My Defender

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Psalm 18:1-3 ~

How I love you, Lord! You are my defender.
The Lord is my protector; he is my strong fortress. My God is my protection, and with him I am safe. He protects me like a shield; he defends me and keeps me safe. I call to the Lord, and he saves me from my enemies. Praise the Lord! 

When people hurt me, I want to lash out.  I want to defend myself and set them straight.  At the very least I want to state my side of the situation and at the very worst of times, I want to hurt  them back.  And I definitely want to share with the world how I've been wounded.

But all that does is keep the fires stoked and burning.  It keeps the hurtful words churning in my mind and the pain alive in my heart. I feel like crawling up in a ball when these things happen, especially when they are unprovoked.

But then I remind myself that God is my defender.  He sees the situation and he knows my heart, just as he knows the heart of my critic.  His plan for my life is for me to continually turn these situations over to Him and allow Him to work.  His desire is for me to have gracious words and a forgiving heart.

And so when these things happen, I wrestle with myself.  I mentally defend my cause until I realize that doing that is a fruitless endeavor. When I make the choice to allow God to be my defender, I receive peace that I never would have gotten on my own.

If you are struggling in this area, then I would encourage you to forgive, place the situation in God's capable hands and rest in the comfort only He can bring.

The peace that you feel when you fully surrender this to the Lord will be amazing!

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