“2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits– 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Heals and forgives. What I find really cool is that He does it so we can have an eternal life, not for this life. This life is full of imperfection. With times of joy, laughter, love, and all the good things come stresses, wounds get salt poured in them that flash to anger, isolation, and everything else that makes it hard to make it through the day.

God calls us to be joyous and free. Jesus, as the consummate contrarian to the ways of the world, sets us free when we submit to him. He brings us joy when we when we seek Him instead of joy. If you really think about it, our lives really are pretty “brutish, nasty and short” (Thomas Hobbs, Leviathan) when compared to what God had planned for us originally and what is in store for us in heaven.

We are creatures that have advanced reasoning, and it’s far greater than any other creature here on earth. Let’s reason this out – does this life make sense without the knowledge that there is hope for us? Does this life have purpose if it’s only to accumulate what is then left behind to rust when we do die?

There is hope when eternity is accepted as fact and the choice is made to spend it in heaven, not in the pit.

Life has purpose when we live the life Christ calls us to live.

Our souls cry for healing and peace. God heals and forgives. Truly a marriage made in heaven!