So when I was asked to pray, the good thing about preaching for a second time or a second service is that if you messed up the first time, you're able to fix it the second time. The only thing they did not tell me is if I could repeat the jokes. Okay, good. Thank you. So most likely they're not going to sound the same way, but I'll try my best.
Okay. The first time it was more natural, but we'll try this time. When they told me about preaching, they told me it was going to be in Psalms 13. I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm in trouble. Anything that has to do with the New Testament is very, for me, kind of easy, especially because I love the letters of Paul.
Letters of Paul, for me are amazing. And I love to preach on those, especially if it's in Spanish. But this time they were like, no, no, no, you're gonna go to Psalms 13. And I was like, oh, man, this is gonna be kind of tough. But then the first thing that I thought about when they told me about Psalms 13, it kind of sent me back to when I was a kid.
I actually grew up with my grandmother, and she would have her Bible open every single morning. The thing is that she would. Sometimes she would have it in Psalm 91, sometimes she would have it on 23. And I remember one time waking up early and seeing it, seeing the Bible open on Psalm 13. So this kind of reminded me of that situation.
So I was like, this should be easy. But the reason why it's easy is because maybe a lot of us can identify ourselves with this passage or with these six verses that we're going to read today. First of all, let me give you a couple of facts about the Psalms, because a lot of us do understand, and some of us are very familiar. For instance, Psalm 23:91. So we kind of know where to go and where to find them.
And every time we are troubled, we usually go to those Psalms. But let me give you a little bit of facts about it. Today we actually launched a new series called Stories We Believed. And today, what I named my sermon is Joy in the Midst of Agony. And you'll understand why.
The word agony, to me, is one of the worst words that you can actually use or experience. So let me tell you first facts about Psalms. Some truth about Psalms Number one, Israel. So this was Israel's psalm book and prayer book, written in a span of 900 years. Rather than polish the theological doctrine, they are raw, unfiltered expressions of human emotions designed to teach People how to honestly bring their lives, both the good and the bad, before God.
Number two, the Psalms validate every spectrum of the human experience, showing doubt, anger, grief, and normal parts of a spiritual life. Number three, about 40% of the Psalms talk about despair, frustration, prayers of justice, including the fabulously raw and purgatory psalms, which has for God to punish the wicked. Another fact about the Psalms is that they are poetry and they must be read as such. This is very important because those who are very dramatic can actually read this very well. But it's important to have that in mind so when we read these Psalms, we understand or we can identify with the oral.
And the last one is poetry expresses the emotional imaginative nature of writers thoughts. It harnesses the power of imagination and relies on the emotional impact of its verse to convey ideas rather than simply recounting a story through facts. This is awesome to know. Whenever we're going to understand more of the Bible, it's important for us to understand not just what we're reading, but also understand the context. Okay.
In order for us to understand better the Bible, we have to read the chapters that are before that main passage and the ones after. So I did a little bit more homework and I was like, let me see what really David was going through. And I went back and then I went a little bit after chapter 13, which is the one we're going to be talking about today. So David, on chapter three, if you have your physical Bible, perhaps you can read a little bit with me. We're going to go fast.
Okay, so David, all these chapters belong to David. He wrote them. There's more than eight Psalms or authors in the Psalms, and there are 150 of them. And he starts in chapter three, he says the following. He says, how many are my foes or enemies?
Number four, he says, answer me when I call you. Number six, chapter five, I'm sorry, he says, listen to my words. Consider my lament. Chapter six, he starts saying, lord, do not rebuke me in your anger. Then on chapter seven, he starts saying, lord my God, I take refuge.
Save me. Number eight, he says, lord our Lord, how majestic is your name. Out of these Psalms, those are the only two where we can see David sort of like steady and kind of happy. But the rest of them, we find David in trouble. We find David insecure, he has doubts.
And then if you read number nine, it starts number 10, he starts saying, why, Lord? Why do you stand far off? Why did you hide yourself in times of trouble? And then in chapter 11, he says, in the Lord, I take refuge in number 12. He says, Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore.
And when I read about this and the way he starts writing, I'm like, david had issues. Oh, my gosh. Some days he was up, some days he was down. Some days he was thankful, he was singing. Some days he was like, I don't want to go to church.
I don't want to do anything. And that's when I identify myself with him. Because there are times where I can question God or I can actually say so many things that precisely does not go with my theology. And then we get to chapter 13. Can you read for me, please?
And this is another situation that David is going through. And perhaps you can actually say the same thing of having said this previously. He says, how long, O Lord, would you forget me forever? How long would you hide your face from me? That alone is pain.
That alone, it's a problem. That alone I could identify myself with David. Verse 2. He says, how long must I wrestle with my thoughts? How long should I wrestle with my thoughts?
Sometimes I think positive, sometimes I think negative. Sometimes I think it's going to be okay. Sometimes I think I'm in trouble. And he keeps saying, and every day have sorrow in my heart. How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look at me and answer, O Lord my God, give me light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death. My enemy will say, I have overcome him. And my foes will rejoice when I fall. This alone. If I read these four verses and I'm depressed, I'm going to join them.
There's nothing positive of him. There's nothing positive that David can be saying. But then on the fifth, something changes. On verse five. I'm sorry.
He says the following. But I trust in your unfairness, unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me. Let me tell you something.
This is not the first time. Even though we can read this how long Question, we can read it in other Psalms. There are at least 22 times that other authors will write, will say or express this question. How long would I have to wait? How long?
How long do I have to wait? When we know how long something's going to be, I think we can put up with it. Let me tell you something I did not know. Even though I was born in a country where it's really, really hot, I didn't know Columbia was going to be this hot. The worst thing is that we didn't have AC in the room.
And at night I had to open up all the windows, open the blinds and everything. And I kept hearing mosquitoes coming in. It was a bad situation and I couldn't even sleep. It was 12 o' clock in the morning and it was so hot. And my first question was, how long?
How long? But when I knew it was just going to be eight days or nine days long, I knew it was going to be great, actually, fourth of July. My youngest daughter said, daddy, I wish you were here. She tried to use that manipulation with me and make me feel guilty about worked. But I was like, how long do I have to wait?
How long can I be away from my family? How long can I be without my w. How long can I be without. Without A.C. i knew how long it was going to be. But in this case, David did not know how long. Whatever he was going through, the pain that he was experiencing at this time, he just didn't know.
And I'm sure that a lot of us can actually understand and a lot of us can actually feel the same way that David felt at the time. There's the problem. There's two things that we can notice. The problem is that David felt ignore. And I don't like it when people ignore me.
I don't know about you, but it kind of bothers me. It kind of hurts when somebody ignores you. And at this point, David said, are you ignoring me? Wait a minute. I've experienced your love.
I've experienced what you've done in my life, but all of a sudden, are you ignoring me? Me, David? And then the second thing that he says is like he said, at least I have to wait a long time for God to do whatever needs to be done. We often grow faint simply because of the length of our trials. We believe that we could endure almost anything if we knew when it would end.
Yet sometimes we go through troubles that make us cry. How long? The second thing that David says is forever. You mean forever? Forever, Ever, Ever and ever, Ever.
How long do I have to wait? Is it going to be really forever? God, the way I feel right now. And the pain that David's. The pain in David's heart came from the feeling that God had forgotten him and was distancing himself from him.
Many times David was able to go through problems, but he knew that God was with him. And it's very different when we go through trials and we know that God is with us, but it's very different when our feelings tell us that God is not near Us. When you know that you're going through trials and God is with you, it's easier to walk that path. But when you know that God is distant from you and you know and you feel that God is ignoring you, it's very hard. You feel crushed.
You feel that your heart cannot go on.
Now, the problem is that we believe a lot of stories. Not just what people say to us, but the stories we tell ourselves. Let me give you two examples. Number one, a few, probably weeks ago or months ago, I preached at a church in Knightdale, and I preach about Lazarus. You all know that story.
There's a part in John 11 about the story in Lazarus that really captured my eye. I was reading through it. My wife and I have a challenge, and we're reading the New Testament in three years. That's our challenge. And going through John, I actually spent another month just on chapter 11 of John and the story of Jesus and Lazarus.
Jesus is in trouble in Jerusalem. He moves to another. He goes with his disciples to another city when Bethany is on this side. And the sisters of Lazarus send a message to Jesus that it took exactly one day, the trip from Bethany to where Jesus was. It would took exactly one day for that person to get there.
This is not text or what's up? Nowadays, you actually write something and you automatically get it. But this time, it took one day. So the messenger goes to Jesus and said, the one that you love, it's actually sick. And what captures my attention is that the word says that Jesus stood there for two more days exactly where he was.
Wait a minute. I thought he loved Lazarus. Shouldn't he move a little bit faster? Because when I hear about my kids are sick or my wife, I tend to move a little bit faster than two days. But Jesus didn't.
And when the disciples said, hey, wait a minute, you're not gonna go. You love him. No, no, no, no. This is for the glory of God. What kind of disease is for the glory of God?
What kind of issues that I might go through are for the glory of God? When Jesus decides to go back after the third day, he goes to Bethany, and that's another day. So that's exactly four days.
And it's important to understand that Jesus does not move according to my time. Jesus does not move according to my purpose. We are so used to. And we live in a microwave society. You know what that is?
We punch a couple of buttons and boom, it's done. For instance, popcorn, Popcorn. I'm sorry. Minute and 22 seconds and it's done. If you go above, if you do a minute and 29 is burn popcorn.
At least that's my experience.
So we live in a society where we expect things to move fast. There's traffic. Oh, I grew up also in New York. Oh my gosh. And now in Cali.
It's just, we need motorcycles over there. Now I understand why. But we want everything to move fast. So we think that God is supposed to work the same way with us. We think God is in the microwave and we punch numbers and he's supposed to move fast.
And according to my time, well, that wasn't the case.
And what I called recently, you know, it's apparently God was ghosting David. I didn't know what that meant. I just learned it a couple of weeks ago because my daughters taught me this. Ghosting. Let me just make it into parenthesis.
Ghosting is the act of suddenly cutting off all communication and vanishing without explanation. While it started in the online dating world, it has evolved into a catch all term for disappearing ex across friendships, family relationships, and even job applications or remote workplaces. And nowadays, for David, even in the spiritual world.
Let me tell you another story. Jezebel, baal prophets in Elijah. I hope I did pronounce those. Well, my Spanish gets in the way. Let me read 1st Kings 19.
I'm sorry for on. And let me just remind you a little bit of this story, the crisis of Elijah. Now, Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, may the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the one of them. What did Elijah do?
He was afraid and ran for his life. And let me tell you something, I do not blame him. I would have run the same way. Gentlemen, you know, happy wife, if a lady's upset, run. And I don't blame him.
He said, wait a minute, this lady's really trying to kill me. But a day before, he had witnessed God's glory and God's power, right? He killed 450 prophets. He was all like a real man, like strong. But all of a sudden he gets a threat and he runs.
For some reason, we tend to forget God's promises, His glory, his salvation so quick. And we start looking inside rather than what God has done for us. Let me give you a third example of emotions and situations where God is sovereign. December of 1985. I was actually six years old.
Please don't do your math. I know some of you already. Pull out the phone with the calculator. December of 1985, I was six years old. My father walks through the door, the front door, and says, your mother has cancer.
At that time, I couldn't understand. I didn't know what it was. I was only six. I was in the kitchen looking for something to eat. Third World country.
My mother leaves, she ends up in the hospital for six months. I remember that I couldn't see her. I couldn't visit. Like here. Cancer patients and kids do not.
We're not allowed. We weren't allowed to visit her. So I had to go around the hospital. I had to go all the way to the back of the hospital. She was on the ninth floor.
And there was about, I would say about six football fields. And I would have to stand there outside, and she would come out through the window and just wave at me, and I would just wave back. That was the only way I was actually able to see my mom. And I had to go by myself back to the waiting area. Well, since then, my dad, my dad, my older sister, my brother and I had to pray every single night.
We would pray more for an hour. And we would get on our knees and we would pray. But there was a problem. I would always fall asleep, always will fall asleep every single night. I remember my dad had to carry me to the bed.
I was only six. Well, I remember my dad many times say, God, we need you. God, we need you. God, we need heal. God, we need my wife back.
We need a mother back. Well, on June 5th of 1986, around 6:00pm, dad walked in and said, you, mom has died.
It clicked how long? And I asked why I was only seven. Two or three years later, my dad leaves to this beautiful country and the rest is history.
Now my question was, did God forget about me? Did God forget about my siblings, about my family? And all I can say is, of course not. God did not forget about me. God did not forget David.
God did not forget Elijah. God did not or does not hide his face from us, but we feel like he does. When we have two strong feelings like the ones that David had, we create our own reality. And we do two things. Number one, we start accusing God.
Wait, wait a minute. You said that you were with me. Wait a minute. You say that everything has a purpose, but I just don't feel like that. And number two, the second thing that David says is we also believe that he is like me.
We think that the way I think has to think God has to think. We think that the way I act, God has to act. Or we think that God by praying or doing something, we twist God's arm and he has to do like what I want him to do. Well, let me tell you something, brother and sisters, is that God is not like me. And his plans and his purpose are not the same as mine.
Numbers 23:19 says God is not human, that he should lie. God is not a human being, that he should change his mind. I do that all the time. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Now here's the thing. Feelings are real. But that doesn't mean that's the reality.
Only because I feel certain way doesn't mean that it goes along with God's situation or God's natural or essence. Let me tell you something about feelings. There should be a balance in life. Number one, some people ignore feelings and think they should have nothing to do with our relationship with God. This will be a problem because God created us in his image and likeness.
For example, anger. Anger is not a sin. What we do with anger might be a sin. Number two, on the other hand, some people live in their lives, live their lives ruled by their feelings. They believe that whatever reality their feelings present to them, feelings present to them.
The problem is that our feelings have been affected by the fall. Because of this, we cannot trust our own feelings. We've been thought so many times and I've heard so many pastors, and my wife and I have gone a couple of times, a few times to share with some youth camps and some family camps. And I've heard preachers say so many times, follow your heart. Pastor, I don't know what to do.
Follow your heart. That's not biblical. We cannot follow our hearts. We cannot follow our hearts. Jeremiah 17:9, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it? Another theologian said the other day, our hearts are fabric of idols. We're constantly creating our own idols. We're constantly thinking about me, me, me and me. We're constantly thinking of all the things above Christ.
And sometimes our hearts is our own God. And we think that our hearts have the right to tell us where to go. That's not the case, but that was the case with David in this case. Now let me add a little bit more about our emotions. Three truths about emotion.
The scripture addresses our. Or address our emotions. Sorry, life from different angles. Number one, our emotions are not a sin. Experiencing pain, anger, sadness or fear is human and natural.
Even Jesus experienced deep Sorrow and anger. Two warning signs. Our feelings indicate that we need to pay attention to something within us. They are indicators of our needs, dependencies, and spiritual vulnerabilities. Number three, they should not take control because the human heart can be deceptive.
The Bible advises us against making major life decisions based solely on how we feel during a time of emotional instability. And that's exactly what David was going through. And that's exactly what I went through when I was 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. You go up to 21, maybe 22 for more than 13 years. I said, why didn't mom really die?
Why? Why God couldn't just wait? When I was 30 or 40, I could have enjoyed mine. There's nothing more beautiful than walking into your house and be able to hug your mom. And I tell you, sometimes I want what you have.
I remember as a child in school, we used to do paper flowers. And all the kids who had their moms, they would use the red and green paper and they would do roses. And I was the only one that I would make the white one. But I would go always to my grandmother. My grandmother would grab him and say, it's okay.
It's going to be okay. Why? Why?
How long? God? And it took 20 years, probably less, because in my mind, I knew that it was my fault. I should have stayed awake. That's what happened.
And I start living that reality. And I started thinking that it was my problem.
Most of us keep leaving that reality. Most of us keep thinking and believing those stories. Most of us believe some of the stories that people say outside, even on the news. And we forget that the best news are here.
Brother and sister. The Bible also says the following about David's desperation with himself and others. David says, how long should I take counsel in my soul?
How long should I advise myself? That's the only way I could understand it. David was relying on his own thoughts and feelings. It's no wonder that David became discouraged. Seeking counsel within his own soul had led him to sadness in his heart every day.
It was my fault. It was my fault. It was my fault. It was my fault. It was my fault.
It was my fault. It was my fault.
But Proverbs 3, 5, 8 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Not just half, not just a quarter. With all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding.
Even though I don't. But keep saying, seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don't be impressed by your own wisdom. That's not hard for me. I'm not impressed by my own wisdom.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will be, or you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones. One thing I have experienced in depression is that depression crushes your body. You wake up with so much pain. The knees hurt, the legs hurt, the back hurts, your head hurts when you're depressed.
David understood this and he wrote about this in Psalm 51:8. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones you have crushed rejoice. How can I sing in the middle or in the midst of agony? How can I raise my hands and sing along with the worship team and say, come on and sing a song for him?
It's very hard. But David started to understand this situation. Many times when I face problems, I find this to be true. The more I think about my problems, the more depressed I become. But when I pray about my problems, a glorious sense of freedom and peace comes over me.
Our thoughts are very important.
David says, again, how long must I wrestle with my thoughts?
It depends what we think constantly. Where are our thoughts? And it's important to understand and remember what Romans 12:1 2 says. We need to renew our minds constantly. That's why we need to hear the gospel constantly, because we tend to forget what the gospel is.
But Paul says the following on 2nd Corinthians 10:5. He says, with demolished argument and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought that make it obedient to Christ. Now let me show you a different version. NLV says the following. We break down every thought and proud thing that puts itself up against the wisdom of God.
We take hold of every thought and make it obey Christ. You grab your thoughts and you put them against the cross. What does the Bible says? The problem is that sometimes let me remind you that we cannot be influenced by what we do not know. We cannot be influenced by the Bible if we don't know it.
We cannot be biblical if we don't know it. My daughter, my oldest daughter likes apologists and she loves obviously so many of the apologists that we see now in social media. And she's learning that. But I tell her, you can't just repeat what they're saying. The first thing you need to put in your mind is this book.
Once you know this book, you're going to be able to think biblically in every aspect of your life. But again, the problem is that we don't know this book. Therefore we can't think or act biblical. So this book is so important because David in this case had to understand and remember who God is. Again, we cannot be influenced by what we do not know.
Philippians 4:8 says the following. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Let me just move forward. About prayer.
Let me remind you that prayer changes us. David, prayers of independence in the verse three, people at times think that we can twist God's arms in order for him to do our will. But in reality, prayer changes us. When you read later on, on verse three, David is using and he's making emphasis on verse three. He says, look on me and answer me, O Lord my God, give me light to my eyes or I will sleep in death.
David prayer is talking about the relationship with him. And he says, give me light. Give me light to my eyes so that I may not sleep in death. But the key here is illuminate my eyes. David had the wisdom to know that although he was feeling powerful, he was feeling powerful emotions.
He was not seeing reality. His vision was clouded and dark. So he cried out, illuminate my eyes. Something is happening on David that once he's sort of accusing God and feeling this pain and feeling crushed. Now all of a sudden he comes on knees and he says, illuminate my eyes.
All of a sudden David's attitude is starting to change. It took a swift. And he's starting to understand that someone is up there who's actually thinking of him.
That should be. That should be our prayer today. Eliminate my eyes. I do not want to relay my own understanding or my own feelings, but I want to see clearly. I don't know how long it's going to take.
Maybe you've been praying for that situation for the last 10 years and you think God is ignoring you. Maybe you've been praying for the last three months.
But maybe our prayer should be different and say, God, illuminate my eyes. Paul understood this better. Let me read Ephesians 1, 17, 19. He says the following. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him having the eyes of your understanding enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power towards us.
Who believe according to the working of his mighty strength.
Also, he says the following in Ephesians 5:14. Awake who you sleep, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light. Then David says the following, Verse five. He says, but I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation.
Something happened between verse 1 and verse 3, 4 and 5. There is a process, especially on 5. All of a sudden, David, David's heart mind changes and says, I trust in your unfailing love. Wait a minute. A few moments ago you were talking about God, that he forgot about you, he's ignoring you, and now you trust in his love?
Yes, because prayer changes the way we see things. Because prayer changes the way we think.
But it was a constant prayer. Now we understand why. Chapter three, chapter four, chapter five. He's constantly saying, lord, help me, Lord, look at me. He understood that the only source of rejoice is Jesus Christ.
There's nothing else. You know, a lot of us just keep trusting the doctor. A lot of us just keep trusting even the pastor. A lot of us just keep trusting that friend. A lot of us keep thinking that my wife is the one responsible for my happiness.
But no, guess what? They fail. Not my wife. She just saw me like, not her. It's me.
I'm the issue.
Jesus never fails. He trusted his mercy. Did you know that the Old Testament approximately has 7,706 promises? Did you know that the New Testament roughly has 1104 promises? And then David, because of the prayer and because he opens his hearts up to God, he says the following.
My heart will rejoice. At this point, David was still in the realm of feelings. Maybe the issue hasn't been resolved, but he was looking at it in a different angle. Number two, he says, in your salvation. Say it with me in your salvation.
Exactly like that.
If you hear a lot of noise over there, the Spanish are starting to come on that corner in your salvation. This is what David rejoiced in. And number three, he says, I will sing to the Lord. David knew that rejoicing is wonderful expressing singing. Earlier in the first service, Piper came here.
She just received Christ in her heart and she said what I love about camp was the singing. I love singing about how good God is. And singing does something to us too. I love to whistle all the time, everywhere I go. And usually I have my AirPods.
And there's always somebody that approaches me and says, keep singing. Something happened. Something happens when we pray to God. Something's happening in our hearts that we're starting to see this situation different now. Here's lasting in Christ.
Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 5:18. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, the new is here. Paul always makes emphasis. If you read Paul's letters, you'll always hear, whoever is in Christ, There is a big difference than being in Christ and being out in Christ. No Christ.
Cristo. No Cristo. There is a big difference. If David did not have Christ, he had no hope.
When we do the retreat, youth usually comes to all. They have all these kind of questions. Before I left to Columbia, I was able to. I've always prayed to God, give me somebody that I can actually mentor. And I met Darwin.
Darwin lost his dad. Darwin lost his mom recently, about three weeks ago. He's by himself. He's only 14, 16, I believe. He said, pastor, if I come to Christ, would I be able to recognize my parents if they know Christ?
And I said, I don't know. I really can't tell you. And if you have that question, talk to the other pastors. Okay, I noticed that that's like a culture here. Like, if they throw a question and they say to talk to other pastors.
So that's my part.
I really don't know. So he said, what are you going to do when you get to heaven? Oh, that's a good question. And I said to him, for the first thousand years, I want to worship my God. For the other thousand years, I want to talk to Paul, I want to have coffee with Paul, because I believe that that's a drink of heaven.
And the third thing, if it's possible, I want to be able to hug my mom.
But you know why I'm able to say that? Because I'm in Christ. Because when all the problems that I'm going through and in pain, which I still think about my mom, I have hope. David understood that. That's why he said, I rejoice in you because I have hope.
But if you don't have Christ, there is no way we can answer this question. In closing, I'll share with you my favorite verse. One of my favorite verses, he says, Paul Philippians 4, 7, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, all masters, PhDs, geniuses, anybody, all understanding will guard your heart and your minds in Jesus, in Jesus Christ. My question to you this morning or this afternoon is, where's your hope?
In the middle of all these situations, when our bones are crushed, where do you go? Who do you pray? The doctor who are you praying now? And who's your hope? David says, I will rejoice because I know who you are.
Father, we thank you.
I really don't know what everyone is going through, but you know, you know the pain, you know the sadness.
You know how many of us have asked the same question over and over again? Where are you, Father? God, that we know we have hope because your promises are real. Because you are a real God. Because despite of what we're going through, Father God, you are with us in the storm.
Thank you for this moment. Thank you for the songs, thank you for your word, and thank you for your salvation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
