Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Praise the Lord.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord,
    who find great delight in his commands.
Their children will be mighty in the land;
    the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in their houses,
    and their righteousness endures forever.
Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
    for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.
Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,
    who conduct their affairs with justice.
Surely the righteous will never be shaken;
    they will be remembered forever.
They will have no fear of bad news;
    their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;
    in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,
    their righteousness endures forever;
    their horn will be lifted high in honor.
The wicked will see and be vexed,
    they will gnash their teeth and waste away;
    the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

• Psalm 112:1-10

The Boilerplate

My wife started to write her thoughts down at one point in her life.  Some hints point to 2018 and 2019, after she had her open-heart surgery.  In spite of her trials and the atrial fibrillation (A-Fib) that required her to take blood thinners, this was before her major health decline.

Sometimes, she wrote a thought.  Other times, she wrote a Bible verse, and maybe her idea on that day.  Other times, it is a prayer, but I am going to take one entry at a time and try to write about it

Her comment

“Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright for the gracious and compassionate with righteous man.
Prayer: Almighty God, there, where I see suffering, sin and sorrow in the world, make me Your hands and feet to help those thirsty for You.  And God, strengthen our faith in You so that when we fail trails, or even approach death, we can sing with confidence about Your love.”

• My wife’s next comment in this notebook

The Discussion

First, my wife butchers Psalm 112:4.  She got the key words right, but she added a few prepositions that seem to muddy it up a little, but her prayer was profound.

She wanted to be fully healed after her open-heart surgery.  She wanted to get back to the service work she enjoyed.  She loved just smiling and giving people joy, but she loved serving food.  She was the hostess with the mostest.  She felt she could help cure the ills of the people around her simply by showing them love.

In her prayer, she is asking God for her to be a bearer of God’s light into the darkness.  All she asked of God was for strengthened faith.  She alludes to failing trials.  You might get knocked down, but it matters that you get back up, with God’s help.

But if that increase in faith was to approach death courageously, she wanted that too.  It was that option in the prayer that God granted her.

Her physical body began to fall apart.  She would not be God’s servant, to be God’s hands and feet to those who thirst for Him.  But her faith became stronger and stronger as she approached death.

Yet, she would not talk about death.  It was as if talking about it, hastened it toward us.

But she trusted in the Lord.  She remained steadfast.  In the end, she showed no fear.

She may have only butchered a quote of one verse from Psalm 112, but the entire psalm spoke of her life from roughly the time she wrote this note until she passed away.  And the psalm is a didactic, instructional, psalm that starts with praising God.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory