Comfort From The Psalms October 12, 2015 ISSUE

Upheld by Spirit

Debra Corry Brandt

One summer when I was in high school, I had the opportunity to go on a three-day biking and camping trip. I did not have a good bike for a trip of this magnitude, so I had to get a new one—a bike that changed gears. By the time our family’s finances and my busy after-school schedule allowed me to get the new bike, it was very close to the time of the trip. I didn’t have much time to get used to riding the bike or changing the gears. But I was very happy about my new bike, and my excitement about the trip almost outweighed any concern or fear over getting used to the bike … almost!

That week, the subject of the Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly was “Spirit.” Not long before I was to leave for the trip, I sat down to pray and read the Bible Lesson, and found this verse from Psalms: “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (51:12). The words practically leapt off the page as I read them, because painted on my shiny, new, blue bike was the name of the bike model “Free Spirit.”

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