What about your history?
I'd come to the end of the day and the end of my resources.
It'd been a long weekend and I had nothing left to give or the ability to cope with anything else. All I wanted to do was crawl into a warm bed and sleep.
But I couldn't yet so grabbing my MP3 player, my Bible and journal I sat on my bed, plugged in the player and wrote about my weekend and how drained I felt.
The album I'd chosen was A Millennium of Sacred Music, a compilation of hymns done masterfully on piano by an old friend. And with the music in the background, I started recording how worn out I felt but then found that these songs were pouring back into me peace and hope. These were my songs - the songs that had been a source of strength and comfort time and time again - Be Still my Soul, God will Take Care of You, Abide with Me, Nearer Still Nearer, He Hideth My Soul, No One Understands Like Jesus, How Great Thou Art.
I unconsciously hummed the familiar lyrics along with the piano -
"When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless O abide with me"
"No one understands like Jesus when the day is dark and drear, no one is so near, so dear as Jesus cast your every care on Him"
"Be not afraid what ere' betide, God will take of you"
"No one ever cared for me like Jesus, oh how much He cares for me."
And a verse came to mind from Psalms 107:43, "They will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord."
I saw it tonight in my history. In the familiarity of songs that have brought words of encouragement throughout many years, in the friends who I've been privileged to have along the way with whom I've been able to engage in the deep discussions of life and grace and God's will. I think of adults who were teachers and mentors when I was a child, and other adults along the way who shared honestly with me as a teen and college student of their own journey of faith, and the life of love lived out by my parents and my list keep growing from the past to all the present manifestations of grace in my life.
Take a look back.
See in your own history the faithful, steadfast love of the Lord.
And be encouraged that He who has taken care of you and poured out His love on you for all your years is not about to stop now.
It'd been a long weekend and I had nothing left to give or the ability to cope with anything else. All I wanted to do was crawl into a warm bed and sleep.
But I couldn't yet so grabbing my MP3 player, my Bible and journal I sat on my bed, plugged in the player and wrote about my weekend and how drained I felt.
The album I'd chosen was A Millennium of Sacred Music, a compilation of hymns done masterfully on piano by an old friend. And with the music in the background, I started recording how worn out I felt but then found that these songs were pouring back into me peace and hope. These were my songs - the songs that had been a source of strength and comfort time and time again - Be Still my Soul, God will Take Care of You, Abide with Me, Nearer Still Nearer, He Hideth My Soul, No One Understands Like Jesus, How Great Thou Art.
I unconsciously hummed the familiar lyrics along with the piano -
"When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless O abide with me"
"No one understands like Jesus when the day is dark and drear, no one is so near, so dear as Jesus cast your every care on Him"
"Be not afraid what ere' betide, God will take of you"
"No one ever cared for me like Jesus, oh how much He cares for me."
And a verse came to mind from Psalms 107:43, "They will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord."
I saw it tonight in my history. In the familiarity of songs that have brought words of encouragement throughout many years, in the friends who I've been privileged to have along the way with whom I've been able to engage in the deep discussions of life and grace and God's will. I think of adults who were teachers and mentors when I was a child, and other adults along the way who shared honestly with me as a teen and college student of their own journey of faith, and the life of love lived out by my parents and my list keep growing from the past to all the present manifestations of grace in my life.
Take a look back.
See in your own history the faithful, steadfast love of the Lord.
And be encouraged that He who has taken care of you and poured out His love on you for all your years is not about to stop now.
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