I Need Thee Every Hour

We have a sign hanging up in our front room/toy room/piano room/office room (let’s just say it’s a multi-purpose room) that has the first phrase from “I Need Thee Every Hour”:

I see this sign every single day, but often I don’t allow the words to really sink in. Do we live as if we really need God every hour? Or maybe just a few hours in a day? Maybe just the ones that make us frustrated, sad, discouraged, or disheartened. But the rest? We’re okay.

That saying really made me think, do I live every hour, needing God?

Chemo is such an interesting medication. It changes the body chemistry in ways I didn’t even know possible. Jittery legs, rosy cheeks, sore mouth, crazy fatigue, it’s amazing what a medication can do! Though I tell myself at least it’s alerting me that it’s active in my body. This is also such an interesting time of life. Never will I probably have the time at home like I do now, but never have I felt so out of sorts. My time is probably made up of what people dream of – to just be home. But when recovering from something order to get to something, like a cure or back to more normal life, it’s an odd place to be. A place where I need God every hour.

This round at home so far is going okay. It always takes a few days for the body to get back into gear after a week long chemo treatment, and then the numbers start to go down. Thankfully yesterday my hemoglobin and platelets were okay, but my sickness fighting numbers were already quite low. Maybe I’m getting them done with right away! Nevertheless, I am home and I couldn’t be more thankful! Thankful to have the medicine, as crazy as it is, in my body, and thankful to serve a God who has my days all numbered and figured out so that I don’t have to. I just get to live for him.

Where are you today? Drowning in all of the commitments you have? Hanging on by a thread? Hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel? To find that true peace in our circumstances, we need to recognize that our God is all we need. Life will continue to fly by at warp speed, no matter how busy we are. It’s how we choose to live out our days that makes all the difference. For truly,

I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.