Safe Keeping

Never let it be said that a woman who has a way with words can't be speechless.

However, that woman is not me.

Matthew West recently requested that people submit their stories to inspire songs for his next album. He wants it to be all about our stories. I didn't submit a word. It wasn't because I didn't have anything to say, it was because it had a 500 word limit!

Okay, okay, that wasn't the reason (but it made you laugh, admit it!) I really didn't have a whole lot to say. GOD's main work in me has been quiet, and behind the scenes. I've never parted the Red Sea, never fed thousands, and never spoken to multitudes. I haven't overcome addiction, left an abusive relationship, nor have I even worked in a soup line. I applaud those who do. I celebrate them. I rejoice with their victories and weep with their sorrows. But my own story? It's a bit more mundane.

My husband loves my story. He says it is one of the most powerful stories about what GOD is capable of doing in a person's life. (I love my husband - he's wonderful!) This is a man who overcame an abusive childhood, struggled with drugs and alcohol, and still preaches about GOD's hope and saving power to teenagers every week. And he likes my story - a story about the keeping power of GOD.

I had a mom who taught me to pray before I even learned to read. I had neighbors who taught me faithfulness every week when they gave me rides to church. I had friends who thought drugs and alcohol were a waste of time. And I served a GOD who has always had big plans for me. I never had to overcome, I never struggled with self-forgiveness, and never strayed far from the straight and narrow. I knew GOD at such an early age and HE kept me from so many situations and temptations that my story is almost a little boring to me. But it's fascinating to my husband. He finds it beyond amazing that I have never been drunk. He loves that he is the only man I have ever given myself to. He laughs when I tell him I have no idea what 'weed' looks like. But that's the keeping power of GOD - HE kept me out of those situations that could prove to be traps or snares.

Not the making's of a great story, I'm the first to admit it. But it's pretty cool what our GOD can do - HE can make the way straight and remove stumbling blocks. HE can help us avoid the pitfalls and snares. HE made a plan an eternity ago and decided then that HE would rather die than live without us. HE makes a way, whether it's by keeping us out of trouble or scooping us out of trouble.

So I may not have a lot to say about my own story, nothing there to really write a song about (Matthew), but I can talk for ages about the keeping and saving power of GOD.