A meditation inspired by Psalm 107.

With all my heart I give thanks to the Lord,

my God and my Redeemer,

good Father and kind Shepherd,

who rescued me from the ragged edges of my life

and gave me an inheritance among his own.

When I was young, I lived in a barren desert,

cursed and unwanted in my father’s house.

Hungry and thirsty for a God I did not know,

my soul wept and searched for hope in shifting shadows.

In a burst of grace God came to me

and taught me truth I had never before heard.

Without knowing his Name,

I followed Truth into a straight path

that led me to the gates of a kingdom

where I was welcome.

Blessed be the Lord who calls me his own.

In dark patches of my life I lost sight of my God.

I took on familiar chains of shame and selfish strivings

and sought approval from the disinterested,

acceptance from those who disdain God’s ways.

Clever lies seeped into my mind and sickened my soul.

But my God would not let me go down to destruction.

When I cried out in fear and confusion,

the Lord heard my bleating

and with his own arms carried me back to the ninety-nine.

He treated my wounds

and helped me to stand upright once more.

Blessed be the Lord who will not let me go.

Once I dreamed I set sail under a cloudless sky.

Sure of my skills, confident in my destination,

I skimmed smooth waters toward a bright horizon.

Then the sky darkened and the sea turned choppy.

The horizon vanished behind sheets of rain

and the boat began to sink.

With water up to my knees, I cried to my God.

The next instant I sat on a warm shore, dry and safe,

and there I awoke from my dream.

The sweet nearness of my Savior lingered about me,

like a subtle fragrance,

and I wept in gratitude for the dream’s gift.

Blessed be the Lord who never abandons me.

Almighty God, who raised the mountains from nothing

and holds creation in the palm of his hand,

it is He who calls the forgotten seed to life

and names the season for its fruition.

All my life I will praise the Lord

who can grow a garden from wasteland,

who seeks the lost to bring them home

and grants sweet abiding to the lonely and the forsaken.