I was in tears. It felt like our world was falling apart. Change is never easy, but this time it seemed especially hard and unfair. As I poured out my heart in my prayer journal, I felt impressed to go to the piano and look up a particular hymn. It wasn’t one that I had often sung, although I knew it, but not by heart. I quickly found it and through my tears began playing and singing the words:
In heav’nly love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear;
And safe is such confiding,
For nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me,
My heart may low be laid.
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed!
Wherever He may guide me,
No want shall turn me back;
My Shepherd is beside me,
And nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waketh;
His sight is never dim.
He knows the way He taketh,
And I will walk with Him.
Green pastures are before me
Which yet I have not seen.
Bright skies will soon be o’er me,
Where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure.
My path to life is free.
My Saviour has my treasure,
And He will walk with me.
-S.S.Wesley
Through the words of the hymn, God whispered peace to my heart. He was in control and though my heart was broken over the upcoming change, He is never changing. Therefore I had nothing to fear. Our family didn’t know what lay ahead, but He did and He would be with us.
The second verse of the hymn reassured me that He would take care of our needs. We wouldn’t go without shelter or food. I could confidently trust Him to open doors and lead us wherever He wanted us.
The third verse seemed prophetic. At the moment the clouds couldn’t be darker, but He was promising “bright skies and green pastures.” These words seemed to say to me that He was going to do something new in my life, take me down a path I’d not walked before.
Gradually things began to work out. Our home sold quickly. A church asked Art to come as pastor. He would be close enough to IWU to complete work on his master’s program and to go on to study for a Doctor of Ministry degree. One by one the puzzle pieces began to fit together. Eventually I found a job doing something entirely different than I’d done before, working in an assisted care facility for low-income elderly, many of whom suffered from chronic mental illness. Even our daughter Sharie, who was in her senior year of high school, profited in an unexpected way from the move. Interested in art, she was hired at an art gallery where she not only met some outstanding artists, but also learned to mat and frame pictures. She was able to work at the gallery any time she was home from college, too.
There have been lots of changes in my life since that day the Holy Spirit prompted me to look up the hymn, “In Heavenly Love Abiding.” I realize now that had God kept us in that place years ago, we would have missed out on the many challenging adventures and opportunities for ministry that He had in mind for us. And when those changes were imminent, I often returned to the words of the hymn for comfort and reassurance that He would be with me.