LORD, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
"God will not deliver him."
Selah [a]
3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD;
you bestow glory on me and lift [b] up my head.
4 To the LORD I cry aloud,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
Selah
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
6 I will not fear the tens of thousands
drawn up against me on every side.
7 Arise, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the LORD comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
Selah

So Julya, my best friend, and I have decided to do a daily study on Psalms with eachother trhough email. We have both decided that we need to be in The Word more. Its easy to run to the Bible, look in the Concordance for a word that describes what we are feeling, read the verse, and then shut it and never look back. We both are very uneasy with that and so we have decided to read one chapter of Psalms a day and then email eachother our interpretatin and thoughts about it. I think it is going to be really good for the both of us. We have never really done a study together. Which is weird, but I think it will bring us closer. The only person Ive done a Bible study with is Karla. And I liked it a lot.

Anywho----we are on vese three today and it just rang true in my ears. I love this verse. This was the prayer I prayed for a long time this past year. I lost the Bentleys to Kansas, Karla to Oregon, and I felt as though I was losing myself to Texas A&M Galveston. It wasent a good feeling for me at all. I was losing someone I had gotten so close to so fast (which was weird to me), I was losing someone I had held onto so tightly for 11 years, and I felt as though I was losing who I had worked so hard to become.

I prayed the above prayer so much. I cried so many tears. And I didnt think I would ever make it through this year. I didnt think God heard me. I didnt see any indications that God heard me.

Buuuuutttttt, I think God is leading me somewhere. And I could be totally wrong about this and Im still listening to God and praying that His will be donw through me.... but this is what Im thinking.

I went to Portland this past week to visit Karla and Kerry. I was up there on a Sunday, and was lucky enough to attend PUMP, which is a church modeled after Houston's IMPACT. I LOVED it up there at that church. The kids that I helped Karla teach were amazing. I don't think I have ever felt so welcomed and loved so quickly by someone. It was an amazing feeling to me.



Then I went to worship, let me tell you, Other than Kadesh Ampitheaters I have to say that was my favorite worship I have evver been to. You can feel there. You can feel free to worship in whatever way you feel best glorifies God. I love that feeling. No offense to my church, but I always feel weird raising my hands and bowing my head. But at PUMP, it is just so different. I love it. I felt God in that room.

Ifve never worked with inner city kids and I feel that would be an AMAZING opprotunity for me going into teaching. And will definitely take me out of my comfort zone to serve those kids to the fullest.

Julyas family has moved. That means she wont be here this summer---she will be in Kansas
Karla is in Portland, as close to a mother as I can get without being my real mother. She makes me feel safe. I trust her with my life.

So, this is all leading to how I feel God is answering my prayers. I may be going to Portland this summer. I have applied and I will know for sure by April 6th. But, I have a strong feeling about it. I have never felt God tugging at my heart so strongly as I do right now. And it feels like everything in the pasts year has happened for a reason.

There is really nothing holding me to Houston this summer. My parents are there, yers. But they will always be there. A lot of the college kids I hang out with are going elsewhere to intern. My best friend will not be there the whole summer. I really really think that this is God telling me where I need to be. There is nothing holding me to Houston, but there is a goal to be reached in Portland, and I think God knows me perfectly and he shows that by putting Karla there, knowing that I do not like being alone yet, maybe after this summer, if I go there, I will be willing and excited to go out on my own, but where Im at in my life right now, I need those, "Strings" as Kerry put it.

Thank you Lord for understanding me and loving me still

Next to 139, this is my favorite Psalm. I tell people it's guaranteed to get them through anything. Oh -- and I'm linked to you now! Yours was one of the ones I couldn't get to because Jenna's Wiggles tape was ending. I hope you like how you're listed...

Well, well Sarah - I must say it was good to be sent to this post of yours. Adam Wolfgang, whom you may have met him and his family when you visited PUMP, sent out the link to your blog with this post. PUMP was blessed to have you visit and your are very right with the Psalms being a comfort. The thing I love about the scriptures is that they describe a life that can be comforting simply from the hope it provides. God bless you Sarah.

Sarah,
Thanks for your kind words about PUMP. I'm glad God blessed you through your time here and I'm praying about the possibility of you being here to serve with kids through PUMP this summer.

I praise God that he surrounds me like a shield and lifts my head up when I'm drooping. HE is GOOD!

Blessings,
Lanny Tucker