morning, I love to wake up before everyone else so that I can spend a few marvelous moments alone with God before the day rushes in bringing with it the endless tasks and responsibilities. As I spend more time with the Lord, the more He takes me by surprise in the most tender and wondrous ways. I am learning that He truly is with me all of the time, and on this particular morning, He proved it.

After thanking God for allowing me to see another day, I sat down with my coffee and continued to praise Him. For some reason, I felt inordinately peaceful and filled with joy as I felt His presence in the room with me. Suddenly, a song came to mind, and I began to sing it aloud. Reader, you may know it; Jesus, Lover of my Soul. Some of the lyrics are: Jesus, Lover of my soul; Jesus, I will never let You go. You've taken me from the miry clay, You set my feet upon a rock, and now I know. I love you, I need you, though my world may fall, I'll never, ever let You goAs I continued to hum and sing, I decided to pick up my Bible that sat on the bookcase next to where I sat. I opened it up, and to my shock, my eyes were instantly drawn to Psalms 40:2; He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet on a rock, and established my goings.

My heart raced, and I almost dropped the Holy Book! I had just sung that verse! I thought I was opening it to some random page, but it was no coincidence that I had turned to that specific page. I wouldn't have been able to find that scripture if I had tried, but the Lord was there with me and wanted me to see that He heard me singing His word. I bowed my head and praised Him, thanking Him for being right there with me at that moment and all of the time. Then, I reflected on the words themselves.

The Lord did rescue me from a terrible pit that I had created for myself. He is so wonderfully surprising that way because even when we screw up, He can still bring glory out of the mess we make of our lives. Once He lifted me out of that pit, I decided His way is better and I will never go back to my old life. He does determine my path, all of my goings, and I love where that path is taking me. So, if He was there listening to me singing that morning and revealing where the lyrics had come from, I should not be surprised that He knows how many hairs I have on my head, when I sit and when I rise, or that He has more thoughts of me than all of the grains of sand on the beachbut, I am sweetly surprised and humbled each and every time He reveals His affection for me. My prayer is that you, too, can be open to His sweet surprises. He has many in store for you, whether they be a small one like this incident or big ones that are mind-blowing. All of His surprises are gestures of His deep and profound love for us.

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