#itiswellwithmysoul | itsawonderfilledlife

Posts Tagged ‘#itiswellwithmysoul’

Soundtrack of Life

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged #asoundrackoflife, #goddoesntchange, #itiswell, #itiswellwithmysoul, #mygodisstillincontrol, #soundtrackoflife on June 29, 2021| 2 Comments »

As I walked a couple of times in the last month, various lyrics from songs I was listening to penetrated into my mind.

Does this happen to you? You hear a song a couple, maybe a dozen times … you might even sing along to it, unconscious as to what you are singing? Then, all of a sudden, POOF! You hear the words, as though listening to for the first time.

It happens to me ALL THE TIME!

So, when I heard these words, I was aghast that I could have missed them up until now. Especially since they are the words that I would claim as the unplanned soundtrack of my life.

They are words that I sing when I am needing a reminder that no matter what else is going on in my life, in my world there is one assured constant,

the state of my soul is the same.

These words, lyrics, originate in the Horatio Spafford hymn, It Is Well (click link to read the story behind this hymn).

(Whatever my lot,
You have taught me to say)
It is well , it is well with my soul

Theses words have been the soundtrack of my life.

Since my teens years, when I first heard this hymn, they have appeared in my life

just. when. I. needed. them. most.

They have come to my consciousness while worshipping in church, listening in the radio in the car, sitting in a hospital bed, standing at graveyards, walking along the beach … walking not far from my home.

Those words have been present in that original song as well as numerous other songs with the same words, the same message of the reminder that, though so much can change and challenge in our lives, when God has control of our souls that does not change.

Below is the latest song which includes the reminder that “It is well with my soul” … this soundtrack of my life.

It has been the best, most powerful reminder of the reality of my state, in any situation.

Though mountains may tremble and sea billows roll
I’ll sing it is well with my soul
My God is still in control

And it is well with my soul
It is well with my soul

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A Tangled Mess

Posted in Faith, GOD, life, Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #atangledmess, #bestill, #bestillandknow, #godknows, #itiswell, #itiswellwithmysoul, #problemsolving on July 5, 2020| 2 Comments »

As a child I loved it when my mom would hand me what was once a tidy ball of yarn that had gotten loose in her knitting bag or scattered across the floor. She would ask me if I could untangle it for her. Or my grandmother would do the same with a necklace, whose chain had knots.

I would eagerly take on these problems, these messes and straighten out what was knotted. It was a game, a challenge for me where I usually had success and I loved it.

Problem solving has become my life. I have used this skill in my profession, helping students learn in unique and creative ways. In the running of a home, utilizing form and function. In childrearing … in so many ways. In helping in so many situations and circumstances.

Give me a problem, a puzzle, a challenge, a mystery. Invite me into your struggle, your situation, your sorrow. Let me untangle that knotted mess of yarn that is that part of our life.

What I am not good at is acknowledging when I cannot solve the problem, when the mess is tangled beyond my problem-solving capabilities.

Recently I ran into a snag … problems that I simply could not untangle. This failure of ability (for it was not a failure of desire to solve the puzzles) was getting to me. I looked at it from every side, tried to see if moving things would help. Yet, I was quickly faced with the reality that all problem solvers hate to face …

the tangled mess was out of my ability to straighten it out.

This self-acknowledgement wore on me, for that which I love to do and do well, I was powerless to accomplish.

Besides, I am a follower of Christ, a believer in the power of Christ in me … I mean doesn’t Matthew 7:7 say “ask and you will receive” … and Mark 11:24 says, “whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you”?

Of course I am taking those one-liners out of the context of the Word, as a whole … rubbing my Bible-Genie making my one wish. But, what I ask is so desired, so good, so sincere …

Then I saw an image. It was the one at the top of this page. It was the mess of the first screen that got me … as soon as I saw it, my eyes did not see a pile of letters, but a pile of yarn, twisted and knotted … a problem waiting to be solved.

That was the problem I was dealing with.

Then the reminder … the God-response … not the I love you, for I simply do not have the capacity to not know that God loves me, or others. It was the two words,

I know

He knows.

He knows the knotted, tangled, ugly messes of our human lives. He knows that situations that break our hearts, that mess with our confidence, that even make us question if we are still in his will.

He knows.

“Be still, and know that I am God”
Psalm 46:10

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When I Can’t See What’s Up Ahead

Posted in life, Walking with God, WONDER, tagged #itiswell, #itiswellwithmysoul, #mysoulissafeinhim, #tmi, #whenicantseewhatsupahead, #youarenotalone on January 25, 2018| Leave a Comment »

flood

Sometimes I wonder if I am too real and honest, too often.

I write about when I have had good days, and you certainly know the opposite comes my way. My hope is that, through my vulnerability, you might see that you are not alone. I also hope that, through my ups and downs, sunny and straight or dark and twisty, that you will see that you are not just not alone, because I share but because God is truly accompanying us each and every day … we are never alone.

Such was the case, just the other day …

Hubby had not slept well the night before … I knew that when I awoke, at 3:30am, on his side of the bed (he would say that is not uncommon … but, I digress). I was ready for work early, so I whispered to him that I would take our son to work for 8am. This ‘selfless’ offer also meant that I could stop at the only coffee shop I know to offer steeped tea! (I am SO selfless).

So, I let the younger man know what time we had to leave by, grabbed his lunch for him (I am so thoughtful), and went to wait for him in my vehicle.

The confirmed time came … and went. When younger man arrived, I asked him to close my garage door (which is not working right), by holding the button down until the door was down, and come out the other side … but he didn’t hear what I said about holding the button down. So, it went down, then stopped, then up, then down, then up, then … you get the idea (and I was now 6mins behind schedule).

He then got to experience something that I can only describe as a momma rant … that probably confirmed why he loves having his dad drive him to work.

Then, just as I was settling down (his wise silence put me in my place), and started to take the bend in the road, I was halted, literally, by a line of red brake lights, as long as the eye could see … seriously!?

Not only that, but it seemed that the road report on the radio indicated there were incidents and accidents all around me!

I was able to take a detour, and got him to work on time, but too late for my steeped tea.

For the next number of minutes of driving, I sputtered and spewed in my mind about how things were not going my way, and I wasn’t just thinking about my steeped tea.

As I was mentally taking stock of every unappealing twist in my week, my mind drifted to the words of the song I awoke to that morning:

“Far be it from me to not believe
Even when my eyes can’t see
And this mountain that’s in front of me
Will be thrown into the midst of the sea

So let go my soul and trust in Him
The waves and wind still know His name
It is well with my soul”

There is something about the words, “it is well with my soul” that creates an immediate grounding, security and reset in my mind.

Never, in all of my life, no matter the upset, struggle or stress, have I not been able to say, it is well with my soul, for my soul has always been, will always be, in good hands.

And the focus changed.

And the trajectory altered.

With the reminder that it is well, with my soul and when I cannot see what is up ahead.

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