A Place in Jesus’ Arms
I have a place I love to be whenever things go wrong
I know that fears and doubts give way; this place is Jesus’ arms
These words penned by my grandparents have been a tremendous source of comfort through the years. Whenever I am going through a dark time, I ask God to please wrap His arms around me and, in my mind’s eye, I can see Him do so. This reality is really the difference between the Christian and the unbeliever. We all go through trials but, as Christians, we know that God will carry us through them whereas the unsaved do not have that assurance.
One of my favorite hymns is “Higher Ground.” The chorus says:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland
A higher plain than I have found
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground
It may sound cliche, but it’s true that after we emerge from a valley, we can often look back and see what God was doing during those times. I have been through crises in which I’m still convinced that nothing positive emerged, but I can trust that at the very least, they drove me closer to the Lord, which may have been the only purpose.
I hope you can feel God’s loving arms today. May you experience the joy and peace that He desires you to have in the midst of the tumult. If you are struggling to hold on to hope right now, ask Him to wrap you in His embrace and sit in His presence until you can feel Him do just that. One day, I trust that you will walk right out of this valley, lifting your hands and praising the Lord. He is faithful!
Sometimes the valleys seem so long and as though they will never end. I am glad that we do not trust our feelings and have to rely on faith to get through those times when the struggles cannot be understood with mere human intellect. Thanks for sharing these thoughts.