Psalm 96 ~ declare His glory among the nations

Psalm 96

1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; [or holy attire]
tremble before him, all the earth!

10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”

11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord, for he comes,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
and the peoples in his faithfulness.


Please pray for my cousin Maxine, she is 94. My grandmother's family was quite large & generations are all spread apart, Maxine is almost 50 years older than I am. Maxine is my mother's first cousin and she is my legal ward. Maxine & her husband lived in Los Angeles, in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, for a number of years. Her husband worked in the television company producing the Lone Ranger and Lassie TV programs.

Maxine has me for her guardian because she has severe dementia & lives in a dementia facility. She had a number of strokes, 10 years ago. And she never had children. Maxine is in the hospital tonight for dementia related illness. It is not supposed to be life-threatening, but she has done what her mother and my grandmother did, she has shrunk a foot and now weights about 80 lbs at exactly four feet. She is quite frail.

Christians are sometimes set apart because we look at circumstance and wonder if it is the work of the Lord. When Maxine was 90, she became very unresponsive. We examined why there was suddenly no speech, her responsiveness was like pushing a large rock up a steep hill. It turns out she was being given too much medicine and it had covered up another large stroke. Maxine began having physical rehabilitation sessions and she went from needing minimum add'l care to maximum. Maxine, the doctors concluded, had become institutionalized and to move her into a different facility would kill her, so she needed a sitter to prompt her more to participate in the dementia facility. But her speech had been removed and she now merely made one noise.

At Christmas, Maxine had been with the sitter for about 7 months, she was almost 91 & walking again. Her speech had not recovered. Our Church asked everyone to bring a cross to hang on the wall of our new Church building. I found a beautiful crucifix, Jesus looked as He had just asked the Lord to forgive His people. I just couldn't give it to the Church, I felt Maxine needed the cross to look down on her bed. So, at Christmas, I put the cross were Jesus would look down at Maxine. As I did, I said a prayer that I had done what I thought FatherGod wanted and would He use this symbol, & the action I had completed, I felt was prompted to prayer, to bless Maxine's sleep, her safety and bring her to know the Lord's love in a fulfilling relationship, to know the comfort of His salvation. Maxine had been angry with God as a child, she felt the Lord took too much of Aunt Eloise (her mother's) attention and work. According to Maxine, the rend had never completely healed between the Lord and Maxine & Maxine didn't feel there is any heaven.

Later in the year, in the spring, I was sitting with Maxine. A year since the last stroke, I really didn't expect to hear anything back. I told her she had on a beautiful blue dress and it matched her eyes, she still has beautiful blue eyes. I told her she was the only one in the family with eyes as blue as the sky. The next moment, I was sitting with my mouth open. I couldn't even speak. My 91 year old cousin told me she did think it was a pretty dress and she was pleased to have pretty dresses that are fancy in her closet. She leaned over to tap my ring and said she liked it. Maxine had not been able to say that kind of sentence since 1996, about 10 years prior. I think I was rude enough to sputter, "Maxine you are talking! Saying things!" No, it was not clear as a bell, but I understood her perfectly.

I called the sitter & Katherine said, "Yeah, Maxine is talking again! Some days she has a lot to say and some days she doesn't say too much at all!" Yes, Maxine is significantly happier to have Katherine, who is there just for her every day. But my 91 year old cousin never had speech rehabilitation. I don't know if it was the chicken or the egg first, but Maxine regained her speech and picked up ground to be able to, not just repeat phrases, but to express her thought. This just must be from God. How many people recover that much in their 90's? Maybe speech, but Maxine was able now to express her clear thought.

Maxine is 94 now. Because of the need for a guardian, every year a social worker comes in & checks on Maxine's environment, in an unannounced visit. On Tuesday, Maxine's social worker got to hear Maxine communicate. Now, the answers are more rote and not actual conversation, but Maxine was still able.

Father God, please be with Maxine. I remember cartoons I shared with her when I was a child & the garden walks we took. I remember Maxine to have retained her delight in Your creations. Look at Maxine with mercy, these years she has remained on this earth, are Your years. Please remember the kindnesses she has shown us. Father, when it is time for Maxine to go home to You, let it be so peacefully. Like the Camellia my grandmother and Aunt Eloise prayed about. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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