Psalm 29:9 (MSG): The pelting rain strips their branches

Psalm 29:9 (The Message)
A Psalm of David

⁹God's thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees - we call out, "Glory"!

Psalm 29, especially the Message translation, creates some powerful imagery about transformation.  A thunderstorm so powerful that the thunder shakes the mighty oaks, lightning smashes the solid cedars, and rain so heavy it actually rips the bark right off of the trees.  On initial inspection this might sound like a picture of ruin or possibly disaster.  Then we remember what transformation is...transformation is the act of sacrificing who I am today in order to become the person I am meant to be.

This psalm is, in many ways, a metaphor for the transformation we experience in recovery.  The painful process of pealing away of the facades that we created in our addiction.  The shaking of the very foundation of our beliefs and lives.  All this, as the last verse states, so God can make his people strong, and give his people peace.  The Angels cheer in the first verse, "Encore, Encore" not because they are mischievous, but because they know the beauty, and glory, that this transformation can bring.

Dear Lord, I am not perfect.  I am not even living close to my potential.  However, I have seen your transformative power in my recovery from addiction.  You have been able to help me remove the lies from my life and given me courage to do and say things I was not capable of before.  Still there is more work to be done and more transformation to work through.  I am ready for storms and tests of this transformation.  Please continue to bring the transformation to my life.  That I may leave the life of my addiction, all aspects of it, in the past...where it belongs.  That I may replace a life of addiction with a life serving as an instrument of your peace.  As I pray here I realize I am not alone in my struggle against addiction.  Opioid addiction is ravaging the lives of good people.  Be with the addicts that still suffer and the innocent people who love them.  Show them there that You have another plan for them.   A plan of transformation that will bring them out of their addiction stronger and better than before.  All this I pray in Your name - Amen.

Thanks for letting me share.