be still my soul

Today is our 32nd anniversary. How can time pass so quickly?! It seems like yesterday that we were preparing for our wedding and life together…what a life it has been!

One of the songs sung at our wedding was “Be Still My Soul.” What a strange song for a wedding…but what a good, truthful song for a wedding. I had no idea, when I was just twenty years old, what life would hold; and how, in all of it, just being still and waiting for God would be the best strategy for life.

"Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to they God to order and provide.
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul, thy best, thy heavenly Friend.
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end

Be still my soul, thy God doth undertake.
to guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake.
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still my soul the waves and winds still know,
His voice who ruled them while He dwelled below.

Be still my soul, the hour is hasting on.
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment grief, and fear are gone.
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still my soul, when change and tears are past.
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last."

Life has held many beautiful and joyful times for Loyd and me. But it has also held some dark, and unimaginably painful days. It is easy to love God and thank him in the good times, but it is much more difficult to praise in the hard times. It is in the hard times, though, that I have learned to cling to him… to trust him… to believe that he is still with me, and that he still controls the winds and waves.

Psalm 46:10 (New International Version)
"Be still, and know that I am God…”
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