I Shall Not Be Shaken

Psalm 16:8-9

I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand,

I Shall Not be Shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure.

***

A cancer diagnosis can rob you of your energy and rob you of the daily joys of life. A simple task of washing dishes at the kitchen sink becomes challenging as you fight to even stand at that same sink. Where you once may have washed dishes without a thought of the task at hand, you now reserve your energy. Prior to cancer you have gazed out of the window hundreds of times and mindlessly hummed or sang a tune. Now all you can think is to hurry through the task because you are too weak to stand. Your stamina for even the mundane of daily chores is extremely depleted. You find a way through somehow...if only five minutes at a time. Friends and family surround you and joyfully take on necessary tasks. With much gratitude in your heart you accept their assistance and learn a lesson in humility. You feel so blessed and you tell them so...but they tell you that they are the ones who are truly blessed as you allow them into your private world. You wonder confused---How can this be that they feel blessed?"

There is a hustle and bustle somedays with appointments to keep; your caregivers provide transportation as you gaze out the car window at the scenery whirring past.The conversation is light but there is an unspoken undercurrent of nervous anticipation of the upcoming appointment. My loving caretakers not only avail themselves to household tasks, but these many, many appointments and errands as well. I will always be grateful to them and to God for their generous and loving hearts. I am so blessed and overwhelmed by God, for it is through their generosity of a helping and loving spirit that I am so blessed....as though God created them especially for me "for such a time as this".

Many days the majority of my time is spent alone. However, I am not alone as my mind drifts to a lesson learned from my childhood--- "God is everywhere". Since God is everywhere, I hear His voice through scripture, music and song. Music and song is such a powerful gift from God. A gift that is universal in the world and has been around for generations eternal. On the "good days" I listen to and sing along with my favorite artists those beloved praise and worship songs....then again sometimes I sing quietly and without music at all.

---

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is in Your Midst, a Mighty One who will Save;

He will Rejoice over you with Gladness;

He will Quiet you by his Love;

He will Exult over You

with

Loud Singing

***

Even on the"bad days" there is still music, "He quiets me with His Love". My soul praises Him"my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices". Sapped of my energy I am so blessed to lie on my couch listening to the soothing melodies that others sing. An innate language that expresses and evokes feelings when words alone are not enough. An inherited gift of God shared by the world. Music as old as David, who as a musician and psalmist, soothed a disheartened King Saul who at times was tormented with a distressing spirit. Those songs you once sang when well, seem to pour out of the deepest places of your innermost being. Yes your body is in a weakened state, but your eternal spirit inherently speaks to God. Like that of a songbird, you call out to your Heavenly Father awaiting His echo. For a moment you imagine yourself singing a duet with Almighty God ... "He exults over you with Loud Singing"!

---

1 Samuel 16:23

"David would take a harp and play it with his hand.

Then Saul would become refreshed and well,

and the distressing spirit would depart from him."

***

---

Lord God, Our Heavenly Father

We Shall not be Shaken

by this

cancer

Like the psalmist

We seek

Refuge

in

You

As You went before

The Shepherd Boy

King David

May You also

Go before

Us

For even in this darkened season

of cancer

You Lord God are still on Your throne

and

We will continue to

"Raise a Hallelujah"

Amen