Hey all! I still need about $600 in my account by October 1st. We just had debrief about a week ago. Debrief is a time where the entire squad gets together in one location to catch up,meet with our squad leaders,and just hang out. We also had worship every night and on one of the nights we were asked to write our own Psalms. Some people read theirs and they were really amazing! A lot better then mine.I have started and stopped mine a few times but here is what I ended up with…
Psalm ( Out of Ashes)
You said it would only hurt a little
But it burned
I felt abandoned,distraught,forgotten,and without hope.
I was to the point where I didn’t know how to move on.
I still had my wings
But they were broken and I didn’t know how to use them anymore.
I was worried that they would never work again.
I was there
A bird with broken wings
Tossing and turning in flames that surrounded me
They were growing larger everyday attempting to engulf and consume me.
The smoke was rising and I was still lying there gasping for air.
I screamed but didn’t hear your voice.
I cried but you weren’t there to hold me.
That is what I thought at first
But I was wrong.
One day the pain became too great.
As I was yelling your name in desperation I saw something different in the fire.
My vision became less blurry little by little until something caught my attention.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see my wings being mended.
It was a very slow process as little flakes began to peel off.
There were also parts that were torn that were being put together again.
It was not that painful really,but it was a little scary.
The color of my wings were changing as well.
The charcoal color that they were was being replaced by a pure white.
I looked a little closer and was amazed at what I saw.
There were no longer any bruises or scars.
There was not a single imperfection.
After awhile my fear and astonishment turned into curiosity.
I decided to see what these new wings of mine could do.
I apprehensively spread them out looking all around me for some kind of explanation.
I carefully started flapping them.
Raising and lowering them one at a time.
They worked.
Since that went well I decided to test my luck.
I mustered up every once of energy I had In me and I jumped up…
I don’t know what I was expecting to happen exactly
But I was disappointed.
Rather then flying I fell back down.
I curled back up in disappointment.
When I closed my eyes I had a vision of another bird in the fire with me.
I thought it was a dream but when I opened them there it was.
I didn’t know what it was doing exactly but I got the sense that it wanted me to follow it.
So that is what I ended up doing because at that point I would rather be anywhere then the fiery pit I had been trapped in.
The bird motioned for me to get on its back.
Trustingly I obliged.
We began to move first through the ashes
Then through the flames
Then past the smoke
I was scared to be burned again but the entire time we were ascending I didn’t feel a thing.
When we were past the smoke we kept going.
Higher
And higher still.
When we were finally to safety and he put me down gracefully.
I watched as he flew away.
But he left me with one of his feathers
A reminder in sorts of the protection he has over me
A protection that was always there but sometimes hard for me to see through the flames.
From that day on I decided to trust again.
The next time I am in the pit of despair I will remember the gift of that feather.
Because he took me out of the ashes before
And rising out of them with him is the most exhilarating feeling in the world.
The Lord has done and is continuing to do some really amazing things in my life.He is also doing really amazing things within my World Race team. “Out of Ashes” is such a fitting name for us because even though we all have been in the ashes before we can continuously see the ways in which God is bringing us out of those places. We can see how beautiful He has made us and how he is restoring our lives and everything around us.
