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"Jesus is the Rock"
Our Fortress

Sometimes, even though I am much past 50, I am a little girl who just needs a Daddy. My earthly Father passed away a few years ago and there is a void in my life.

We live in perilous times. In days when the whole world is groaning as the economy collapses, earthquakes shake the very foundation of the earth and terrorist strike around the world. Who can we run to in times of trouble?

Most of us have many friends. My friends live all across America. With cell phones and computers and modern technology, we can contact someone when we are feeling frightened or discouraged but do they have answers for us. Sometimes inadvertently even our best friends let us down.

In the day of Facebook, you can be deleted from a friends list at the press of a key on your computer. But we who know Jesus have a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He will never leave us or forsake us.

The seasons of His life never change to the point that He moves on without you. You are always His fondest memory. His faithful love endures forever. He doesn't have issues with commitment or emotional wounds and scars that prevent Him from loving with His whole heart.

He is the ROCK, the stabilizer in all of our relationships. He is our fortress, our light in the darkness, a beacon of hope when all appears bleak, and a place of rest when we are weary. He provides the stepping stones and guides us on our journey to the “High Places” with Him. He is an anchor in all life’s storms.

In Matthew 7:24-25 Jesus says, “Therefore, everyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is like a wise man. He builds his house on the rock. The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. But it does not fall. It is built on the rock.”

In this journey we call life, we have dreams and expectations but also pain and disappointment. We are never alone. Sometimes I cry out, “God where are you?” and I hear Him gently whisper, “I am here Patty, inside your heart. I haven’t gone anywhere.”

In Psalm 18 David, a friend of God, spoke these words, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.”

In Psalm 30:5 the Lord assures us that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” In the midst of life’s disappointments, we cry out, “O God you are my God; early will I seek you. My soul thirst for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1

When we feel alone, we question as David did in Psalm 139:7:

“Where can I go from your presences? If I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell behold, you are there. Even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall fall on me? Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and light are both the same to you.”

Isn't it comforting to know that He is familiar with all our trials, our joy, and our pain? Sometimes we walk the floor and cry in despair, but when we regain our focus and place our confidence in the one who created, loves and accepts us, we find peace in the storm.

So let the storms come, let the rain fall, let the wind blow but the house, (person) whose foundation is the rock, will not fall.

The words to an old hymn seem appropriate here:

“Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee; Let the Water and the Blood from Thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow, could my zeal no languor know, these for sin could not atone; You must save, and You alone; In my hand no price I bring. Simply to Thy Cross I cling.”

Patricia Harris

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