As I look back over the past 5 1/2 years of ministry, I have been remembering some beautiful moments with the brothers and sisters in our churches in Belize.  Some of the deepest moments are those glimpses into how the Lord has met a saint in his or her worst moment of crisis and grief with the Word of God. So many times there is a Psalm, or even a verse or two from a Psalm that a person clings to as they seek hope and healing. It is always a privilege to be invited in to hear the way someone has experienced God in his or her darkest hour.  Because of my own experience of spiritual transformation through God’s Word in difficult times beginning during my college years, and continuing on even to the present as we have gone through some deep trials this past year, my greatest joy in the ministry is to connect a suffering soul with the beautiful riches that we have in Christ.  

I began a devotional practice almost four years ago with the Psalms that has been a great blessing in my life. Each morning I write out 3 to 4 verses from the Psalms, and in doing so it takes 2 years to write out all 150 Psalms. At the end of this year, I will have written the Psalms out twice, and I am looking forward to starting over again in Psalm 1 in January. I love it because, in meditating on just a few verses each day, the truths in the Psalms have penetrated my heart in a new way. I have come to add many new Psalms to my list of favorites, as I have had the opportunity to slow down and consider the beauty in each one. Each morning I also take what was in my few verses and write whatever attributes of God are in the verses (adoration), write a confession of sin, and write out some thanksgivings. This has further allowed me to meditate on the truths they contain. The Psalms are filled with both God’s glorious attributes and our worship and thanksgiving to him, but also man’s confusion, sadness, sin, and hurt.