Gracious God—
You are all we need. Thank you for being Provider, Deliverer, and friend to us. We praise you because of who you are. This morning we ask that would speak to our hearts and change us from the inside out. We trust in your name, above every other name. We thank you for your son’s death on the cross, and his resurrection that brings us life. Open our ears and soften our hearts so that we may hear the whispering of your Holy Spirit. Allow us to be receptive to truth, to be catalysts for change, and to love with abandon. Amen.

Continuing in this Easter season, I would like to read this week’s lectionary Psalm, Psalm 23, from the Message translation.
• God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.
• You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from.
• True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.
• Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side.
• Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure.
• You serve me a 6-course dinner right in front of my enemies.
• You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing.
• Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.
• I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.

This Psalm speaks to me in a very personal way. Written by a Psalmist who knew the hand of God in every situation, this passage acts as a conduit for me to share my story with you.

• I was a 20 year old, music major from Mississippi.
• I had a great family who loved and supported me and
• I loved singing more than anything else in this world.
• Singing was something I had grown up doing, and it had developed into a passion in my life. Music was my way of expressing myself, escaping reality, lifting up others, and worshipping God.
• I knew what it was to say “God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.” Throughout my life God had protected me. I felt that anytime I began to walk out from under the umbrella of God’s will, God would draw me back, just like a shepherd, guiding his flock.
• God has always been true to God’s word. When I wasn’t sure of the right direction because of my own stupidity or confusion, I felt the wind of the Holy Spirit, steering me along in uncharted waters.

• However, I can also say that I have walked through what the Psalmist refers to as “Death Valley.”
• Three years ago in May, I was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, which rapidly turned into liver failure. As a 20 year old college student, I did not know what this meant for me, nor did I know what an eventful summer was to come.
• In June, I was told by the doctors that I would need a liver transplant to live. I had to make difficult choices: Which parent would make my decisions for me if I came out of surgery and was unable to make them for myself? Did I want the doctors to try and resuscitate me if something went wrong? These are decisions most young people never have to make.
• I would like to focus on two portions of this text, the first being:
• “Even when the way goes through Death Valley…”
• My former choir director and mentor, the late David Horton, used to bask in the fact that the Scripture says “through the valley.” It is a confidence that God will not leave us in the middle of the lowest, darkest place in our lives. A faith that comes from knowing a God that has experienced life on earth and feels our pain with us. It is a beautiful thing, that in the middle of hardship, suffering, and even death, we are able to walk through it.
• The second portion of this verse says:
• “I am not afraid when you walk at my side.”
• But I can honestly say that I was afraid. I was afraid when I was going into the operating room. I was afraid when I woke up from surgery only to find out that I had to go back in again. I felt fear when the pain was so bad that I didn’t want to keep trying. And I felt fear when I tried to sing for the first time and I wept because I wasn’t able to….
• …And then I felt God’s overwhelming peace. In every situation, the peace of God melted away the fear in my heart as I became aware that God was walking at my side.
• The Lord revived my spirit, through encouraging words from family and friends, doctors and nurses, and time alone crying out to God.

• In this journey toward Truth and Restoration, I feel as if I have been (as a friend of mine says) “attacked by grace.”
• God has lavished grace on my life like it’s going out of style. Like every bit of it had to be used up on me or it would be thrown away. Grace has sung songs of hope over me, enveloped me in forgiveness, carried me when I was beyond my limits, and whispered the truth of what God says about me when I was deceived by my own sight. And looking back on my life, it has always been this way.
• The end of this Psalm says:
• “Truly the beauty and love of God chase after me…” when I am walking along at a steady pace, and when I am running fast and hard in the other direction. We cannot escape the grace of our loving God, even when we are running.

• I challenge you today to think about your scars. Where are you wounded and how have these hurts changed you? Are you still in the healing process, with remnants of pain, bitterness, and questions in your heart?

• Every day I wake up, I have a giant scar staring at me in the mirror. It reminds me that what has happened can’t be forgotten. It also reminds me that I have been through something life-changing and real, and I can never go back to the way I was. This scar reminds me that I am a new creation and that there is healing, restoration, and hope.
• Scars remind us that we have healed, even though sometimes they remind us of past pain.
• The scars in the hands, feet, and side of Christ remind us that we have been given life because of another’s sacrificial gift. The scars of Christ mean restoration and life for us.

• May we rest in knowing that God will supply all our needs.
• May we allow God to send us in the right direction.
• May we walk alongside God and live life without fear, even in Death Valley.
• May we feel secure being guided by the staff of the Holy Spirit.
• And may we allow God’s beauty and love to chase and capture us, so that we may extend that same love to others. Amen