Good afternoon.

It's a foggy, icy day. The Christmas decorations are down. My husband tossed the Christmas tree, all dry and drooping, out onto the front lawn. I'd hoped to do some writing on my novel, but feel stuck, tired, a little depressed and discouraged.
So, I'll do evening prayer instead, to see what God is would like to say to me in this state of sloth I'm in.

Here's what leaps out at me from Psalm 18. (see the readings for Evening Prayer below)

1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

I know a praise song that uses the 3rd verse. I remember singing it to myself along the roadside in Ghana when the clutch of our borrowed Toyota burned out. We were hours away from where we were staying and no cell phone or way to contact help. Miraculously, our driver hitchhiked back to a village and returned an hour and a half later with three mechanics, who were dressed in rags and carried all their rusty tools in a rough wooden tray with a handle. They carried a new Toyota clutch in a box and installed it by the side of the road. When they found they didn't have the right tool to insert the clutch, they wandered along the roadside, looking for a suitable stick or branch. They found one, then whittled it with a cutlass to the right shape. Using the stick, they put the clutch in. I was amazed at the resourcefulness. All in all, it cost us about $60 U.S. for a new clutch. We drove off. I remember feeling no anxiety as I sang this little song:

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised.
The rest of the song includes this verse:
46 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

The Book of Common Prayer reads: Thou also shalt light my candle;/ the LORD my God shall make my darkness to be light.

This day, where the snow and the sky are both gray white and the trees outside my window black green, I claim this verse for me. The Lord will light my candle, and make this darkness to be light.

Isaiah 65
16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.