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Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, Who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
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Nearer, my God, to Thee,
nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a
cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall
be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
Though like the
wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my
rest a stone.
Yet in my dreams I’d
be nearer, my God to Thee.
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
Then, with my waking
thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs
Bethel I’ll raise;
So by my woes to be
nearer, my God, to Thee.
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
There in my Father’s
home, safe and at rest,
There in my Savior’s
love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be,
nearer my God to Thee.
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee!
Our experiences resemble a jigsaw
puzzle. When it is all ready, we shall find that the dark pieces of the puzzle
were as important in the completion of the full beauty of the pattern as the
bright sections. The dark background will only bring out in bolder and more
gorgeous relief the figures in the picture, in the center of which will be His
lovely face. --R. DeHaan, Broken
Things
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in and trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. --2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV
From my heart I can say that a little boy led me to some great discoveries. God makes no mistakes. He graciously accomplished much in my life through Jeffrey’s death that could never have taken place otherwise. Questions were raised that I might never have asked. Answers were found that I might never have sought. --Fran Sandin, See You Later Jeffrey
Think not thou canst
sigh a sigh
And thy maker is not by;
Think not thou canst
weep a tear
And thy maker is not
near.
O! he gives to us his
joy
That our grief he may
destroy;
Till our grief is fled
and gone
He doth sit by us and
moan.
William Blake, On Another’s Sorrow
No one is exempt from tragedy or disappointment - God himself was not exempt. Jesus offered no immunity, no way out of the unfairness, but rather a way through it to the other side. Just as Good Friday demolished the instinctive belief that this life is supposed to be fair, Easter Sunday followed with its startling clue to the riddle of the universe. Out of the darkness, a bright light shone. --Philip Yancey, Disappointment With God
He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever. --Revelation 21:4 TLB
I still struggle and do not expect to find all the answers to the multitude of questions which perplex my soul. My certainties have been few; my doubts have been many. Yet the bedrock assurance which has held my feet from slipping is the confidence that God loves me and nothing occurs outside of His providential control. --James E. Means, A Tearful Celebration
I’ve been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. --Abraham Lincoln
In our finiteness, we must continually drop to our faces before God in worship, saying, I bow before You as one of Your creatures. Thank You that, while I cannot understand everything, my hand is held by the eternal, all-wise, Infinite God, the Creator. --Edith Schaeffer, Affliction
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. --Matthew 5:4 NRSV