Day by Day

Life can change so quickly. I had had a quiet Sunday morning, running to Lowes for flowers and then off to ride Daisy. I didn’t have my phone on me for a while, but at some point, I picked it up. There was a text from my dear friend. “I just got off the phone with your neighbor’s mom. Your neighbor, Lisa, had been run over by a car while running. She died. Hit and run.”

I read it several times. I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know Lisa well, but I saw her every day. So did most of us in the neighborhood. She ran morning, noon and night. In one brief moment, one precious life was snuffed out by a hit and run driver.

We live in such a volatile world. We’ve seen life taken from COVID, shootings and tragedies like Lisa’s way too much this past year. Rest assured, we don’t know what each day holds. But, how do we live with peace and hope, even when bad things happen?

I was drawn this week to the writings of a Swedish woman named Karolina Sandell. She had written over 650 hymns which influenced many Scandinavian countries during the latter half of the nineteenth century. At the young age of 26, Karolina was traveling with her father on a ship to Gothenburg, Sweden. The ship had a sudden lurch, and Karolina’s father, a Lutheran minister, fell overboard and drowned before her eyes! Karolina was brokenhearted and desired to trust God with her broken heart. In 1865, she wrote this hymn:

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find, to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear,
He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best-
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He Whose Name is Counselor and Power;
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As the days, they strength shall be in measure.”
This the pledge to me He made.

As I look at this familiar hymn, I see a woman, that despite the tragedy of her father’s loss, she trusted God immensely! She knew the promises of God as they were sprinkled throughout this hymn! She was going to worship God in spite of her pain. Day by day, God would meet her every need. Day by day, God will do the same for you. Will you trust Him?

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.