After some thought, I decided to share something I wrote down in my journal the summer of 2004 (the summer before Nathan and I married in August). It's based on Psalm 139. This psalm is a particular favorite of mine. I have another testimony to share regarding it but maybe I'll share it later.
Ordained Days
All days ordained He could foresee
and were written in His book
before one of them came to be.
And one day written in His book
was for a little girl, who,
when He spoke the word,
the womb prepared for His Creation.
He knitted and twirled and covered her soul
with a body made in His perfection.
Her little heart beat the rhythm
so sweetly ordained by God.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down.
The earth runs its course through the days,
and as she grows her parents pray,
“Lord, close to Your heart, help her to stay.”
The days arrive when she’s old enough
to sit, to listen, to learn.
She sees the building with a steeple
and sits with all the little people
in a bright and sunny room.
The teacher begins with lesson one:
“For God loved the world so very much
that He gave His only Son,
so that if you believe in Him, you will not die
but live with Him forever.”
As her little heart beats the rhythm
so sweetly ordained by God,
with urgent choice
her soul’s voice cries, “I believe!”
and the angels rejoice in heaven
for all that she’s received.
He’s known when she’ll sit
He’s known when she’ll rise.
He perceived her thoughts from afar, but
nothing, absolutely nothing, could please Him more
than the precious moment she opened the door
and let Him into her heart.
She runs down the hall in pajamas
and hurriedly slips into bed.
Her daddy comes to tell her good night,
gives a hug and kisses her forehead.
He asks her, “Are you excited?”
Tomorrow’s your first day of school!
She closes her eyes; he turns out the light,
and as she prays into the night
she asks Jesus to show her what to do.
As her little heart beats the rhythm,
so sweetly ordained by God
He knows the moment she’ll wake up to yawn and nod.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
months and years pass by.
With each passing day
she’ll learn how to pray
and trust that God is good.
He’s familiar with all of her ways
and can answer with each choice whether or not she should.
Now she’s a teen and wants nothing more
than to be known and understood.
Every moment she makes a choice
of which way she’s going to turn.
And though she knows her life is good
and her parents have done the best that they could,
for the sake of keeping all her friends
and maybe a little thrill,
she goes against all she knows.
She tries not to think of God’s will.
With each choice she climbs
in search of company and laughter
until the day she falls down her hill,
and pain comes tumbling after.
Her wounded heart beats the rhythm,
so gently ordained by God.
She doesn’t know she can’t flee His Spirit,
no matter how low she falls,
no matter how high she climbs.
The sun goes down, and the sun comes up,
but to her it still looks dark.
She sees the building with its steeple
and sits in a room full of people,
but finds it hard to take part.
A spark of hope is started though
as she listens to what’s being said.
She grabs the Bible from the pew,
opens where she’s been told to,
and simply begins to read: Luke, Chapter Fifteen.
About the lost coin, the lost son, the lost sheep.
“Rejoice with me! I found my sheep!”
Is what the shepherd had to say.
Then she read her Savior’s words that
“In the very same way,
there will be more rejoicing in Heaven
over one single sinner who repents,
than the ninety-nine who do not need to.”
And she felt her heart grow less tense.
Her joyful heart beats the rhythm
so strongly ordained by God.
And there it begins its healing.
While the guilt begins to melt away;
for even the darkness is light to Him.
The darkness will shine like the day.
He created her innermost being.
He wove her in the depths of the earth.
She is still made as fearfully and wonderfully
as the blessed day of her birth.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down.
She grows in wisdom as she should.
She rises with her morning prayer:
“How precious are your thoughts to me
and how vast is the sum of them.
Oh, when I’m awake I’m still with You!
Search me, O God, know my heart,
test me and know my anxious ways.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting."
And all days ordained He could foresee
and were written in His book
before one of them came to be.
All the days high and all the days low,
Wherever His will may have her to go.
If she rises on the wings of the dawn,
settles on the far side of the sea,
Or even lives in the hills nearby
In close proximity,
From His Spirit she can’t flee.
His right hand will hold her fast.
The day arrives when the man she loves
pulls her close and gives her a hug.
His pounding heart beats the rhythm
so strongly ordained by God.
He tells her how he loves her heart,
her heart he’ll always cherish.
And as he gets down on one knee,
he asks her hand in marriage.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down.
The days and the months pass by.
They grow together and faithfully pray,
“Lord, close to Your heart help us to stay.”
She walks down the hall in pajamas,
and quietly slips into bed.
Her daddy comes in to tell her goodnight
and blesses her life as he kisses her forehead.
He asks her, “Are you ready?”
Tomorrow’s the big day!
You’ll take his hand
and promise to stand
as one heartbeat
bound and ordained by God.”
She closes her eyes, he turns out the light.
As she prays into the night,
she asks Jesus to show her how to love.
He’s hemmed her in before and behind.
As she grows, she learns to be kind.
Because of her Savior
whose royal heartbeat
pulses a redeeming flood, and
because He is Love, while nailed to the wood
He poured out His river of blood.
And so she’ll love those in her life
with a love that has no end.
Until her heart beats its last song on earth
and the rest of eternity sets in.
There she’ll continue to praise the Lord
far more joyfully than she could in the world
that was brightened by the sun.
For now she bows in the presence of Glory
and cries with the multitudes infinitely loud
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY
WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME.
YOU ARE WORTHY OUR LORD GOD
TO RECEIVE
GLORY, and
HONOR, and
POWER.
FOR YOU CREATED ALL THINGS
AND BY YOUR WILL THEY WERE CREATED
AND HAVE THEIR BEING.
For all days ordained He could foresee
and were written in His book
before one of them came to be.
Her soul is joyful and she cries,
“Praise to the Creator who would love someone like me.”
As she sings His praise
in the midst of His Glorious rays
along with the saints before,
He speaks His Word once more.
And the womb is prepared for creation.
He knits and covers a soul
with a body made in His perfection.
The angels and saints rejoice.
All of Heaven’s in celebration.
