When Life Seems Fragile

One afternoon in 1898, my grandmother disappeared behind the barn to call the cows. When she reappeared she had received a call from an unseen audible voice announcing, “Take off your shoes; this is holy ground.” Falling to her knees in the pasture this staunch German Lutheran met Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. Grandma became an ardent student of the Word. Her favorite passage, Psalm 91, saw her through many challenging days over almost 95 years.

I often reflect on Grandma’s long and flourishing life and know there is something very special about Psalm 91. Whenever things look dicey, I turn my attention to Grandma’s special psalm. It is indeed a fear-free zone, a good place to stand firm and resist fear.

So Thursday evening as Annemarie and I chatted on Facebook between Everett, WA and Queenstown, NZ, we referenced the buzz surrounding a predicted earthquake on Saturday March 19. Fear is palpable in NZ just as it is in the US.

We concluded our conversation by choosing to stand firm on Grandma’s favorite –Psalm 91!  With this amazing psalm, grandma weathered World Wars, depressions, blizzards, cyclones, a child almost dying with pneumonia during a white-out, the passing of my grandfather, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War. She saw three grandsons head off to WWII and return safely. She was survived by all six of her children.

Grandma’s favorite psalm is as good today as it was 100 or 1000 years ago. Read and meditate on it today. Stand firm today and resist fear!

“Because you have made the LORD Most High your dwelling place, no harm will come nigh you…He will command his angels concerning you!”

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Early yesterday morning, a saint went home to be with Jesus. His name is Maynard Haaland and he served as the first pastor of New Life Center Foursquare Church in Everett, WA. During WWII Maynard flew missions over Europe. Before each flight he placed a copy of Psalm 91 under his seat not as a good luck charm, but because his confidence was in the ONE who promised to cover him in the midst of a holocaust.

This psalm holds great promise those living life on the edge.

Want to flourish in life? You will find no finer words for building confidence through frightening situations than those from this comforting psalm! Carry a copy with you! Better yet memorize it! It served my grandmother and Pastor Maynard well. Each lived victoriously into their mid nineties! It’ll serve you, too, in Your Flourishing Life!