The Power of Prayer

The power of prayer…. why does it still amaze me???  I was sent an email this morning, letting me know that a book from the library was a week over due.  I thought that we had returned this book already.  So I looked all over the house, and nothing turned up.   I stopped by to talk with the librarian and she said they would check their shelves, and for me to go back home and look again, and we would both see what we could find out.

I prayed on the way home, and asked that God would please let this book show up.  I walked in the house, and God laid on my heart to look in a certain spot for the book.  “But God, it couldn’t be there”, “just look”,…… sure enough there was the book – not 5 minutes after I had prayed!!!

I know that a missing library book is not very important in the big scheme of life, but when things like this happen, it strengthens my faith.  If God cares about the small things, how much more will He help us with the bigger problems in life!!
Thank you God for answered prayers!!

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Loving Savior, walk with her for me

Today is the first day of college for our daughter!  So many thoughts are going through my mind. It seems like just yesterday that I was dropping her off at Kindergarten!  The other day I came across this beautiful poem, and it summed up my thoughts and emotions so well.  I can’t be with my daughter every day now, but I know Who can…..

As Any Mother to the Savior

“As Thou didst walk the lanes of Galilee,
So, loving Savior; walk with her for me,
For since the years have passed and she is grown,
I cannot follow; she must walk alone

Be Thou my feet that I have had to stay,
For Thou canst comrade her on every way;
Be Thou my voice when sinful things allure,
Pleading with her to choose those which endure.
Be thou my hands that would keep hers in mine,
And all things else that mothers must resign.

When she was little, I could walk and guide,
But now I pray that Thou be at her side.
And as Thy blessed mother folded Thee,
So, loving Savior, fold my girl for me.”
(author unknown)

 

 

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He Leadeth Me

I remember as a child listening to Paul Harvey on the radio.  He would draw you in with an amazing story and at the end there would be an “ah-ha” moment, where you would connect the pieces, and Paul would say, “and now you know the rest of the story”.

For me, that’s the way it is when I read about the story behind a particular hymn.  It’s no secret that I love hymns!  The older I get, the better I understand the lyrics, and the more they mean to me!  Last week I heard a hymn on the radio and it’s been going through my head ever since.   So I looked up the lyrics and read how the song came to be.  I wanted to share that story with you…..

A young student, Joseph Henry Gilmore, was invited to preach at a neighboring church.  He intended to give a sermon on Psalm 23.  It was familiar text, and he had used it before, but this time he got stuck on a phrase in verse 2 “he leadeth me”.  Gilmore later wrote, “Those words took hold of me as they had never done before.  So greatly impressed was I with the blessedness of divine guidance that I made this my theme”.  After the service, Henry and some others went to the home of a deacon. “There,” he wrote, “we continued our discussion of divine guidance. While I was still talking and listening, I wrote on a piece of my exposition manuscript the words to this hymn. I handed the paper to my wife and more or less forgot the incident.”

Unbeknownst to him, Gilmore’s wife sent the poem off to be published, and later a hymn composer William B Bradbury saw it, and set the poem to music.  It was he who added the last two lines of the refrain; “His faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me”.

“And now you know the rest of the story…..”  🙂   Here we are over 150 years later, hearing this song on the radio, and the words are just as beautiful as they ever were!!

“He leadeth me, O blessèd thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

Refrain

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

Refrain

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.”

 

 

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