Friday, February 26

God rescued me from the pit 

O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever. 

Psalm 30:2, 11-12 

Choosing your favorite Bible Verse is kind of like choosing your favorite food. There are so many I like that it’s hard to pick just one! I think that different Bible verses are more special to us at different times in our lives, depending on what we are going through. Such is the case with this particular verse.

I remember that quite a while ago, probably 15 years or so, I was not in a great place. To everyone around me, I had a great life and no reason to be down, but I was fighting an internal battle. I had not felt good for a while, not eating much and just feeling blah, and they couldn’t find anything wrong. My husband Kelly and I were also getting very discouraged about not being able to have a child, which added to my general feelings of desperation.

During this time, I went to church with my friend, and the Bible verse that was used that Sunday was Psalm 30. As I read this Psalm aloud, it touched me as I longed to experience the writer’s joy at God delivering him from the pit. I took the printed verse home and put it on my refrigerator so that I could read it every day, and I began to realize that God would deliver me. And He did!

Since that time, I have been treated successfully for depres-sion, and I was able to become pregnant, twice, with no medical intervention. Those Bible verses are STILL on my refrigerator, because like the author, I am now on the other side, and I don’t ever want to forget to praise God for rescuing me from the pit!

Dear God, thank you for being with me during the dark times in my life, and for giving us your word to comfort and encourage us. Help me never to forget what you have done for me, so that I can praise your name forever! Amen. 

Carol Everhart