Psalms in my heart today

Two Psalms of 23

My side…
God is my kind and compassionate protector and defender, there is nothing that I want that he can not give me

He touches my heart with beauty in the unexpected places of Kolkata and gives me quietness of the heart even in the chaos of the streets

He rebuilds the ruins of my broken heart, he teaches me how to walk so I will not stumble down the cluttered alleyways and he does it so I will thank him.

Even when I walk down the hopeless, life stealing lanes of Sonagacchi, I will not consider hope to be lost because I am not alone and I know they are not alone. His presence and power free me and will free them.

He uses time drinking tea with a woman who prostitutes to lavish his excessive love as we sit side by side with brothel owners, traffickers and the customers who steal all the good things from the hearts of my friends. And in all this I am deeply transformed and I overflow in unexpected ways.

I will never doubt that God is good and that His love is lavished on me eternally and I will continue to be with Him and He with me beyond time.

The other side…
She is alone with no one to protect and defend her. She is in desperate need and so so alone.

She lays down in darkeness and her hearts screams are never silent.

Her insides are wracked in fear and torment. The only path before her is to lay down again and let it happen. And not one person know’s her pain more deeply than Jesus but she does not know He is there.

She stands on the line waiting on the edge of hell and lust, greed and fear pervade the air she breaths. She is always afraid but He is still with her. Memories of home imagined or real give her little relief…she thinks that there is no one who will save her from this daily darkness.

She squats before her kerosene stove hoping maybe it will blow up so will not have to continue to live with her enemies and her masters. She is the only one who gives, everyone takes, they take everything she has and everything she is from the inside out. Only bitterness pours from her eyes…

Most definitely, there is nothing good about this life and she knows that no one truly loves her. She thinks she is alone but He is still with her. And He will be with her until one of His people comes to show her the way out and after that He will be with her beyond all things ending.