This is an extremely stressful time for many, all across the earth. For me, in the last few days circumstances and news headlines have greatly stressed and troubled me. As I reached out to the Lord, floating up in my spirit have been the words GUIDE and STAY. Guide and stay. He is my guide and my stay.
The word stay, what an interesting word. In times when our emotions freak out and run all over the place in response to the circumstances around us, He is our anchor, our stay, to hold us calmly in a place of peace and rest.
I once had a vision of a storm-tossed sea in great violence, and I saw myself holding on to a big rock, plastered by the wind and water, but holding on. That is what it is like today. We hold on to our Rock, our stay, and He guides us when it is time to move.
In difficult times the great old hymns of my childhood comfort me, and I thought of the old song Abide With Me. My heart in this tumultuous time has been urging me to abide in Him and to allow Him to abide in me and be my guide and stay.
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me
I need Thy Presence, every passing hour
Who like Thyself can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like thyself my guide and stay can be?
O Thou who changest not, abide with me
The words of the song who like thyself my guide and stay shall be?
The answer is that there is no one else, there is no one like my Lord. There is no one else who can comfort and who can bring the peace that passes all understanding in the all encompassing way that He can.
I encourage you as the storm rages and the thunder threatens and the lightning shocks, to hide in Him. He is our place of safety, our strong fortress, and He is full of love. Learning to abide in Him and to receive His abiding in us is truly something people my age should have learned much earlier in life!
But desperate times call for desperate measures LOL so if nothing else, allow these times of storm to cause you to run into His shelter. Life can be overwhelming in this time where ever you are in the world, but He is the same. He never changes. He is strong and able to keep us and to hold us safe in the midst of the storm.
Let him draw you in.
Draw me my Savior so precious thou art! Hold me O hold me close to Thy breast, shelter me safe in that haven of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven of rest.
There is rest for all of us today as we abide in Him. There is hope there, and life, there is the warmth of His fire and His passion. There is His strength in our weakness, His help in our hopelessness, and of course His peace in the midst of our chaos. Just abide, just abide in Him and draw strength from Him just day by day.
and the things of the world grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.