I went to prayer and worship at the downtown church today, as I have most Wednesdays these past few weeks.
In the middle of the week it feels like an antidote, a way to steady myself in God.
There is something powerful in lifting a song of praise and gratitude, in offering my voice as thanks for the life I’ve been given.
When we sang Solid Ground, I felt security rise in me. Confidence followed, along with a joy that lets me rest from the weight I carry as a human being, as a father, as a provider, and as someone meeting challenges that demand patience and consistency.
For a moment, I can relax. Like actual mind-is-on-nothing-but-God deep rest.
In this hour, the ground beneath me feels affirmed.
I think, whatever comes, I will be okay, because I have this place, this presence, and I have already been accepted into it.
That moves me. My eyes water as I sit in that presence.
I sang to the heavens, offered praise and gratitude for everything I have. I prayed. I spoke to God. I thanked Jesus in all of my imperfection.
I felt heard.
And I felt it build something inside me that I am only beginning to understand.
The more I lean in, the more I feel God’s restorative hand and the steady ground He provides.
It’s a real thing.
It’s as if He is showing me how to give myself over.
It doesn’t arrive in a single surge. Today it felt like breath filling my lungs, slow and steady, enough to sustain me.
Just as exercise strengthens me in its own way – resistance training, sprints, pushups and chinups in the living room. That builds my body.
But today I found that singing, raising my voice toward heaven and feeling it, builds something else. It is strength with depth.
Solid ground. Strength that steadies beneath me.
Strength that reminds me I am not alone.
Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord.
Amen.