He had ministered in the horror of war.
In the aftermath of epidemic illnesses, death, pain, and abounding grief,
he penned this song in the midst:
Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things hath done,
in whom his world rejoices.1
Oh Lord, into my own uptick of illness symptoms, help me to give You my thankful praise. For I hate that I woke up with ungratefulness.
Fill me with Your Spirit, illuminate Your Word to me, bring humbled gratitude to You in my desperate need.
I need Thee, every hour.2
Help me to:
Take my heart, a heart You’ve already made alive in Christ when I was dead in sin (Eph. 2:5).
Take my hands, ever decaying, and let them move at the impulse of Your love.
Take my voice as I weakly sing my gratitude to You, who alone is my strength.
I WILL give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I WILL recount all of your wonderful deeds (Ps. 9:1 ESV, emphasis added).
What wondrous things!
For Lord, You have done wondrous things in this world You created.
Seeing Your created beauty in nature stirs my heart to behold Your glory (Rom. 1:19-20).
But what is most wondrous of all Your good and perfect gifts to me (Jas. 1:17)???
Making me a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17)!
But thanks be to God,
who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession…
Who from our mothers' arms,
hath blessed us on our way…
and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere (2 Cor. 2:14 ESV).
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.
who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works
but because of his own purpose and grace,
which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus,
who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:9-10 ESV).
Thank You for Your presence with me, leading me through every moment of this fallen world’s journeys of suffering
It’s wondrously mysterious. My body is decaying on earth.
For sure.
But my reality is simultaneously…
[You have] raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6 ESV).
In my suffering journey now, I’m in union with Jesus Himself!
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us…
Take my life once again.
Let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.3
As Your signed, sealed, delivered, adopted daughter in Christ (Eph. 1:5).
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,
were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,
to the praise of his glory (Eph. 1:13-14 ESV).
Thank You for Your joy, Your peace, for giving me the fruit of Your indwelling Spirit. My gratitude as I suffer? It’s all through You!
With ever-joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us…
Through him then
let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name (Heb. 13:15 ESV).
Thank You for Your freeing guidance as I ask You for help and wisdom on how to manage
And keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed…
Singing Your songs helps me manage, echoing Your Word and reminding me of Your gospel of grace, Your bountiful gifts all-encompassing!
Thank You, God!
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Col. 3:16 ESV).
and free us from all ills
in this world and the next.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you is faithful;
he will surely do it (1 Thess. 5:23-24 ESV)!
Thank You for Your faithful keeping, sanctifying, “holding me up,” ongoing grace in my ongoing illnesses and pain
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood (Rev. 1:5 ESV)…
All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven–
the one eternal God,
whom earth and heav'n adore…
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13 ESV)
Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a Friend! 4
Thank You for my hope, the eternal inheritance You’ve gifted to me, for the glorified and resurrected body that awaits me!
This wonderful work of God in my earthly life of chronic illness and pain?
for thus it was, is now!
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (1 Jn. 3:2 ESV)!
and shall be evermore!
to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6 ESV).
In the name of my beloved Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
This month’s podcast mingles these Scriptures with music therapy-inspired playing of the hymns quoted in this writing. It’s created for times when our symptoms are flaring, and we need God’s help to manage physically, cognitively, and emotionally. Praise God for healing us through His good gift of music and how it uniquely helps our bodies and brains! I was recently hospitalized (again) with a follow-up procedure for nerve pain, and He helped me breathe through it all as I used these recordings once again. What a compassionate Healer we have!
See podcast show notes for suggestions on how to use it when your symptoms flare, beloved in Christ.
For other resources of our ministry for suffering Christian women, you can find them at singchristhope.org
“Now Thank We All Our God,” Rinkart, M., 1636, trans. C. Winkworth, 1858
“I Need Thee Every Hour,” Hawkes, A. S., & Lowry, R., 1872
“Take My Life and Let It Be,” Havergal, F. R., 1874
“Jesus! What a Friend For Sinners,” Chapman, J. W., 1910
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