Precious Lord take my hand, lead me on, help me stand. I am tired, I am weak, I am worn … how many times in the past several months have the words of that song played through my memory. How about yours? Even before this accident slammed me into total inactivity, there were many times when I found myself fervently praying for strength to stay the course, keep priorities straight, and stuff 36 hours of effort into 24. Precious Lord, take my hand –lead me …
Mornings – first thing – is prime time when my most meaningful chats with the Lord unfold. Before contaminants of the day have a chance to paint scenes into the hours ahead; then is the time to get centered and steadfast. Notice this appeal from the Lord in Isaiah 48:17 ““I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” This is not a magic act – pray and everything falls into place; pray and only good comes to you. Acknowledging faith and reliance on God gives hope and helps us to keep going when we are so worn out we want to give up. Psalm 25:5 “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”
Life is busy – too busy. It’s not easy to know what is most important or if we are keeping our priorities straight. I’m always in awe of individuals who have that priority thing working like a machine with all the gears, cogs, and belts running in synchronized behavior. My machine is more like a jalopy that slips a gear here, suffers a flat tire there – tell me you can relate.
Right now I’m sidelined. I wish I was ready to tell the story of what happened, but I can’t articulate the event just yet. I know that I came dangerously close to death – very close. Laying in the street with a punctured lung I remember saying over and over “can’t breathe, can’t breathe” and someone telling me they were trying to help me as they positioned a chest tube. I wasn’t praying in those moments but I know God was reaching down and guiding every single movement of the cast of characters on Mackinac Island. Psalm 5:11 “But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.” I’m not the picture of vibrant health right now, I get exhausted easily, but I’m fully alive and living proof that God is the God of the impossible. That I am not totally incapacitated is a miracle and I admit that. Before God, open mind, open heart I have acknowledged that is only because He still has things for me to do on Earth that he didn’t whisk me to heaven that day, August 31st.
You know? I don’t have insight into why all this happened or what the future holds. None of us knows what a day will bring. We pray for safety and comfort. Despite the setbacks and stressful issues, we anticipate that life will be good. More than anything else promise yourself that you will begin each day with a fresh perspective and ask God to color in the details with His best. Remember these words from Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it spring the issues of life.”
Precious Lord – take my hand – lead me on – help me stand. He was there for me when I couldn’t move away from the horse fast enough to escape injury – He is here for me today when I am in the healing process. He is in every detail of your life too. So I end with this passage from the Message translation today. Be assured that God is in every detail of every life. Joshua 23:14 “Know this with all your heart, with everything in you, that not one detail has failed of all the good things God, your God, promised you. It has all happened. Nothing’s left undone—not so much as a word.”
Because of Grace we Press On