Key Bible Verse: As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God (Psalm 42:1, KJV). Bonus Reading: Psalm 42:2–11

In spite of an airline strike, Marty Nystrom, a 24-year-old school-teacher, got to Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, for a six-week 1981 summer session—by train. This was no noble spiritual quest. His sights were set on a young woman. But the campus was austere, the Texas heat sweltering, and he soon learned that the desired relationship wasn't to be. Why didn't he just go home? Marty's answer: "I didn't have a ticket."

A radical roommate convinced him that a 21-day, water-only fast would help him regain perspective. "Something about the fast immediately broke me," Marty says. "My spirit became increasingly hungry for communion with God." Nineteen days into the fast, Marty sat down to a "very out-of-tune piano" in the men's dorm and began spontaneously to sing out various psalms.

"God gave me a melody for Psalm 42:1. I just began to sing off the Bible page," he recalls. "People ask why I start 'As the Deer' in King James and end up with contemporary language," says Marty. "I went from what I was reading off into my own response. I wasn't trying to write a chorus—I was just worshiping."

My Response: A psalm that captures my own hunger for God is …

Thought to Apply: You alone are my heart's desire, And I long to worship Thee. —Marty Nystrom (lyrics reprinted by permission of author)