The Power of a Hymn...

When your going through the motions of...well, anything...you sometimes miss out. Funny to say when some of us have a fear of missing out on everything.

Take singing hymns in church, for example. When was the last time you actually focused on the words as you sang them and the meaning behind them? What happened when you actually paid attention? Did it somehow endear that song to you? Did it give comfort, or hope, or even gratefulness?

About a week ago, my husband and I were standing with the church congregation to sing the hymn "Day by Day", when I leaned over and reminded my dear hubby that he had read the words from this very song just after I miscarried our first baby.

Needless to say that as we both started to sing, the emotions that those words invoked caused us both to choke up. We were both thinking back to a time when grief and sorrow were weighing us both down and the tears never seemed to stop, my hubby opened the hymnbook and began to read: 

Day by day and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment;

I've no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure,

Gives unto each day what He deems best,

Lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day the Lord Himself is near me,

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,

He whose name is Counselor and Power.

The protection of His child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid:

"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation,

So to trust thy promises, O Lord.

That I lose not faith's sweet consolation, 

Offered me within Thy Holy Word.

Help me, Lord, when toil & trouble meeting,

E'er to take as from a Father's hand,

One by one, the days the moments fleeting,

'Til I reach the promised land.

During one of our greatest trials, this hymn brought comfort, strength, hope, and even perspective on the steps going forward. Since that time the Lord has allowed us to reach out and help others, offering them help as they grieve.

I don't know what trial you are facing now or what you need to face that trial, but the Lord does. And as His child and treasure, you have been pledge the strength to not only face it, but to do so with the right perspective.

Don't lose hope! Don't faint! Lean on Him and accept the comfort that He offers.

Simply Trusting,