Lamentations 3:19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! 20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 28 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; 29 let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope; 30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.

31 For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. 34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, 35 to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, 36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve.

37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? 39 Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? 40 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!

Friends, I covet your prayers. For quite a while now, I’ve had a lot on my plate. In His mercy, God has brought me through some personal and familial hardships I never would have sought or expected within the last three years. In many ways, those times seem like yesterday. In others they seem, well, three years old. Occasionally the knife cuts fresh and the wound I thought had healed still bleeds flowingly.

Not too long ago I found myself wailing at the top of my lungs over circumstances many years past. Just when I thought I had passed over that hump, just when I figured I was healed, I was once again reminded of my own human and finite proclivity towards brokenness. It’s during those times, of course, wherein we’re driven to our knees, crying out with the utmost zeal and sincerity for God to deliver us yet again from this sinful place.

For the past year I have been really stacking up with full time College education (which I should have finished seven years ago!), full time work, being head over my daughter (as much as the wicked State of Arkansas allows me to), teaching at Church, and pursuing other avenues of life which are very important to me and my identity as a Reformed Christian.

I am overwhelmed and underprayed. I am overstudied and underread (in the Word of God). I am out of shape both physically and spiritually. I have neglected my personal time with the Almighty, thus bringing even more neglect on Family Worship with Chloë. I am in need of spiritual refreshment, and it’s all due to ME. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying these duties I’ve mentioned are avenues to God’s favor…they aren’t. They are, nonetheless, avenues unto sanctification, fulfillment, and fellowship with God and His people.

So then, I am vexed by circumstances of the past which have brought me to the present. I am tired and overwhelmed because of necessary obligations that must be met (college degree, work). And most importantly, I am spiritually impoverished because of my neglect of spiritual duties and graces. To top that, I fear I am a disappointment to all those who care about me, and for those whom I greatly care.

That being noted, Friends, Brothers, and Sisters, if you’re so inclined to pray for me I’d be most grateful. Forgive me if I sound like a whiney and needy little boy. I most certainly am, I’m sure. Thanks in advance.

Yah, I’m still around.

Okay, everyone’s blog should now be linked without problem. Much thanks to my wonderful friend Jessica for helping me with this (okay, okay, she fixed it all by herself!). Thank ya, Ma’am!

FYI:

Well, my blog is now upgraded to the newest version of wordpress. Somehow, though, in the exchange, my personal blogroll function as been disabled. I have tried every avenue to get it  back to showing up. I’ve also gone to http://wordpress.org forums to get technological help. None of the suggestions there have served as a remedy. Thus, I’ll suppose I’ll just create a new page just for my links section sometime. It’s not like I’m some great medium of traffic anyhoo. Godspeed, folks.