Oh! To Trust You More!

Good morning! My name is Charlotte and I am writing to help us give our first thoughts to the Lord.

When I read this today, I marveled as to the likeness of the situation in Louisa Stead's life and mine with exceptions.

She and her husband were relaxing with their four-year-old daughter on a Long Island beach when they heard a desperate child's cry. A boy was drowning, and Louisa's husband tried to rescue him. In the process, however, the boy pulled Mr. Stead under the water, and both drowned as Louisa and her daughter watched.

Louisa was left with no means of support except the Lord. She and her daughter experienced dire poverty. One morning, when she had neither funds nor food for the day, she opened the front door and found that someone had left food and money on her doorstep. That day she wrote this hymn.

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word.
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know "Thus saith the Lord."

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood,
Just in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

Yes 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease,
Just from Jesus simply taking,
Life and rest and joy and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust Him,
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
And I know that He is with me,
Will be with me to the end.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

Louisa M. R. Stead (1850-1917)

(Taken from 'The One Year Book of Hymns compiled and edited by
Robert K. Brown and Mark R. Norton - Devotions written by
William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen)

All of the hymns we have looked at this week were written by people who life had handed a lemon. William Cowper - mental illness, Fanny Jane Crosby - blindness, Tommy Dorsey - death of a loved one, and Louisa Stead - poverty.

These people instead of stopping trusting in God and saying 'why me?', they looked up to God and found reason to trust Him more and pen it.

Life is not easy.....that book says 'I never promised you a rose garden.' Many of us have not gotten rose gardens, but instead lack, loneliness, despair, unsolvable problems and sickness. Some of you reading this today have said 'why me?'. Why am I sick? Why don't I have money like so many I see? Why doesn't God send me a mate?

The old saying 'If life hands you a lemon, make a lemonade.' Life can be filled with so many blessings when we trust Jesus first and foremost in any and all situations....to say 'Lord, what can I do for you today?' instead of OH, woe is me.

Remember DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED. TRUST IN GOD, TRUST ALSO IN ME. IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE THERE ARE MANY MANSIONS; IF IT WERE NOT SO, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU. I AM GOING TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU; AND IF I GO AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, I WILL COME BACK AND TAKE YOU TO BE WITH ME THAT YOU ALSO MAY BE WHERE I AM. John 14:1-3

A way of looking at it is this is our training class. It may be several years long. Several tests will be given to see what you have learned and when you are ready, you can proceed to your mansion where there is no sickness, no poverty, no loneliness, no want, for it is a place prepared by Holy Hands for Holy People who have learned to trust in Jesus no matter what the situation.

Through it all - I've learned to trust in Jesus,
I've learned to trust in God.
Through it all - Through it all -
I've learned to depend upon His Word.

Another way of saying it is GOD AND HIS WORD TRUMPS US!
GOD AND HIS WORD TRUMPS US! Isn't have wonderful food for thought?

Lord, teach us Your ways..renew our minds to do things Your way instead of man's. Help us to take what life hands us and learn to trust You more...so that when we meet You face to face, You will say to us 'You did good.' In Jesus Name. Amen.

Have a victorious day today!

Charlotte