When I was a little girl I would have been your worst nightmare. (No this is not a picture of me!) I was known for being sneaky, critical of others, making little children cry, not telling the truth, hot tempered and I didn't like being told what to do. When competing with others I thrived on being challenged, I was strong and I would show no mercy. Praise the Lord for parents who stayed on me and knew the power of tough love.

My parents saw my flaws and held me accountable for my actions. However, they took it one step further. They didn't just tell me to stop, they taught me what to do instead. Genius! Be sneaky by doing random acts of anonymous kindness, tell the truth and be rewarded, look for the good in others and tell them what you see, stand up for others and be a protector, use your muscles to help not hurt, use your skills to make others look good, and challenge yourself to never quit.

God knew long before I was born what my life would look like! He hardwired me for what HE would have me to do and be. I was able to be a junior high teacher, camp counselor, dean of women, guidance counselor, an early education director and never be shocked by what I saw in others. Compared to what God had accomplished in me I never doubted what HE could do in and through others. The Lord choose to use me by identifying with others in my brokenness and flaws. My dark sides highlight His power and love!

Psalm 139

The Message

A David Psalm

139 1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!

7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute— you’re already there waiting! Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.

17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them! I couldn’t even begin to count them— any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! And please, God, do away with wickedness for good! And you murderers—out of here!— all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations. See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance; I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred. Your enemies are my enemies!

23-24 Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life.

In Christ Alone by Michael English