Count Your Blessings

(I needed this, and thought I'd share with you also.)

When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed,

When you are discouraged thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

(Chorus)

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings -- every doubt will fly,

And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,

Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;

Count your many blessings -- wealth can never buy

Your reward in Heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged, God is over all;

Count your many blessings, angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.

Johnson Oatman, Jr.

Hymn

O Jesus, I have promised

To serve Thee to the end;

Be Thou for ever near me,

My Master and my Friend:

I shall not fear the battle

If Thou art by my side,

Nor wander from the pathway

If Thou wilt be my Guide.

O let me feel Thee near me:

The world is ever near;

I see the sights that dazzle,

The tempting sounds I hear;

My foes are ever near me,

Around me and within;

But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer,

And shield my soul from sin.

O let me hear Thee speaking

In accents clear and still,

Above the storms of passion,

The murmurs of self-will;

O speak to reassure me,

To hasten or control;

O speak, and make me listen,

Thou Guardian of my soul.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised,

To all who follow Thee,

That where Thou art in glory

There shall Thy servant be;

And, Jesus, I have promised

To serve Thee to the end;

O give me grace to follow,

My Master and my Friend.

John Ernest Bode, 1816-74

Joy

It's been a while, I know, since my last post here. I've done the odd thing or two, got a job, returned to uni, rediscovered my love of cooking, cuddled a newborn baby, laughed, cried, met new people, explored new places... so I guess it's not that surprising that this blog of mine has suffered!

I think I must ask you to forgive me in advance, for I strongly suspect this post will ramble. I know not where it will take me, truth be told, for I feel an outburst of joy within me and it seems to be spilling out into everything I do today. So if you are hoping for a strongly edited, structured, and disciplined post such as I usually try to publish, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. But then again, maybe you won't be, as you are introduced to yet another intriguing facet of this writer!

Joy. It's a wonderful word. It's a wonderful emotion, perhaps treasured all the more by people who have suffered, people who have been hurting. It's like seeing a beautiful sunrise on an early morning. It comes upon you all of a sudden, and suddenly you are glad to be alive again. But how do we find this joy? Why do some people seem to have it *all* the time? Is it just an attitude, or is it a decision? Can it be both?

I hope you don't expect me to answer all those questions, for you and I would be here an awfully long time if I tried, but as I ponder these questions I think about who or what gives me joy. Not surprisingly my list contains my family, music, and... my Saviour!! My family gives me joy as I encounter their precious personalities, their foibles, their love, their dedication to serving God through their lives. Music gives me joy as I enter a world unseen, as I encounter expressions of human emotion or depictions of scenes and storylines in a precious language. And my Saviour gives me joy through who He is, what He has done for me, and my day by day relationship with Him.

It's the joy I find in Jesus that deepens and enhances the joy I find in everything else, for He is the most precious Person I have in my life. My family, while I love them dearly, are mere mortals like myself and cannot sustain me every moment of every day, for they have their own cares and concerns too! Music, whilst a wonderful gift, is not a living being, and thus cannot understand me. If I pour out my feelings to a piano, it will not play me a concerto in response in and of itself. It needs a living being to bring it to life. So music also has its failings. But Jesus is always with me, even to the ends of the earth. He sees into my very soul, and amazingly loves me despite my failings and impurities. He gives meaning to my life, for through Him

I can come into the presence of my Heavenly Father, the One who created the universe complete.

God gives us family. God gives us music. But He also gives us Himself and His Word, the greatest Gift any human can receive. Through the ups and downs of life, the joys and the deepest sorrows, His the best joy, the best love, the best comfort we can ever know.

My life flows on in endless song

Above earth's lamentation

I hear the sweet though far off hymn

That hails a new creation:

Through all the tumult and the strife

I hear the music ringing;

It finds an echo in my soul--

How can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comforts die?

The Lord my Saviour liveth;

What though the darkness gather round!

Songs in the night He giveth:

No storm can shake my inmost calm

While to that refuge clinging;

Since Christ is Lord of Heav'n and earth,

How can I keep from singing?

I lift my eyes; the cloud grows thin;

I see the blue above it;

And day by day this pathway smoothes

Since first I learned to love it:

The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,

A fountain ever springing;

All things are mine since I am His--

How can I keep from singing?

Robert Lowry, 1860

Be Thou my Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my Heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;

Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;

Thou my soul's Shelter, Thou my high Tower:

Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,

Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,

May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heaven's Sun!

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Ancient Irish hymn;

Translated into English in 1908 by Mary E. Byrne;

Set to verses in 1912 by Eleanor H. Hull.

Hymn

Teach me, O Lord, to follow Him who trod

With loving zeal the pathway to His God;

Help me to rest my faith on Him alone

Who died for my transgression to atone.

Wean my rebellious heart from earthly things,

Show me the Fount whence living water springs;

Teach me to feel that, when afflictions come,

They're sent in love, to turn my thoughts to home.

So may I live, that in my daily race

The things of God may hold the highest place;

So may I die, that death to me may be

The opening dawn of immortality.

N. Lambert