The Joy of the Lord is our Strength

PREFACE

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In 2011, I started writing this book. I lived alone in the middle of the woods. My husband had struggled furiously to restore a forsaken rundown house into a home. After many years, he succeeded in transforming it into a beautiful special retreat. We had looked forward to this after fifty-five years of fast-paced challenges.
As we worked together, we overcame unbelievable obstacles while trying to acquaint people to Our Beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ. God gave us the opportunity to testify the Good News to our five children, to people in the jungles of Ghana, West Africa, to people in the pine barrens of South Jersey, to people in the outskirts of Death Valley, California, to people in the back hills of middle Kentucky, to people in the historic quaint beauty of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and in the foothills of Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains which is part of the ancient Appalachian chain.
Shortly after our restored special retreat was completed, Harold, my husband, developed cancer, went into hospice care in our home and died in the sunroom where I had been writing.
After Harold’s death, I developed an unquenchable desire to ask why. In my reflective moments, I was drawn to search deeply into the subject of prayer. The pages in this book will tell what happened as I muddled through my lonely journey and craved solitude.
In my journey through grief, I have written a book about our family’s missionary work in Africa, Trailblazing with God: Learning to Walk on the Water.
I have also written a book about our specific journey with grief, God’s House! Beautiful! Let’s Go!
After my books were published, I still had a restless spirit. My daughter Deborah suggested that I write a book on prayer. In an atmosphere of choosing to remove the noise of the world, I turned off the television and social media. I read and re-read the Bible in many different translations. I read many books by various Bible scholars. I listened to many DVD courses taught by learned seminary professors. I wanted to know! I wanted to see the big picture! I wanted to see how God’s words effected the hearts of the people listed in the Bible.
The Psalms of David were his daily journals on his journey with God. He did not know his words would be included in the canon of the Bible. Job cries out to God and yearns that his words be written in a book that would have enduring value. He pictures the latter as an engraving in rock, lasting forever (Job 19:23,24).
The more that I studied, the more I wanted to search. I discovered that many Bible scholars called Psalm 139 a great prayer. In praying to understand this great Psalm, I decided to ask God to reveal to me how He had worked with me in the layers of this Psalm. So, this book is the result.
This book will show you what unexpected discoveries I made by observing others, and what God did in my life. This book is not a solo but a symphony. A symphony that harmonizes with the Great Providence of God.
This book is about how God taught me. This is my unique journey that God chose for me. I found my path by going to His Word, the Bible, daily with prayer. This was my part. God’s part was providing circumstances that would touch my heart in such a special way that I couldn’t wait to share that answered prayer with others. Sharing the message of hope to others strengthens the hope in us individually.
God has provided everything we need to overcome. His thread of mercy, grace, kindness, and forgiveness is woven by blood all the way through the Bible. He helps all people who come to Him with a humble spirit and a contrite heart. He always forgives. We are precious to God. This is the great mystery that is difficult to comprehend.
I am a broken vessel just like you. I want to share what God has done through me, in me and to me. We are all sacred vessels created by God in His own image. He has given us talents and abilities, weaknesses and thorns in the flesh, good and difficult circumstances, victories and defeats, friends and enemies, all for His glory and according to His Will. His eternal purposes never change! (Heb. 13:8) God created us with uniqueness including thinking ability, consciousness, freedom of choice, and the ability to reflect (Ps. 139). That part of us—this little eternal house—stores all our thoughts, words, and actions and we must live in the little house we have built forever (Prov. 28:7).
Freedom of choice is our own responsibility and each choice is filled with eternal consequences. Spending time reflecting on the Scriptures and praying with a humble heart will help you find the sacred path that God has chosen for you.
Prayer is the bridge God provides for us to communicate with Him, and share with Him our failures, wounds, brokenness. When God reassures us how precious we are in His sight and His unfailing love for us, and His faithful promises, our thoughts turn, and we do not continue believing Satan’s lies (Ps. 32).
Prayer allows us to make moment by moment choices. When we ask God’s light to penetrate the uttermost part of our being, Satan flees. God destroys this deep darkness trying to seep into our hearts. The power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts destroys our enemy and transforms us into a new creation. We are constantly being changed by the light of His Word. The powerful privilege of prayer makes this possible (Heb. 4:16).
I hope you decide to go on this journey with me, so you also can experience how—“The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength”—the same as the saints of old.