It’s one of these no-good-really-bad days. Everyone has them – hopefully not too often, but when we do, it feels like our world is falling apart. We stumble and fall, naturally. We feel sore and heartbroken. Instead of the predicted rainfall we’ve got some tearfall going on. And once those tears start falling it’s hard to stop crying.

I’m speaking for myself of course. This morning was such a no-good morning. Our cat threw up. Everything she ate, everything she drank found its way out. We had vomit on the bed, vomit on the floor, and this little poor thing, a shadow of herself, crawled into our bedroom closet and rubbed her face into one of our shoes. Sick as she was, she just loves our stinky feet.

I cried all the way to the doctor. Our cat is in her senior years, so I’m half suspecting this will be our last trip to the vet. Well, it wasn’t this time, but perhaps her next trip will be.

It’s in moments like these, crying like a baby, that a Bible verse like the one in Psalm 16 speaks to me.

“I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me.” * New Living Translation (NLT)

A salt shaker is created to be shaken. How else would we gain access to the salt? We are shook by life-changing events, but in the eye of the storm we are given special access to the Lord. He holds us and carries us through our worst nightmares.

The Rock of Ages provides us with one precious commodity: Hope – that’s the one thing we all need. If up is up and down is down, then it doesn’t matter whether or not our world is turned upside down. We continue to look up. With madness all around us there is still sanity of mind in prayer.

Our core being knows that the last word hasn’t been spoken yet. This is not the end of a story, but hopefully a new beginning. Keeping the Lord in mind is keeping His goodness in mind – and in times of adversity we won’t be shaken.