. . . God, my exceeding joy . . . Psalm 43:4 ESV

Off and on, I’ve been reading through the Psalms, using Graham’s gift of Bible journals for each book of the Bible. The ESV text is on the left page, and the blank, lined right page invites written thoughts. There’s no commentary to tell me what to think or notice. The Holy Spirit leads me where He wants.

Lingering as I read each line of Psalm 43, I asked myself, “Is God my exceeding, my greatest joy? Can I say that? If not He, then just who or what is?”

This holy nudge came just a few days after He convicted me of boasting about myself to a few people at church. I was sharing about two projects that I felt made me “special.” One had to do with my next book project and the other with “tidying” up the Marie Kondo way.

Not 24 hours after that ego-driven posturing, God convicted me of idol worship—the idol being me, Maria.

Jotting all this down as a humble confession, I realized that there is just ONE thing that makes me authentically special: that I belong to Christ. Yes!!! What a gift. And nothing to strive for.

Father, may I boast only in that I am a member of Your forever family because of Jesus. Whatever I have boasted about in the past is just fleeting, like morning mist. But my relationship with You, the all-loving God, is permanent.

Now, THAT’s worth putting on my tombstone: She belongs to Christ.