Hold On!

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? -Psalm 27:1 (KJV)

Sometimes life is a struggle

With twists and turns so blind.

How can I hope to hold on,

Assurances to find?

Each day a step toward victory

In this way we walk and run;

Each morning’s dawn a promise

With the rays of brilliant sun.

A Hand reaches out to touch me,

God’s Hand with mighty strength;

He knows already my life and death,

Their depth, their height, their length.

“Fear not,” He whispers warmly

Whatever turn I take;

He knows my mind and holds my hand

In struggles that I make.

Even pain will not oppress me,

Nor the darkness override;

His Hand is ever upon me

To sustain me and to guide.

Behold! What a gift life is,

Although beset at times with doubt;

God is my Guide and Anchor,

He’s prepared my entire route!

Thanks be to God for promises,

For His presence and His power,

My ever-present Guide and Stay

Throughout each earthly hour.

 

-Ethelene Dyer Jones 09.17.2017.

The poem was composed December 7, 2011, when my husband, the Rev. Grover D. Jones, was near death after having had debilitating Alzheimer’s for 18 years. I knew God would see me through the remainder of his days, as He had since his diagnosis 17 years previously. The doctors/nurses who attended him stated that they had not known a case of Alzheimer’s when the patient lived as long as he did with the disease.. He died peacefully and quietly on January 26, 2011 at 1:26 a. m. in Georgia War Veterans’ Home, Milledgeville. I looked after him 14 of the 18 years at home, and visited him almost every day the 4 years he was in Veterans’ Home, except for the days/weeks when I myself was in the hospital, as for five bypasses heart surgery (August 30, 2007) and another major surgery for another ailment in 2009. God taught me, indeed, to “Hold On!” to His power and His Hand. I claimed for my verse during Grover’s long illness and during the many hospitalizations I myself have had for serious ailments since 1999, this verse from Psalm 118:17. I have also shared the verse many times with others who deal with serious health and other challenges. That verse reads: “I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Each time I have come back from a near-death experience, I have rejoiced that God answered my prayer as I prayed Psalm 118:17. “ God’s not finished with me yet!” Amen!

Going to the House of the Lord

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.” –Psalm 122:1, 9. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.” –Psalm 27:4. “For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. –Psalm 84:10. “And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to tech and preach Jesus Christ.” –Acts 5:42. (KJV).

Going to the house of the Lord—for worship, praise, prayer, learning, listening, being challenged in the Christian life, for quietness and meditation, knowing that God is God, enjoying Christian fellowship! When it comes time to go to church, are you like the psalmist who exulted, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord’ ”?

Each cited scripture above exclaims with what gladness the writers considered going to the house of the Lord and what a privilege for the worshiper. Even a lowly task, that of a doorkeeper, one who greeted people when they came to worship and bade them farewell when they left worship to go from the temple or sanctuary or place of worship into the work-a-day life, even a doorkeeper is better than considering wealthy dwellings of wickedness. And when the early Christians met to worship, even the threat of being jailed and persecuted (a very real possibility), they “daily in the temple and in every house” did not cease to meet, to teach and to preach Jesus Christ.

What has happened in our modern age to take away the love for and the help from assembling ourselves together at the house of the Lord? What has occurred to harden our hearts and remove our zeal for the church? I have heard many excuses as I have tried to encourage persons to renew their faithfulness to the Lord and their faithful attendance at church. The writer of Hebrews 10:25 admonishes: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is: but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as we see the day approaching.”

Some of the excuses offered for non attendance at church are: “I work on Sunday”—or “I work hard during the week, and I must sleep-in or rest on Sundays.” Another is “I can worship as well at home or wherever I am on the Lord’s day; I don’t have to go to church to worship.” Then this excuse, a bit more bitter: “I don’t like to associate with those ‘hypocrites’ at church.” Still others claim, “I can hear good sermons on television or radio; it’s not necessary for me to go to church.” And the excuses go on.

A person must develop his/her own commitment to the Lord that includes a love and longing for fellowship with other Christians in the house of the Lord, the church. For me, this is vital and necessary. I pray that, if going to church is not a regular and necessary part of your spiritual life, that you will pray about it until you, like the psalmist, can exclaim: “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord!” On this Lord’s day, I am eager to got to church and worship! -Ethelene Dyer Jones 11.15.2015

Waiting

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” –Psalm 40:1.  “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” –Psalm 27:14 (ESV).

For many of us, waiting is not an interval we especially enjoy.  Most of us are impatient by nature, wanting events to move along by clockwork and preferring that things be accomplished yesterday instead of having to wait until tomorrow or next week.

Missionary Elisabeth Elliott whose husband, Jim Elliott, was killed while he worked to try to get missionary work started with the Auca Indians of eastern Ecuador, herself went about two years later to become a missionary to them and a translator of their language.  Not only did she have to go through the act of forgiveness of the martyrdom of her own husband and other missionaries with him, but she had to patiently wait for understanding of their language so that the Bible could be translated for them.  She returned to the states after working with them and others and began her writing ministry.  When she was a young woman studying at a Christian college, her aim was “to do God’s will.”  She patiently sought His will and followed it, regardless of the circumstances.  It led her to a mission field and back to the United States to write more than 20 books and conduct a Christian radio program, “Gateway to Joy” aired over Back-to-the-Bible broadcast from Lincoln, Nebraska.  With that 14-minute program five days a week for 13 years, her messages touched people around the world.  The program opened by her saying:  “You are loved with an everlasting love.  That’s what the Bible teaches.  And underneath are the Everlasting Arms.  “Every situation—no matter how dark and distressing—if given to Jesus, can become your Gateway to Joy.  It was true then, and is still true today.  What matters to you matters infinitely more to Him.”

Through her daily advice, she encouraged persons to wait upon the Lord and to trust in Him.  In a program called “Waiting,” she said:  “His message to me every day is wait, be still, trust, and obey.”  Waiting is a major part of obedience to Him, of allowing time for us to be ready for His will to be done. 

                                                                  –Ethelene Dyer Jones  03.02.2014