A Personal Promise

by Rhonda J. Dragomir

I curled into a fetal position on the kitchen floor and waited for my husband to come home. My plans for the day had crashed with me when I stumbled and fell, and a preexisting back injury made it impossible to rise on my own. I didn’t think anything was broken, but pain throbbed in my right eye, hand and hip. Since I couldn’t do anything else, I cried out to the Lord.

Sometimes circumstances make us feel like we’ve been tackled, laying on the turf, struggling to hold on to the football as player after player piles on. We’re tempted to feel God must be distracted, indifferent, or just plain cruel.

When I find myself doubting God’s love or care, the Psalms offer comfort. David was well acquainted with feelings of abandonment, discouragement and fear. As I deliberately slowed my breathing that day on the kitchen floor, I recalled Psalm 34, the very passage the Holy Spirit had led me to read that morning. I recited as much as I had memorized, beginning with verse one: “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips” (NIV).

As my spirits began to rise, I thanked the Lord for his protection and the psalm’s promises of deliverance. My glasses were smashed—but not broken, and I wasn’t bleeding. I praised him for sparing me from the “what ifs.” What if I had broken my nose or received substantial facial injuries? There was even a package on the floor the perfect height to use as a pillow. Strangely, the back injury I’d nursed for more than a month didn’t hurt at all.

My husband soon returned home and sprang into action. He helped me up, fetched ice packs, and sympathized with my distress. When I finally settled into bed for the night, I read Psalm 34 again, and I was awestruck by another verse which was so apropos for the day’s events: “He protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken” (verse 20 NIV).

The Word of God is eternal, but it is also personal. Psalm 34:20 is often interpreted as foreshadowing the death of Christ. But God also knew that morning what would befall me and what he planned to do. He tucked a hidden gem in my morning devotions—a comforting, personal promise—before I spent time on the kitchen floor with Him.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

This article is brought to you by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA).

About the author: An avid reader and writer, Rhonda Dragomir lives in the heart of idyllic horse country in central Kentucky. Her degree in Social Work from Asbury University prepared her for more than forty years of ministry as a pastor’s wife.

Rhonda writes both fiction and nonfiction, and she was named 2019 Writer of the Year by Serious Writer, Inc. Learn more about Rhonda on her website: www.rhondadragomir.com.

Join the conversation: What hidden gems has God given you lately?