A Promise

Hey everyone!  I hope this finds you all doing well.  Things here in Georgia are...wet.  The rain is crazy!  I actually don't mind it though because I haven't felt like I was missing out on any summer sunshine as I recover from my hysterectomy. 

I opened my computer today to blog, but had no idea what I was going to blog about.  As I read through my previous blogs about my surgery and the backgrounds to my favorite hymns I had an idea.  I hope it makes as much sense on your screen as it does in my head! 

Assurance.  What does that word mean?  I love using a simple dictionary to make more sense of the Biblical texts that I'm reading.  Sometimes I'll be studying my Bible and will come across a word that I think I know the definition of, but when I go to write it I'm at a loss.  This happened last night during my study on patience.  What does patience really mean?  The best definition I found was this, "the state of endurance under difficult circumstances."  The definition went on to talk about how a patient person perseveres in the face of a delay without acting out in annoyance.  To have endurance means to maintain the power to last through an unpleasant process.  Um well, maybe I'm not as patient as I thought.  Back to the word assurance.  I love this definition;  pledge or promise: a declaration that inspires or is intended to inspire confidence.  This definition came from the Bing dictionary. 

Blessed Assurance was written by Fanny Crosby in 1873.  She is probably one of the most famous hymn writers of all time.  I remember as a little girl thinking the name Fanny was funny.  Hey, I was eight!  Fanny's heritage stemmed form the earliest Puritan settlers in the New World.  Fanny became blind as a six week old baby.  She began writing poems at age eight.  The quote that I am including comes from Fanny being asked if she wished she hadn't been blind.  Her response is unbelievable!  "It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me, " Fanny Crosby.  Fanny was saved in 1850 and continued on her path of hymn writing.  She was married soon after and gave birth to a baby girl who died soon after birth.  This broke Fanny's heart.  The rest of her life was spent writing poems, hymns and doing mission work.  Please read her Wikipedia entry for additional information on her...there is a lot!

Blessed Assurance

vs,1
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
vs.2
Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
(Refrain)
vs.3
Perfect submission, all is at rest!
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with his goodness, lost in His love.
(Refrain)

A blessed promise.  A blessed pledge.  When I substituted one word for another the song's title took on even a greater meaning. One blessed pledge that I have clung to throughout my health ordeal and the death of my mom was the promise that He's always with me.  I remember I was doing a study quite a few months ago on this topic.  Read Joshua 1:9 below.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua helped return the Jews to their Promised Land.  In the Promised Land God helped the Israelites conquer the enemies and make this land their home.  There is some Biblical context for you.  It's always important to read verses in their context then branch out and see how it applies to your life or in the lives of your loved ones.  In the midst of this study I literally said out loud, "so what if your with me...this still STINKS."  The last two years have been THE most frustrating and scary out of my whole hormonal hell journey.  It's been downright hard...no way around it.  I will say that it could all have been worse, much worse.  I'm not complaining and please don't think that I am.  My point is I was going through some of the hardest times of my life and was doing a study on how God's always with me and felt a little frustrated with God.  Your with me, but this appears to not be getting better?  I prayed and asked God to help me make sense of the questions that were in my heart.  He said something very simple to me.  I heard with my spirit's ears, "just think if I weren't with you...how hard would it be then?"  Yep.  It was like the most basic answer ever and I have never forgotten it. 

He doesn't promise us a rose garden.  Isn't that an old country song?  In this world we will have trouble.  John tells us this in John 16:33.  I spent a great deal of my prayer time begging God that He remove this cup.  I have begged and pleaded that He take it away.  Instead of taking away my health problem He has promised His presence.  I begged that He would take away the cancer from my mom's lung and brain, but He chose to take her Home to heal her.  I don't get it.  What I do get is that His presence is His blessed assurance.  My mom clearly understood this principle.  Lately I have been spending more time in prayer not begging for the cup to be removed, but for Him to place His wisdom on  me so I don't miss one single lesson He has for me as I endure and persevere.  I have focused less on what I want and more on just being with Him.  It is true, no doubt, that Fanny's words ring true.  "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!  O what a foretaste of glory divine!  Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood," are beautiful poetic words.  In essence they are at the root of my point.  Because of my faith in God I have this blessed assurance.  Because I am His and He is mine I don't have to face pain and heartache alone.  His presence doesn't always take away the thorn, but His presence means I don't have to endure without it.

I hope this entry speaks to you in some personal way.  It flowed pretty easily from my brain to my fingers to the screen.  I give all glory to God for this because I'm must His vessel that once was broken that was made whole again.