When my mother was a child, due to hardships and extenuating circumstances in her family, she and her eldest brother had to live in an orphanage for a short time. Being away from her parents and her younger siblings was traumatizing enough, but the uncertainty of when and if she would get to go home left her in an almost suffocating cloud of darkness. Yet, in that cloud of darkness, she sharpened her sword… her sword of the Spirit. Instead of allowing that cloud of fear to smother her and petrify her soul, she clung to the living Word and stored it in her heart.
The author in Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee” (KJV). And that is just what that little girl did. Instead of giving in to the whispers of loneliness penetrating her young ears, she chose to memorize scripture. She memorized Psalm 37 in its entirety and recited it again and again.
Eventually, my mother and her brother returned to their home. However, that brief time in the orphanage was only a glimpse of the many valleys my mother has walked through in her life. I use the word, ‘through,’ because my mother did not stay in those valleys. God brought her through them.
When I am in the valley, I may or may not be responsible for how I got there, but I can choose how I handle myself there. My mother did not choose to live in an orphanage, but she chose how she handled it. She deliberately chose to wield the sword of the Spirit, etching the TRUTH of God’s Word on her heart.
Let us choose wisely today. Let’s record God’s Word in our minds and hearts.
