Showing posts with label hymns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hymns. Show all posts

Where Would We Go?


This morning during my quiet time, I found myself in John. I read through a few chapters and got lots to think about. I actually started by looking at chapter 7 verses 37-38. Jesus is speaking and says, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living waters. I thought about that awhile. If I am “thirsty” I can come to Him. And if I believe – there will be living waters flowing through my heart. There are no exclusionary statements, so I took it that it’s for caregivers too!

My eyes sort of followed all the red words on the two open pages and I ended up back in chapter 6 and Jesus is talking about believing again. Jesus said there were some among his followers who didn’t believe. In their defense, He had just shared some hard to understand teachings with them about eating His flesh. And as we humans tend to do – when something makes sense we leave.

Many left off from following Jesus that day. So, Jesus asks the 12, Do you also want to go away? Peter’s immediate answer indicates to me that he had given it at least a considerable amount of consideration himself. Peter replies, Lord, where would we go?

I must admit on this caregiving journey, on those long dark nights and lonely hot days, I’ve wanted to walk away too. I’ve wanted to abandon faith – when I was mad and at the proverbial end of my rope. But, I couldn’t. And that was frustrating too. For the believer, there really is nowhere to go but to Him, is there?

An old hymn comes to mind – Where could I go, Oh, where could I go – seeking a refuge for my soul, needing a friend to help me in the end – where could I go but to the Lord? There really is no better refuge than the Lord. Jesus even says that He’ll give us a peace the world cannot comprehend. (John 14:27) Paul called it a peace beyond our understanding. (Philippians 4:7)

And it does seem like when the road gets rockier and the nights get darker – He shows up on our behalf. When we bring it all to Him in transparency and honesty, He meets us there. When our soul is thirsty, He satisfies. He doesn’t make everything better instantly and our situation may not change one iota. But He still provides us comfort and peace. (Even if I acted ugly in the night.) He doesn’t exclude caregivers from His peace – I think He may move in a bit closer to us to comfort our souls and give us the unexplainable peace that only comes from Him.

Today, I will meditate on His peace and comfort. And, I will accept them, and embrace them because I believe in Him. And it's not just because there is nowhere else to go! I will run to Him today and ask Him to be the refuge for my storm-tossed soul. I’ll rest in Him and find peace in Him because I am a believer in Him and a follower of Him. I’ll thank Him for not excluding caregivers – but for including us in all of His promises. Will you join me?

Where Do You Run?

Proverbs 18:10 says simply: the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe. There is nothing like tragedy or trouble to find out how fast we can get there! Throughout life there are many times we can find ourselves running to Him as our source of safety. Honestly, I wouldn't have any idea where else to go; and I really don't mind that at all.

Those of us about 50ish remember the 70's and how in some church circles it became the norm to sing choruses. This scripture was one that was sung frequently. If we could put a tune to it - we'd sing it! Old King James and all! And we could sing them over and over and over again! But we actually memorized them while we were doing so!

And now we see a new generation coming up behind us and you know what, they are not singing it like us - but the song really hasn't changed much. And I'm finding out that even young people know where to run when trouble strikes! They have found the same comforting refuge as we've sung about all along. They don't use the old KJV. But the song is the same. We sang "How Great Thou Art" and they sing "How Great is Our God!" We sang, "What a Friend We have in Jesus" and their version of that is "I'm a Friend of God!" And the list could go on, but the point is He is the same refuge, the same source of strength the same high tower that He was when Solomon wrote this verse.And we are continuing to run to Him...there is no rock like our God!

The Stare

  Do you ever just find yourself sitting and staring at the wall? It doesn't really happen too often because, quite frankly, who has tim...