Sue Bellamy  

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He causes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul; He causes me to walk in paths of righteousness.

Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.  

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil.

Surely, goodness and mercy shall go before me all the days of my life.  

And I will live in the House of the Lord forever. 

Reflection:

This entire Psalm, with many others, speaks peace over me. Finding peace was not an issue at all when I was a child growing up; in fact, I would have liked to see some more excitement!  IPhones, social media, and even mobile phones and computers had not even been invented yet.  Peace seemed easy for many of us. A trip to the movies had a newsreel, and there were two newspapers in Houston at the time, but in both cases, I was more interested in the cartoons. I went to church and Sunday School here at St. Luke’s, so I got a Bible in third grade and a certificate showing I had passed a class in Christian, Methodist principles in fifth grade. 

Peace stuck and grew. In young adulthood, I became a member of the Randy Smith Sunday School Class, where I learned a lot of scripture, and was fascinated with it. It meant even more to me serving in the choir about that time, because all the scriptures had a tune. That is a great way to memorize scripture, if you haven’t tried it. Besides, the rehearsals and special performances were more for fun and enjoyment than anything. But time passed, and somewhere along the line I heard about peace. It must have been at Christmas. And even further down the line, I found out that God really wanted me to sit and ask questions and make comments as I read scripture. I learned that from a wonderful minister at St. Luke’s, whom I dearly love to this day. She could knit, and made me a blanket she had knitted in this church with a prayer at every stitch. I started using it when I was sitting in my chair of prayer, visiting with the Holy Spirit. By that time, I really loved scripture, and really loved peace, too.  

One day, I came to that line that says “He restores my soul”.  At that time, I really wanted my soul restored, and I had a number of relatives whom I considered to be in need of restoration, too. That line,  “He restoreth my soul” came alive for me that day. I read it over and over again, and each time I did, I felt warmth and peace and healing and joy. Of course it had been there all the time, but I just needed a fresh revelation of it. That was the day I got it! I have grown in my ability to enjoy my background with God, and I have seen many miracles in my life because of it.  I found peace in Christ early on and fell in love with Jesus. Go ahead – fall in love with Jesus all over again. He is a wonderful friend to have, every time he comes. And he comes, again and again, many times as a child, and many times as a Friend.

Prayer:

Loving God,

You are the restorer of my soul. At this moment I welcome your peace into my life and ask you to once again restore my soul. Thank you for your Son this season, the Prince of Peace. Amen.