Posted on by graceutomo12

My First “Grown Up” Bible + How I Became a Christian

Happy Monday, Blogging Family! At this point, many of you know that my dad will be retiring from full-time ministry near the end of the year. Needless to say, this is a bittersweet transition for our family. It has already provided opportunities to reflect on how the Lord has provided for, sustained, and blessed my parents’ lives and ministry over the years. I’m sure we will continue grow in gratitude (and also sadness as their season of vocational ministry concludes) as Fall approaches. 

An unexpected blessing I’ve received during this time is rediscovering some “artifacts” my dad preserved in his office over the decades – and several cross- country moves. One of these was my first “grown up” Bible. Although I admit that I had forgotten about it in recent years, when Dad returned it to me last week, it brought back many childhood memories. 

As you can see from the picture, it’s a relatively standard NASB leather Bible. As an eight- or nine-year-old, I remember being very impressed with the “grown up” black leather Bibles my parents carried to church, and wishing I could have one that looked like theirs. This was before I became a Christian, so looking back I am also sure that I was most motivated by the appearance of carrying a “grown up” Bible and looking like an “obedient” child – especially to adults. Nevertheless, my parents must have paid attention to what I was asking, because my dad presented me with my very own “grown up” Bible, and also explained to me that the NASB was the “best” modern translation. As you might imagine, this really boosted my assumption that others would view me as “grown up” and “good.” I do remember being very proud of carrying my new Bible to church, but I don’t remember how often I read it if no one was watching. Looking back on this turn of events as an adult, I am grateful that my parents were willing to bless me with a real leather Bible at such a young age, especially since my dad would have still been in seminary!

Later that year, or possibly the next year, I remember hearing a sermon that helped me understand that no matter how hard I tried – or even succeeded – at appearing “good” to other people, God could see all the evil thoughts of my heart. This made my outward “obedience” like filthy rags in His sight. I was not a good little girl at all, no matter what kind of Bible I had. The only thing that could help me have a right relationship with Him was trusting that Jesus had died for my sin and conquered sin and death by rising again. This also included admitting that I sinned against God whether or not other people saw it, and asking God’s mercy and forgiveness. Since I was born into a Christian home, and my dad went to seminary when I was 5, I can’t remember a time when I could not recite the gospel. But for me, just like anyone else, “knowing” the gospel was not enough. I still needed the Holy Spirit to open my eyes in a specific, personal way to my own spiritual deadness, as well as the hope of salvation and eternal life that is available through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

After that moment, the “grown up” Bible that I had originally wanted for appearance’s sake suddenly became intrinsically valuable. I remember wanting to spend time reading it, whether or not anyone saw me, and also wanting to go to church. Although I was still a relatively young child, the Holy Spirit had taken up residence in my heart and I understood these previously boring activities were ways to learn more about God.

In 2026 many of us are probably using the ESV or something similar rather than the NASB (this story takes place around the turn of the millennium 😊), but it’s a testimony to God’s Spirit working through His Word that in elementary school I wanted to spend time reading a translation that we now consider a bit unwieldy. As I’ve had time to flip through its pages over the past week, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find many passages in the New Testament circled and underlined and marked in a child’s handwriting as “favorite,” several of which I still often use in personal prayer or counseling. One of them is the Apostle Paul’s famous prayer:

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Phil. 1:9-11

I also remember being very excited when the ESV was released sometime during high school, and as I’ve had time to do a side-by-side this week I can see why many of us made the switch. However, I will always be so grateful for how God used my parents and my first “grown up” Bible to begin His good work in my life, and I’m so thankful to be reunited with it after many years. I also plan to continue using it as a physical reminder of God’s faithfulness, provision, and protection throughout all our lives.

Whatever season you may find yourself in, I pray that God will open your eyes to reminders of His faithful, shepherding hand, and His sure promise to work all things to produce His fruit in your life and shape you more and more into the image of His Son, which is always our ultimate good.

Posted on by graceutomo12

CCAN Conference: The Wisdom of Abigail

Good afternoon, Blogging Family! Last weekend, I was grateful to be one of the guest speakers at a women’s conference in Pacheco, CA, co-hosted by Foothill Baptist Church and Christ Church of All Nations (Ivan’s parents’ church). It was such a privilege to collaborate with the other speakers and meet women from other churches and backgrounds. It was also a growing experience for me, since the two areas that I am most comfortable with are counseling and prayer ministry (both one-on-one settings). Although I do love to teach music and writing and we have been blessed to share our accident story quite a bit in larger contexts, this was the first time that I prepared a message and spoke on a topic that was not related to our accident.

God was very faithful, and throughout the process I discovered that a lot of the skills I’ve developed in both teaching writing and preparing for counseling sessions were similar to what I needed to prepare a conference session. The similarities were studying what the biblical text said, consulting other passages from Scripture that shed more light on it, looking for relevant commentaries, and prayerfully discerning my own thoughts about the passage. Perhaps most important was praying that the Lord would use the passage to minister to (and convict!) my own heart during the preparation process, and also praying for the hearts of everyone who would attend. My conclusion after going through this process (although I admit that I am still very new to it), is that there is not a huge difference between preparing for a conference talk and counseling, except that I would say delivering a conference talk currently feels more disorienting to me.

In counseling, I can dialogue with the other person and try my best to sense by their tone of voice, facial expressions and verbal responses how they might be processing what I am sharing, or if they would benefit from a different approach. While this does not necessarily guarantee that every session goes well, and it is only God who does the transformation in a person’s heart, it does frequently provide a real time gauge to help me discern if the direction I am going is actually beneficial or if I need to change courses.

In contrast, delivering a conference talk does not allow this kind of real-time feedback and requires much more faith that God is the One who will work through (and in spite of) me, and that ultimately He has promised His Word never returns void, no matter how little I may know about each person in the room or how imperfectly I may communicate.

This past Saturday, I was grateful to speak on the life of Abigail. Meditating on how she wisely responded to a very complex situation (a foolish and ungodly husband and a future king who was sinfully angry) convicted me about 1) how much I take my own healthy marriage for granted and 2) how much I struggle to live out her example of honoring Nabal’s and David’s God-given positions. Far too often, I use other people’s sin as an excuse to justify my own. In Abigail’s case, God rewarded her willingness to submit to the position rather than fixating on the person who was not living up to his position. Her humility brought conviction to David’s heart, saved the lives of her male servants, and, after her husband’s death, gained her what we can guess was likely a better life as David’s wife.

Abigail could have sought to preserve her own life by running away when her servants brought her the news of David’s impending wrath, and perhaps she might have succeeded. However, by doing this she would have become implicit in the murder of Nabal’s servants, at least some of whom were not as wicked as Nabal himself (vv.14-17). By seeking to dissuade David from his murderous design, Abigail identified herself with Nabal’s guilt in order to intercede for him. This put her in danger since she did not know how David would respond. As Nabal’s wife, she was also aware that he did not deserve this intervention and she would not receive any personal benefit, except the benefit of honoring the Lord and the husband He had sovereignly allowed into her life, and potentially saving some innocent lives if she succeeded. It’s also worth noting that God’s justice in punishing Nabal was much more accurate than David’s sinful anger would have been. By eliminating Nabal through an adverse health event (perhaps a heart attack or stroke), God only punished the person who needed punishing. He also simultaneously freed Abigail and Nabal’s servants from their oppressive situation. David, however, was planning to wipe out “every male” belonging to Nabal, which would have included at least some innocent servants.

I’d like to close with this New Testament admonition and encouragement. It’s how I ended my conference talk Saturday I think it encapsulates the story of Abigail, Nabal, and David – and God’s intervention in all their lives so perfectly, I also hope it can encourage you all with whatever you may be facing this week!

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Gal. 6:7-10

Posted on by ivanutomo · 1 Comment

Working Witness

Hello Blogging Family! Last Saturday Grace and I had the opportunity to attend Valley Christian School’s Warrior Celebration, where we honored our previous president’s 40 years of service to the school and looked ahead to the future. It’s hard to believe this is my ninth year working at VCS, and I’m thankful for how God has used this school to provide for me and Grace and allow us to live in the Bay Area.

My role at the school has changed over the years, and one of the more recent developments is overseeing the student Worship Team, which we call Warrior Worship (our school mascot is the Warriors). We have chapel once a week on Wednesdays, which normally start with a time of musical worship and then goes into a message. A team of high school students leads the music portion, and I’ve really appreciated getting to work with them as their teacher.

For the worship team class, our class periods involve rehearsing music, but my favorite part are the portions when we consider what it means to live with God and for God — in short, discipleship. We have discussions such as:

Q: “Why do we worship?”

A: “Because God is worthy of our worship.” (1 Chron 16:25; Ps 145:3)

Q: “Why is God worthy of our worship?”

A: “Because of who He is and what He has done.” (Rev 4:11; Ps 103:1-5)

Many of students who attend Valley are not from Christian backgrounds, so I’m proud of the students who serve on worship team, and all the other students who have chosen to actively represent Christ to their peers. I’m reminded each day too that all of my actions as a teacher directly or indirectly constitute a witness for Jesus. What kind of a witness am I? Am I being faithful to honor Him through my words and actions?

Whether we work in a secular or Christian context, may we always remember that God’s eternal purposes also include our professional lives; even if you are not working right now, you are still an ambassador for Christ to every person you interact with today. May God be glorified through us wherever we are.

Posted on by graceutomo12

A Passage to Indo Part 1: Of Visas and Vaccines

“Better late than never,” was one reaction we got to booking our honeymoon nine years after our wedding. To recap, we got married in 2015 right after I graduated undergrad and while Ivan was a full-time grad student. This meant we scheduled the wedding between Christmas and New Years to accommodate his classes and my work, and needed to delay our honeymoon until we had more financial means. Since my accident occurred less than a year later, our plans for a romantic getaway were put on an indefinite hold. God graciously provided an almost entirely free trip to Paris using travel points that coincided with our ninth anniversary at the end of 2024. Until that point, we’d wondered if the “delayed honeymoon” was an unfulfilled dream we needed to surrender to God.

Another piece of newlywed life that got put on an indefinite hold by my accident was meeting Ivan’s extended family. Although his parents and brothers live here, the rest of his family lives in Indonesia. When we were planning our wedding, we’d imagined that our “delayed honeymoon” might look like combining a romantic getaway with crossing the Pacific to meet everyone. However, when our lives turned upside down and I developed severe health problems, we crossed that possibility off our lists. But as my health improved over the years and I made successful trips to Europe and Japan, we realized that traveling to Indonesia was no longer an issue of ability or safety, but rather of finding the time and means to plan our own international trip.

In God’s providence, Ivan is not leading a summer trip for Valley Christian for the first time in three years, which allowed us to schedule our own trip to Indonesia this June. Since this has been a personal desire for both of us for many years, we’ve also been saving and planning for everything that it takes to coordinate our own trip (and realizing more and more how blessed we’ve been to enjoy travel as part of his job in previous years!)

Two parts of planning that have been new to me thus far are visa applications and travel vaccines. We are stopping in Australia for a weekend on the way to Surabaya, our first stop in Indonesia. Australia is the first country we’re visiting together that is not visa-on-arrival. We also applied for an Indonesian visa ahead of time to enter the country faster, which felt a bit strange for Ivan since he was originally an Indonesian citizen!

Conversely, getting travel vaccines felt much more concerning for me than it did for Ivan. About 5 years ago, I had somewhere between 15-19 seizures (we both lost track!) after getting my Tdap booster at Kaiser. We firmly believe I’ve been healed of the seizure disorder itself. However, given my dad’s vaccine injury in 2021, there is a chance that as a blood relative I could be prone to vaccine injuries. If this is true, my reaction at that time was not due as much to my seizure disorder but to a genetic sensitivity to vaccines. Since there is no way to know for sure why I had such a severe reaction, I haven’t taken any vaccines since then. Even for my recent finger incident, I was grateful that the Tdap fiasco meant my tetanus shot was still technically up-to-date and I didn’t need another vaccine.

However, as we prayerfully weighed the potential risks of traveling to Indonesia without getting any vaccines versus the benefits of taking the most essential ones (like typhoid), we decided that it was wisest to take some preventative measures and trust God with the outcome. 

We got our travel vaccines on Friday, and by God’s grace, I did not experience anything more severe than feeling very “out-of-it” for about a day. Although I definitely felt worse than Ivan did, that’s relatively explainable by the fact that, my body is generally weaker and more sensitive than the average person’s. 

We’ll probably never know the exact cause of my severe reaction to the Tdap booster five years ago. What we do know is that God has consistently showed Himself faithful and gracious in protecting me at that time, restoring my health beyond what we could have imagined since then, and in continuing to guide and protect us as we try to make wise decisions when we do not have all the information we’d like. We are so grateful for His goodness and mercy, and look forward to sharing more about this trip with you in the coming months!

P.S. For those of you who are more literary-minded, Ivan and his family refer to Indonesia as “Indo” for short. The title for this series combines that nickname with the title of the famous E. M. Forster novel, A Passage to India. I highly recommend checking it out if you’ve never read it. 🙂

Posted on by ivanutomo · 1 Comment

Spring into Music & Poetry

Hello Blogging Family! Spring is upon us, and I’ve also been enjoying my spring break from Valley Christian. This week, Grace and I got to share about violin and piano to our local Classical Conversations homeschool community at Hillside Church. This was our second visit; we were very blessed to visit CC last year too. I was never homeschooled, but Grace was, from kindergarten all the way until she graduated high school!

This year, our topic was “How to listen to music.” Grace and I talked about how composers structure their pieces, how they create colors and moods using different scales, and how you can enhance your enjoyment of classical music by creating a narrative while listening. The kids were very attentive and asked great questions. Grace played Mendelssohn’s “Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song),” and I played Bach’s Invention No. 4 in D minor and Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G# minor, Op. 32 No. 12.

In addition to visiting the CC community, Grace also recently received an invitation from San Jose Public Library (SJPL) to host a poetry workshop at the main branch downtown! The librarian had seen Grace in the SJPL database from a fiction workshop Grace taught last year, and thought she would be a good fit for their “Spring into Poetry” initiative. So Grace got to work preparing a presentation suitable for kids and adults, and this past Monday we made our way to the MLK Jr. Library for the workshop (my role was moral support).

We’re so thankful for the chance to connect with the attendees over poetry, enjoying the God-given gift of creativity expressed through language. Fun fact: one poet Grace and I both love is W. S. Merwin – if you’ve never read him before, check him out!

So, so far it’s been a very arts-filled week! It’s amazing how much beauty and meaning can be captured and expressed through the arts; all this is ultimately a reflection of God’s beauty, since He is the one who created all things (including us, in His image!). As the Psalmist said:

The heavens declare the glory of God,
    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

May we see glimpses of God’s beauty and goodness in the world around us today, even by reading a good poem or listening to a piece of music!

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ICYMI: Life!Line Podcast is up!

Good Afternoon, Blogging Family! I’m excited to share that the podcast from Tuesday’s radio interview with Life!Line’s Craig Roberts is now available. In case you missed it or are not in the Bay Area, you can access it here.

This interview was particularly special for us because, in addition to being TBI Awareness month, it also focused more on Ivan’s perspective as the caregiver and how God has used our trials to challenge him and strengthen his faith over the years. Hope you enjoy!

Posted on by graceutomo12 · 3 Comments

Live on Life!Line today at 5 pm!

Good morning, blogging family! We’re so excited to announce that we’ll be sharing our testimony and more of what we’re currently doing with ministry and music on Life!Line this afternoon as part of TBI awareness month! If you’re in the Bay Area, you can catch it live at 5 pm on KFAX AM 1100, or you can stream using this link. We’ll also post the episode here after the show.

It’s such a privilege for us to be part of this show and we’re so grateful for the wise, Christ-centered discussions that the host, Craig Roberts, is so skilled at leading. If you’re curious, you can also check out past episodes here (2023 and 2025). We hope you’ll be able to join us!

Posted on by graceutomo12 · 1 Comment

Turning 33 + TBI Awareness Month

Last week I turned 33. One of the most obvious lessons from my accident that I remember every year was that we cannot take life for granted and only God knows what a day may hold. But this birthday was particularly significant because I was 23 when I was hit by the car. So it was even more impactful to consider both how much we’ve been through in the past ten years and how much God has restored. Psalm 103 is one of my favorite psalms:

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

I think it’s significant that in addition to being my birth month, March is also TBI Awareness Month. Although God has done amazing healing in my life, He’s also allowed the brain injury to remain. As a counselor, I describe it as the “context” for many practical and relational issues we navigate in daily life. The good news is that there are now long stretches of time when we’re not acutely aware of the presence of TBI. However, when I increase my activity or encounter certain complex relational challenges, we hit seasons that require a lot of wisdom and skill to navigate in a way that is healthy for both of us. Re-learning to drive, periodically planning events for writing and music, and increasing my ministry capacity at church are examples of relatively recent situations that have reminded us of my underlying TBI and are still challenging us to grow toward God and each other.

I’d like to close with an excerpt from a joint blog post we wrote for my publisher, Shepherd Press, in honor of TBI Awareness Month:

Ivan: God has grown me in many ways over the last nine years. Just as He sovereignly introduced TBI into Grace’s life, He also added the role of caregiver into mine. I’ve seen how conflating the roles of “husband” and “caregiver” can cause confusion and even hurt. Through experience, Grace and I have  grown in seeking God’s wisdom to discern which aspects of our interactions have been affected by TBI, and which have not. Through this process, our desire has been to view each other more and more as God does, because He looks not at outward appearances but at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). TBI can distort certain daily interactions depending on the location and severity of the injury, but it cannot change that a person’s heart has already been filled with God’s Holy Spirit. Even in the middle of a TBI storm, God always holds His children’s hands securely in His. May He find childlike faith in each of our hearts as we walk with Him through TBI and beyond! 

Grace: Before my accident, I was incredibly performance-driven. On the positive side, this helped me to excel at music, academics, and work, but it also deeply affected the way I related to God and people. While I wish I could say this is no longer a struggle for me, I am very grateful for how the Lord has used TBI to strip away many worldly achievements on which I used to build my identity. My years of recovery taught me to cry out to Him in prayer and also depend on Him in daily life in a deeper way than I believe would have occurred if I had continued on my former trajectory. He has also used it to reveal the motivations of my heart, and is continuing to reveal people and pursuits that I am worshiping before Him. While He graciously blessed me with a much fuller recovery than was initially expected, my residual TBI deficits remind me that He is the only One Who is truly unlimited. He is jealous for the Spirit He has placed within me, and He is always faithful to draw near when I cry out to Him. He draws near based on His character and promises, not my performance (James 4:5-8).

Thank you for taking this brief journey with us! Whether or not you have been impacted by TBI, we pray our story will strengthen your faith and help you grow in your walk with the Lord!

Posted on by graceutomo12 · 4 Comments

Spring 2026: Writing and Ministry Update

Throwback to working on our first book 🙂

Good morning, Blogging Family! Thanks again so much for all your prayers over the past few weeks! It was also super encouraging for us to read the comments on my last post and learn ways that God has used Psalm 46 in your lives over the years. He truly is faithful!

Now that my hand is recovered, I wanted to give an update on what we’ve been up to this winter since the recital, as well as what we’re looking forward to the rest of the spring. It’s crazy to think that this time last year we were preparing to release our second book, Hello, God: Seeking the Lord When Words Fall Short, which drew on my personal experience of re-learning to pray after the brain injury. We’re both so grateful that God has opened the door for us to write two books about lessons He’s taught us from my accident, and continue to pray that He would use them for His purposes. Remembering what we were up to this time last year also explains what we’re currently pursuing!

First, based on my experiences sharing my faith in various hospital settings, as well as the journey we have shared with you all, I felt led to explore biblical counseling a few years ago. Due to a variety of factors, including writing two books in relatively short succession, counseling certification has not been something I mentioned here. Since January, I’ve been devoting the bulk of my energy to this ministry and have been blessed to see the Lord at work in people’s lives. I’ve also been very convicted about areas in which I need to personally grow as I spend time praying and preparing for sessions each week.

Although counseling is a major theme of my life right now, God is also being faithful in continuing to provide writing opportunities. Last summer, I got approved as a vendor for the San Jose Public Library, and loved teaching a fiction workshop last September. This April, I’ll be back to lead a poetry workshop. Although my published books have been nonfiction, I’m grateful to both SCAD and CalBaptist for challenging me to write in many genres while I was in school. So this is a huge blessing from the Lord because it challenges me to keep my writing skills sharp and allows me to continue teaching. I also see it as an indirect opportunity to witness because, although it’s a secular workshop, I can mention my own published work. 🙂

Finally, Ivan and I are grateful to have a couple of chances to share music and our testimony on the horizon. We loved sharing the history of violin with the Classical Conversations homeschool community last year, and are blessed to be returning in April, this time to talk about both violin and piano. We’re also excited to be partnering with a local small group to lead worship and share our testimony.

I’ll be posting more as we participate in some of these events. Thanks as always for your prayers and for walking with us!

Posted on by graceutomo12 · 6 Comments

A Helping Hand

Hello Blogging Family! Thank you all so much for your prayers and concern! I’m finally back to normal typing, and wanted to share a personal “thank you” as well as my own thoughts on the past couple of weeks.

Although we continue to be extremely grateful for just how faithful and powerful the Lord has been to restore so much of my life, this incident has reminded me that I’ve started to take certain parts of recovery for granted. On the bright side, it’s also been a sweet demonstration of all the love and support we continue to receive from our online community whenever there is a health-related update! ❤

As I consider the progress that I may have begun to take for granted – or push a little too far – working in the kitchen is one of the first things that comes to mind. Every time I’ve told my version of this latest incident and started with, “Well, I was opening a can one-handed…” I’m struck by how unwise this sounds. Although I’ve been opening cans for several years now, I’m realizing that it’s God’s mercy and protection that I made it this long without an accident.

While Ivan does most of the truly dangerous kitchen work at our house, I admit that my limitations with my left hand tempt me to feel insecure when I consider what other wives do for their husbands. This often prompts me to test my limits to see if I could be doing more. Hence my one-handed can-opening career. But the past couple of weeks have reminded us that when my experiments go south, I need significantly more help from him than if I focused on doing what we know I can do safely and well.

On the subject of help. the past couple of weeks have been a sweet reminder of how much Ivan is willing to help and how much my guilt for asking him is self-imposed. On the drive home from the hospital he began peppering me with questions about everything I would need help with now that I was down my right hand – including getting dressed. While I nixed that particular suggestion, the heart behind it was truly precious, and continued to remind me of how Ivan has always been willing to do whatever needs to be done to care for me.

And I did find myself humbled the following morning when we embarked on our two weeks of wound care. Although I knew I would need some help given that I had relatively incapacitated my dominant hand, after everything I’ve been through I pride myself on being rather tough and low maintenance. I laid everything out and read all the instructions, only to be hit by a wave of nausea when we removed the bandage. Maybe it’s been too many years since our last significant incident, or maybe there was something different about this cut (Ivan spared the gory details in his post), but I found myself unable to do anything except look away and pray while he did all the wound care. So this too was a poignant reminder, not just of Ivan’s willingness to help, but also of the Lord’s faithfulness and enabling power in all the trials we’ve been through in the past. I am more aware than ever that the grit I used to think was part of my personality is really an enabling grace God can give and remove as He sees fit. I’m very grateful for when He does choose to give it. When He does not, this causes me to depend on Him more closely and also be more grateful for the help I receive from others.

I’d like to close with Psalm 46, which my discipleship group recently memorized. The application question the week before my can-opener incident was “How are you going to apply this psalm to daily life?” At the time I’d talked about using it as a framework to pray for others and also praise God’s sovereignty over all our lives. I couldn’t imagine this application would get VERY real just a week later. In the ER, I was desperately looking for something to which I could fix my attention when it was time to get the stitches put in. Reciting the psalm in my mind and rehearsing the Lord’s presence and power transformed what would have been an otherwise extremely disconcerting few minutes for me. Hopefully this can also be an encouragement to all of you who have a practice of memorizing Scripture, or are considering starting this journey!

God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
 Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way,
    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
 though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
    God will help her when morning dawns.
 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
    he utters his voice, the earth melts.
 The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
    how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
    he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the chariots with fire.
 “Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth!”
 The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.