heated

Lately, God has had me thinking a lot about His protective care over my life. His providence. Sometimes we think protective care looks like no pain and no suffering, just butterflies and sunshine. But truly, God has such bigger plans for our lives, and the truth is that His protective care often involves pain and suffering.  It’s hard to mold and shape something that’s not heated. Heat promotes change. Sometimes God has us 10 feet from the fire, and sometimes He has us right over the flames. He’s using this heat to change us and He’s using this heat to refine us.

Our family is walking a new path recently, one involving a stage four pancreatic cancer diagnosis for my 84 year old sweet momma that’s been living with us for the past five years. We are all in the middle of the open flame. She’s decided she doesn’t want to finish her walk here with chemo, so life is moving quickly right now. And all the while, through all of this quickness that’s happening to our family, we know without a shadow of a doubt that all of us are under His protective care. His providence is over us. His love is great.

The other morning, my momma asked me for a book we have called “Then Sings My Soul.” It has the stories and lyrics of old hymns. She said she had a song running through her mind and she wanted to find the name of it. These are the lyrics from that song.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood! 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. Perfect submission, perfect delight! Visions of rapture now burst at my sight! Angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love. 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. 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. 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. (Blessed Assurance by Fanny J. Crosby and Phoebe P. Knapp)

God’s protective care in all its finest…though we may be in the fire, we are held in His love. I am so grateful that God allowed me a little glimpse into His protective care over my sweet mom…that in His great love, He placed that old hymn in her mind, and He reminded her of His great steadfast love that He has for her.

xo,

Nicole