The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

While driving home from a stressful trip on a quaint country road, I set the cruise control in my car to 71mph. As I travelled along enjoying the scenery and peacefulness, I got distracted and looked down to fiddle with the car menu. I glanced back up at the very last second to avoid hitting a car stopped dead still in front of me. I felt like God tapped me on the shoulder just in time. Thankfully, no accident occurred.

Praise and adoration to God and safer driving resulted from my near fatal experience.

In my hurry to prepare some Christmas goodies, I sliced the little finger on my right hand almost to the bone. When the stitches came out my doctor realized I had no movement in that finger. Not long afterward two days before Christmas I had surgery on it. After months of costly occupational therapy, my finger, though usable, never returned to normal. 

Praise and adoration to God and safer knife use resulted from my serious finger injury.

How could one’s reaction remain the same in both situations? Because of God’s faithfulness, He provides blessings and care in both the positive and negative experiences in life. His protection in the first near accident was still present in the second true mishap. He supplied quick thinking and skillful doctors to repair the damage as much as possible.

Some situations in our lives are much more stressful than others, but we must have confidence that our Lord will bless and keep us through any and everything. He will make his face to shine upon us and be gracious to us. The Lord will turn his face toward us and give us peace.

And, really, what more can we ask for?

Thank you, God, for peace. Thank you for shining on us in all circumstances.

Susan P.