You are My Hiding Place; 

You always fill my Heart with Songs of Deliverance. 

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. 

Let the weak say, 

"I am Strong in the Strength of the Lord."

Lately, I have felt anxious--not entirely sure why, but with a million potential reasons. So strange to think that my name means "Brave" when fear grips my heart. I think that maybe God knew that I needed a name to aspire to. Fear is the opposite of Faith--His Grace is Sufficient for me. The haunting music of "You are My Hiding Place" always makes me think of Corrie ten Boom and her faith-filled life of sacrifice. I recently decided to re-read, "The Hiding Place," her life story. I used to hate the movie as a child because it was so sad, but as I became older, I saw the beauty of it--a life fully surrendered to God. 

It is always easy to give up our Isaacs as a sacrifice if we think they will be restored to us. But Abraham didn't know of God's ultimate plan--and neither do I. Sometimes it seems as though our dreams are our Isaac. The things I've always hoped would happen--the ones that I strived to make reality. But lately I wonder if my Isaac is myself. If I'm called not just to give up my dreams of how I imagined I would live my life--but called to give me up fully. Am I willing to abandon it all on the altar? Am I willing to Love instead of Hate? To Forgive? To Serve? To Die to myself and be a Christian ("little Christ")?  

Could I, like Corrie ten Boom,  forgive a Nazi guard who had tortured me and my family members, who had subsequently died? "And so I discovered that it is not our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with that commandment, the love itself. " You, O God, are my Deliverer. You love me more than I can imagine. You have ordained a right path that I should walk in it. 

Psalm 32

 ⁶ For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near him.
 ⁷ You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah  
⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.
 ⁹ Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. 
¹⁰ Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.
 ¹¹ Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!