Psalm 3 - Life Support

1 Lord, how many are my foes!

    How many rise up against me!

2 Many are saying of me,

    “God will not deliver him.”

3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,

    my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

4 I call out to the Lord,

    and he answers me from his holy mountain.

5 I lie down and sleep;

    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

6 I will not fear though tens of thousands

    assail me on every side.

7 Arise, Lord!

    Deliver me, my God!

Strike all my enemies on the jaw;

    break the teeth of the wicked.

8 From the Lord comes deliverance.

    May your blessing be on your people.

When I began reading Psalm 3 weeks ago, I had to press pause. There are so many layers pieced within these verses that I realized that I needed the time to stop and reflect—to really grasp what I am meant to learn. Tonight my daughter was refusing to pray at dinner because she was sad (mainly because she wanted chicken nuggets and not the chicken I had just prepared--so we saw through this and knew it was a four-year-old power play). But alas, my husband and I explained that it’s important to pray to God, especially when you are sad because God will help. When she does this we usually continue on to pray and she sits there and when she decides she's ready to eat she will usually ask us to pray with her. We do because prayer is important in our home and we want it to be genuine. This explanation is a good example of what I have learned from David in this Psalm. Psalm 3:5 (NIV) says the Lord sustains me. In other versions you could read it is as: the Lord Protects me, the Lord watches over me, God answers me, the Lord gives me strength. Although different, these translations encompass how David describes God. Which made me think…God is my life support.

God just isn't my life support, God is the life support. David describes God as his shield, his protector, his glory, and his confidence. Within David’s prayer, he also recognizes that God does and will answer his cry and that his prayers will be answered. David is very aware of those who are out to get him and those who doubt his capability, yet, David acknowledges in praise that God does not doubt in his mission and who he is as a person.

There is one weapon that the enemy likes to use against us and that is our emotions. The enemy understands that some emotions are difficult to reign back once they start to take hold. David reminds us that our emotions are nothing unless we provide it more fuel. When we allow doubt and fear into our soul –what room do we leave for God to enter? Recognizing the good that comes out of what we are going through is difficult to see. We can’t see what it looks like on the other side but God does. David reminds us that even if we feel like we have hit rock bottom—we can approach God with a humble and sincere heart and recognize that we are in need and we need help, but not just any help, God’s help. God is there, waiting and ready to step in and provide.

When we take that moment and wholeheartedly seek, thank and surrender our worries, fears, heartaches to God it is like taking a long deep breath and when we finally let the air back out a huge weight has been lifted.  

I grew up with structured prayers that we recited, memorized, and said at specific times, for specific reasons. Organic prayers do not come naturally to me, but I am learning how to become comfortable and intentional in how and what I pray through meditation and yoga (If you are following along on my Facebook Page, then this might look familiar in my *Be Intentional* Series. I have also summarized this experience here, which can be found on the left panel of this blog). I believe structured prayers have a place and a purpose and God answers any prayer no matter what form it takes -- God is the life support. He wants to help us through our struggle, be with us in our joy, and help us grow where we feel weak. 

Psalm 2 - God is in Control

1 Why do the nations conspire[a]

    and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth rise up

    and the rulers band together

    against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,

3 “Let us break their chains

    and throw off their shackles.”

4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

    the Lord scoffs at them.

5 He rebukes them in his anger

    and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,

6 “I have installed my king

    on Zion, my holy mountain.”

7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;

    today I have become your father.

8 Ask me,

    and I will make the nations your inheritance,

    the ends of the earth your possession.

9 You will break them with a rod of iron[b];

    you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;

    be warned, you rulers of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear

    and celebrate his rule with trembling.

12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry

    and your way will lead to your destruction,

for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

    Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

In Psalms 1, we were encouraged to take notice, adjust our attitude, and allow our choices to come from a place of good and helpfulness rather than from a place of selfishness that could potentially lead to destruction. We were asked to believe and trust God, pray and turn to Him no matter our circumstances. This first Psalm is pure truth and tells you flat out what will happen if you choose God and what will happen if you don't. We can also see that God also just wants us to turn to Him, so if we stray off the path He will be there to help us find our way back. As I continue to read on, I start to see some resemblances to how these words can be applied right now in today's world.

In Psalm 2, you get a sense of what it must look like from God's perspective and possibly the frustration He feels when the people He wants so strongly to choose Him, don't. When he knows that if they just do this one thing it will all be okay. As a mother, I get that frustration sometimes--and I expect even my four-year-old to respect me and trust me. So, why would I expect any different from God? God wants to let us know that He has it under control! We may not like everything we encounter on the path but we will thrive once we get through it. It's so hard to remember that. We want so badly for God to hear our side. That is what is so great about David as the Psalmist in the majority of these Psalms is that He is not afraid to put his cries out there to the Lord very raw and bluntly. He tells God when he's hurting and he also shares how he is showing his gratitude through all that he endures. He asks for direction, he shows us to wait, he shows complete and utter faith and obedience. David shows us how to fear God.

 I read somewhere that when the Bible notes the word "fear" -- it's all over the Bible to "fear God"...simply replace the word "fear" with "respect. It provides a whole new meaning and understanding. I like this way of looking at how this word is placed in the Bible. God wants our respect & yes we should fear being separated from Him when we make the choice that leads us away from Him, but with my whole heart and soul I can not and will not believe that he wants us to actually fear Him. See when I think of the word fear, I think of scary monsters hiding under the bed or in the dark closet getting ready to jump out and scare us silly. At times, God does present himself in this stern manner but he doesn't jump out to intentionally scare us...usually when he does that there should be no surprise that it's coming. God does a pretty good job of counting to three before He implements a consequence. When you replace the word "fear" with "respect" then, of course, God wants us to respect Him! Who doesn't want respect--especially when He's the one who made us? Don't we expect that much from the tiny humans we made?

God wants to lead us, but He knows by human nature, we time and time again choose to follow things we can see--so God makes it known in Psalm 2 that he's tired of the craziness going on between everyone. He sees his children fighting and arguing and just acting like fools. So he says, look you all need a leader. Someone who will make sure that you are led back to God. So He declares that He is in control and has appointed His own leader and those who choose to take this seriously and trust Him will be filled with the joy & peace he always intended for us.

There's a pretty popular quote from Woody Allen that goes like this “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.” I pretty much think this quote applied here. Just like the kings of David's time, you may think you know that's best, that that plan is the best plan. God sees the way everything plays out and how it will be in the end. If it will ultimately lead to destruction then God will say NOPE! Plot twist--my turn! Let's try it my way! In the end, God wants us to simply trust Him and we will see joy.

So how can this be applied to life:
1. Know that God gets frustrated too.
2. God is in control.
3. Our leaders need our prayers; leaders in government, leaders in the church, leaders in the health system, agriculutural leaders, leaders in our homes, anyone who is leading a group of people need our prayers.

How do you fear (think respect) God in your daily life? When have you made the best plans only to see God tell you to wait, provide a detour or put up a roadblock? What good have you seen come out of your plans falling through? Right now, in this time during a pandemic, possibly the biggest intruption of plans of our time, how has being asked to stay home allowed you to open your eyes?

XoXoXo,
Sarah Mae

Psalm 1- Choose Your Path

1 Blessed is the one

    who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

    or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

    which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

    whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!

    They are like chaff

    that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

I'll be the first to admit that sitting down and opening my Bible does not come naturally. I own several, I even bought special highlighters with the intention of really sitting down and really studying the verses and stories.  Let me hit the pause button a second before I go any further. What I am about to say might be obvious considering how I already started to preface this, but I'll take this moment to stress that I am not a scholar who has spent years studying the Bible--I don't feel qualified to even write about my thoughts or opinions that pop in my head about this topic. I'm just a wife and mom, reading the Bible in the middle of a pandemic trying to make sense out of what is happening in today's world, stay focused on what's important in life, and get some encouragement to keep moving forward. Phew, now that that disclaimer is out there I can keep going. 

So, on March 30th, I sat down and opened my Bible. I didn't know what I was looking for, I just opened it. I found myself in Psalms. There are 150 Psalms in the Bible--most are short but they hold so much wisdom, guidance and encouragement. The introduction to Psalms in my Bible reads like this, "The book of Psalms reveals how God works in the inner life of His chosen people".  Okay, yes...please show me how You work in my life because you have my attention and I'm listening. Right now I NEED that, I need some clarity to sort out all these emotions I'm feeling, are the choices I'm making the right ones? Maybe you have questions too? I do know that Psalms is not a continuous story, each Psalm is its own entity. Some build off each other or have similar themes but it is not continuous. Perfect, short(ish) bits of information that I can read and contemplate...I'm on board. 

The first Psalm begins really laying it all out there--"For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction" Psalm 1:6 (NIV). God made it clear in Genesis with Adam &; Eve that He was allowing his people to have a choice and free will. He is also pretty clear about what He intended for human life and His plan and intention was for us to have the ability to experience the world with it's best features and beautiful nature. To get this full experience, the path we choose to go on is important. Life is full of choices and we may not always choose the right one--and wander off the trail sometimes. The important thing is that when we are done exploring--we find our way back onto the path. Will we come back to that path the same as we left? Probably not, because when we leave that path it is not always pleasant. We may end up with some bumps and bruises and even some lasting scars that end up part of our story--perhaps we would have anyway. But the question is, did the choices we make honor God and honor ourselves? And it's important to be ready to right the wrongs we may have made along the way. Neither road is an easy road...but one will lead to joy and the other will get us lost and lead us further away from our purpose. 

The Road Less Traveled by Robert Frost is a poem that popped into my head. When presented with options taking the time to ask: Is this path going to lead me in the direction God intends or will it become a distraction from what's important? Will it be the way that the world expects? Or is it what my heart is telling me? Sometimes, the road that is the less chosen path is less popular--and that is okay. You get to choose--it's like a choose your own adventure story, however, this is real life, only God knows what will happen next and you may not get a chance to go back and change your decision before it's too late. So, be confident in your choices, own them if they do not turn out the way you expected, and be prepared for the journey ahead. The path you choose may lead you to the destination intended or you may end up taking a detour around. Try not to get discouraged if the path you choose ends up having roadblocks. If you find that path leads you toward destruction, you know that it's not from God.  Philippians 4:8 tells us that "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things". If our thoughts and actions do not align with this idea--then it's not from God and it is probably time to do some soul searching about where that path is leading you and do an attitude check. If you turn to God for guidance he will help you find a path back in the right direction. And finally, remember that He didn't promise it would be perfect--just worth it!

Real Life Lessons: 

1. Believe in God--trust God, pray without ceasing. Remember who God says you are. 

2. Chase Joy, choose love, respond with love and choose the next right thing. 

3. Choosing God will always lead to good--no matter what is asked of us. 

What does your gratitude list look like because you chose God? What might your life look like if you didn't make that choice?

What are your thoughts about Psalm 1? What is God telling you? 

XoXoXo,  

Sarah Mae

Today is a Privilege

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." - Marcus Aurelius

If we're going to be completely honest, we often make lists--gratitude lists, to-do lists, bucket-lists, life-lists, goals for the week, goals for the day, grocery lists, dream lists--whatever you want to call them, we make them. They feel good to make them, lists are motivating. Some lists are made and they sit somewhere gathering dust, while some people have the gumption to take the steps that it takes to make those lists a reality. But the lists that sit around collecting dust, get moved around, get thrown away--those lists are the ones that fall through the cracks. We make excuses as to why we can never do them. If's, when's and someday's are thrown out there and the list is forgotten.

Right now, in this very moment life feels so uncertain. We are literally being asked to stand still. Although our freedom of movement has been limited, we still have choices. There are things that we have no control over and there are others that are still completely in our control. We can live in fear and focus on how our lives have been restricted and those things we can't control. OR we can take a breathe and make the choice to look at what we still have in front of us. We have been given the gift of time. When in our lives will we be able to say that again--unless we intentionally plan it, take time off work for it, and make the time.

Let me tell you something--today is a privilege--some people will wake up tomorrow and their lives will be changed forever. That would have been true no matter what was happening in the world around us, despite that right now a pandemic is among us and we feel like our daily lives have been interrupted--which it has.

Right now, in this moment we are being asked to trust in God, our health care system, our governments-federal, state and local, our communities, our neighbors, our own families. We are being encouraged to take the time to see what is in front of us--maybe that old gratitude list is coming back and we are finally realizing the things of which we really need to be grateful. Perhaps, in this time we are looking our TRUE priorities in the face each day AND maybe, just maybe we are coming to the realization that our lives are just the way they have been meant to be. Perhaps, you have been taking your family for granted and this time has been given to you to give your family the gift of YOUR time. Maybe you keep thinking you need to keep searching for something else--if you just had that one more things you'd finally be happy. What if--just what if you have been given this time to simply get off social media and see that you already have been given what you have asked for so stop looking for more and start appreciating the life you live. Once you figure it out....that my friend, in itself is a privilege.

So, today--pause. Simply pause & take notice. We have only been given today and this moment in time. Yesterday is now in the past and tomorrow is yet to come. Answer these questions:

• What are you grateful for in this moment? 
• Personally, what is God asking you to pay attention to right now? (Do you need to focus on your kids more, your marriage more, your friendships more--or maybe even scarier than this pandemic--dig deep and look inside yourself and work on YOU.
• What have you noticed in this time of being asked to stay home & standstill? Do you like what you noticed or is something not working and you want to make a change?
• What is one thing you have been putting off that you can start today? 
• What will you choose to focus on today? Will, what you focus on breathe life into your soul? Or will it drag you further away from your purpose? 

For me I can easily answer that last question--simply taking the time to unplug, pause, take notice and be present in life. How might you answer these questions? 

NEWS: On April 1st I decided to pick up my Bible and start reading Psalms, reading one chapter a day. Today is 6 days in, and I have decided to take you on this journey with me. So tomorrow you will see my thoughts, study and deep contemplation about Psalm 1. I hope you decide to walk alongside me as I immerse myself in Psalms for the next 150 days. 

xoxoxo,
Sarah Mae

A Brand New Hope

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. 

These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, 

the good they do is inconceivable. 

- Joseph Addison -

Hey there, I'm so glad you stumbled upon this blog today. My small corner of the world wide web. Whatever lead you here today, I hope that you have found what you are searching for and if this isn't quite what you expected, my hope is that it has helped in some way and you continue to search for your answer. I have put a lot of thought into this post--maybe too much thought was put into actually sitting down and writing it then should have been. This blog itself has transformed in so many ways, so many times. From my hopes and fears during my moms battles with cancer to my grief when we had to say goodbye to everyday encouragement. This blog has mostly been for me and my journey and it will continue to be about that. I will still write about what comes to my heart--but this time I want there to be purpose.

More recently I have been more intentional about my relationships--with people here on earth and my spiritual connection with God. I'm learning how to seek and trust Him more. This takes a lot of work for someone like me who is right now taking a moment to admit that I have a need to feel in control. Letting go and letting God is hard. I do think this has been a learned behavior for me. I like to think that once I was a trusting person. Over the years, as my trust in people has been questioned, I have had to emotionally survive by trying to take my control back. It hasn't always transformed well. It has taken a very unhealthy turn to a point where I have not trusted anyone--people, God, and sometimes myself. I have questioned what I even want in life and my purpose. I have chosen paths and hoped for the best. One thing is for sure--I have never once wanted to give up. We are given this life and for that I am grateful. Even in times where I am uncertain--I have known that even if I didn't know the reason that there was a purpose. Over time, I have found my way back and am starting to trust again. I'm learning to seek God and I have come to know that the purpose I knew existed comes from God. I have prayed and God has answered in only the way that He can because He knows where I am headed. He has lead me to find my husband and together we are building a beautiful family. We have 2 amazing children, 2 cats and a dog, a roof over our heads and a fantastic yard for our kids to run around in. 

But there was a time that I didn't think any of this could be possible. I felt forgotten, unwanted, unloveable, invisible. So how did I get here, to today in this moment where I have decided to share this with you? SO many things! And that is what this blog is going to be about. So, I hope you will stay and share in this journey with me as I continue to discover my purpose as an individual, in motherhood and as a wife in my marriage. I hope to learn from you as well. Let's walk together with purpose and discover ourselves--heart & soul.

Musical Inspiration: Confidence - Sanctus Real

XoXoXo, 

Sarah Mae

Coming Soon

Thank you for your patience while I am in the process of redesigning Hope is a Smile. I am currently creating exciting new content and revamping to create a more focused and purposeful experience.

Please stay tuned and look for new posts about the hope that started it all, faith, motherhood, every day life and everything else in between-beginning September 3, 2019!!