I will extol Thee, O LORD; for Thou hast lifted me up,
and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
O LORD my God, I cried unto Thee,
and Thou hast healed me.
O LORD, Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave:
Thou hast kept me alive,
that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of His,
and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.
For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favor is life:
weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
LORD, by Thy favor Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong:
Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled.
I cried to Thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise Thee? Shall it declare Thy truth?
Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me:
LORD, be Thou my helper.
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing:
Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
To the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto Thee forever.

Extol. That’s a word we don’t use every day. It means “to exalt; to lift up, to praise, to esteem; to raise in words or eulogy.” I like that. Read a bit differently, verse 1 says, “I will lift You up, O Lord, because You have lifted me up.” This reminds me of I John 4:19, “We love Him, because He first loved us.” I can only lift up the name of God figuratively, with my words; but He has lifted me up quite literally out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings (Ps. 40:2). It is only by God’s amazing grace that I am alive today and able to give Him these words of praise.

O LORD my God, I cried unto Thee, and Thou hast healed me. 
O LORD, Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: 
Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 

This was true of David, and it was also true of me. For years I suffered with manic-depression (Bipolar I), and during that time I attempted to take my life many times, most often with drug overdoses. But God never allowed me to succeed. He had a plan for my life, and He wasn’t going to let me—or anyone else—ruin it. When I had had enough of the extreme mood swings, paranoia, despair, and deep emotional pain, I cried out to the Lord, and He healed me. The healing took some time, as well as the intervention of others, but I give God all the glory. As promised, I have told my story, and you may read Part 1 here and Part 2 here, if you like.

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Photo taken in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia, 2014.