Proverbs 31 Magazine

I don’t know when or how it happened. One day I woke up feeling differently towards Him. Our time together was not the same. I did not look at Him as I used to, nor did my heart leap for joy at the prospect of being with Him. I found myself going through the motions of a relationship where the mention of His name used to make my eyes sparkle and dance with delight.

Yes, my Jesus sparkle was gone and I desperately wanted it restored. How could things have possibly changed so drastically and seemingly without warning or notice?

Looking back, I clearly see the warning signs. Life got busy. Challenges arose. I got tired and ignored His whispers. Satisfying my desires rather than His became increasingly important. The more I put my needs first, the louder the silence. The louder the silence, the more miserable I became. One day the silence screamed. The scream was deafening, shouting exactly what I had been feeling but had been unable to put into words.

I heard my heart’s cry in the words of King David, “Restore the sparkle to my eye or I will die” (Psalm 13:3, NLT). Challenges had risen in David’s life. He was once again on the run from Saul and needed wisdom. He was tired and weak from his struggles and believed if God did not answer, he might truly die.

Though my physical life was not threatened, my spiritual life was. As I identified with King David’s peril, I determined to pray his prayer: “Lord, restore the sparkle to my eye or I will die.”

Faithfully I prayed daily, sometimes hourly, for God to restore the sparkle. I prayed until I felt strengthened and renewed, until my eyes sparkled again.

Some might question, “Is that all you did? Pray a simple prayer?” Yes, all I did was pray a simple prayer. However, praying God’s Word is powerful. It clears our minds and redirects our thinking so we can receive His direction. My troubles did not change overnight, but my perspective did.

Life is full of seasons of adversity and challenges that threaten the sparkle in our eyes. God’s Word brings hope and encouragement to any situation – often through David’s words poured out in Psalms.

David experienced a hard life before and after he took the throne. His Psalms are prayers for hard times, praises for good times and songs for victories. They give hope to the hopeless and restore faith to the faithless. David and the other psalmists wrote about issues you and I deal with every day: anger, revenge, jealousy, loss, hurt, rejection and fear.

Have you been in a similar dry place? Your eyes used to light up when you heard His name. The thought of Him and His Word made you smile and
the hair on your arms stand straight up. But life got hard and weakened your spirit.

If you are in that place now, join me in praying David’s prayer: “Lord, restore the sparkle to my eye.” You’ll discover like I did that when hope is restored hardships don’t seem so hard. Life becomes livable and change seems possible. God’s Word is a lamp to our feet, the light to our path (Psalm 119:105) and the sparkle in our eyes.