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I am so tired and feel weighted down by all the things in my life and in this world that trouble me. Can you relate? There are days when I am so weak it's all I can do to get out of bed. It takes all my energy just to focus on the tasks at hand and not be overwhelmed by all my emotions. When I read the paper, watch the news, talk with my friends or co-workers – the topic inevitably turns to the death, destruction, sadness and sickness that is either happening in our own lives, the lives of those we know and love or across the world someplace that impacts us in ways we can't understand.

I wonder is there a way to have joy in a world like this where there is pain, difficulties and things we can't begin to explain? Paul says there is. In 1 Thessalonians Paul tells us to "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks." Paul wrote these words as he was chained to a Roman prison guard. Paul was able to overcome his situation and still have joy. Why? Because he put his faith, trust and focus on the One – the only One – who can give true peace in the midst of adversity – Jesus.

Lately I have found comfort in the singing of some old hymns I learned long ago. I really didn't even know I knew them because I did not grow up going to church. However, some where along the way, in visiting churches with friends, I do believe a seed of love for these songs was planted and in hearing them today, the words have come back to me. One of my favorites is "I Need Thee Every Hour" by Annie Sherwood Hawks. The chorus says, "I need thee, O I need thee; every hour I need thee; O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee."

As I have faced more and more challenges in my life… I've come to understand this song in a new way. I know I cannot go a day, an hour or even a minute in my life with my precious Savior Jesus Christ. I do need Him – every hour of every day. I don't know what I would do without Him. I don't know how someone could make it through this world without Him.

Annie Sherwood Hawks gives this history of when she wrote, "I Need Thee Every Hour." "I remember well the morning . . . when in the midst of the daily cares of my home . . . I was so filled with the sense of nearness to the Master that, wondering how one could live without Him either in joy or pain, into my mind, the thought at once taking full possession of me . . . For myself the hymn was prophetic rather than expressive of my own experience at the time it was written, and I do not understand why it so touched the great throbbing heart of humanity." She gave the simple poem to her pastor Dr. Robert Lowry. As he read and re-read it he realized that Anne had produced her finest work of poetry. He sat at his organ and composed the tune and then added a chorus to complete the work.

I think for most, following what Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 is easy when in the midst of joy. It is when faced with hardship it becomes hard – and at times seems almost impossible. I guess that's why this song has come to mean so much to me. It's when I focus on Christ, His amazing love, His amazing power and His will for me every hour – instead of thinking about my circumstances, emotions and personal pain that I truly understand what it means to pray without ceasing and rejoice in everything. Thank you Jesus!

"Word from Scotland" from Sandy Shaw

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