It will probably become very apparent in the coming weeks that I am currently working through Beth Moore’s Stepping Up. It is fabulous! If you don’t know of the study, it is a journey through the 15 Psalms of Ascent and in the two weeks I have been in the study, I have learned so much!

Our studies this past week focused in on Psalms 122-124. I am starting to look at the Psalms like I never have before. I am now seeing a journey. A pilgrimage, if you will. I am seeing afresh a God who is ever-present, ever-loving, and always able to be trusted. Psalm 124 especially ministered to my heart this week.

¹ If the LORD had not been on our side—
let Israel say—

² If the LORD had not been on our side
when men attacked us,

³ then they would have swallowed us alive
in their burning anger against us.

⁴ Then the waters would have engulfed us;
the torrent would have swept over us;

⁵ the raging waters would have swept over us.

⁶ Praise the LORD,
who has not let us be ripped apart by their teeth.

⁷ We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s net;
the net is torn, and we have escaped.

⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Amen! Amen! Amen! We were encouraged this week to ask ourselves personally “if the Lord had not…” in our own lives. Do you ever think about what your life would be like today had God not rescued you? What did he rescue you from? I love to look at this in terms of God rescuing me from me!

I believe this is a crucial question for every believer to answer and even more imperative that they meditate on from time to time. My own testimony of what God rescued me from is enough to burst out in praise every single day!

I would be honored to share with each of you where I believe I would be today “if the Lord had not…“:

Before God rescued me from me, I was walking down a path that I had no idea at the time would have led to destruction. It seemed innocent enough. I didn’t have the looks to get attention from the people around me and, looking back now, I can see the beginning of a young woman who would have eventually done just about anything to make someone notice her- had the Lord not.

I look at the people who attended my high school. Given time, if the Lord had not rescued me, I believe with all my heart I would be embracing much of the same belief systems that many of them do today. I can easily see how I might have been engulfed in a sea of moral relativism, feminism, etc.

If the Lord had not, I can see myself married to a man who doesn’t die to himself daily and follow the Lord whole-heartedly. I am nearly brought to tears imagining what a marriage would even be were it not a holy and sacred covenant between my husband and myself that God had put His hand of blessing upon. The Lord rescued me and gave me a Godly husband who loves me, encourages me, challenges me, and helps me grow. Praise be to God for that alone!

What would my family look like? I have always desired to be a mother, but I shudder when I look at my precious children at the thought of their upbringing, were Jesus Christ not the center of that! It nearly brings me to tears to see other people’s children who are not being brought up in a home that loves the Lord. I get nauseous at the thought of that being true of my own children.

Lastly, had the Lord not rescued me, my life would be about me. Were I to tell you that I don’t wage a war against myself on a daily basis…I would be a liar. However, because Christ dwells in my heart and I try to live each day obedient to Him, my life is about Him, for Him, in order to bring glory to Him.

I am in awe today. Why, might you ask? How awesome is it that God saw fitting to choose, use, and grow lowly little me for His kingdom? WOW! I am completely and utterly unworthy, but that’s just even more the beautiful example of His grace. It is based upon nothing I do…and thank God for that!

So, what about you? I encourage you to ponder the question “if the Lord had not?” in your own life today. You will be glad you did and God will get the glory for it!