TAKE MY HAND

 

Thou wilt show me the path of life:
at Thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore.
Psalm 6:11

Sometimes when I'm going through a hard time, my mind goes back 50 years to a telephone conversation I had with a dear man. At the time, I was the secretary to our church music pastor. He was writing a book regarding the stories by familiar hymns. As I recall, it was one of the first of it's kind.

My boss asked me to call a man by the name of Thomas Dorsey who resided in the Chicago area. Back then, you could call most anyone, anywhere at anytime with little if any red tape. Mr. Dorsey had written a then very popular hymn and I was asked to get the story. Fortunately, he answered the phone right away and I told him the reason for my call. He had a deep, melodic voice. I already knew he was a very gracious black man.

He relayed to me how he had gone to a distant city to help lead the music in a revival. He had left his wife who was expecting their first baby any day. She encouraged her husband to go ahead that they would be fine. Things weren't fine. Before he could get back home, his wife and baby both died in the birth process. After the funeral, he said he was more at a loss than he could explain or deal with.

Within days, he sat down at the piano, picking out a new tune with one finger. He said the melody just flowed and the words came flooding is mind and heart:

Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on...help me stand.
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.

The rest is history. His is a song of comfort and encouragement heard around the world. While in the deepest pit he thought he could ever be in, God took his hand, lifted him from those depths to be used in the lives of millions who needed his song.

Despite our despair or troubled times, we too can reach out, pleading for that gentle hand of our Savior to lift us and comfort us in the hardest of times. His hand is always extended to us no matter our pain. From all of that can come a beauty from ashes that cannot be explained.

Thank You Father, for Your strong hand in our lives. May we learn to hang on tightly, trusting the fact that You do all things well. In Jesus precious name....Amen