Life is hard and we all know what it is like to feel pain.  At some point in your life, you are going to be faced with a hurt that you don’t know what to do with.  When that hurt comes knocking at your door, it is important to remember what to remember!  Here are ten things to remember:

1. God Is In Control!  You may not understand, but you don’t have to understand.  The important thing is that you believe.  Faith unlocks the door for the supernatural power of God to flow into and through your situation.

2.  Something Better Is Coming!  When we are hurt, it is almost impossible for us to think about that something better is coming, but there is always another miracle waiting for us just around the corner.

3.  There Is A Purpose!  We don’t know why, but there is a reason.  God does not make bad things happen, but He does sometimes allow bad things to happen.  When we are hurt, we have a perfect opportunity to decide if we are going to trust Him or not.

4.  You Are Loved!  God loves you and you have family and friends that love you.  When we are hurt, the love of others seems far away or non-existent, but it is there.  We just can’t see it or we will not allow ourselves to experience it.

5.  God Is There!  You may not see Him, hear Him or feel Him, but He is there.  God is everywhere at all times and when you are hurting, He is with you.  Make sure that you look for him, listen for him and you will eventually feel the comfort of His touch.

6.  You Are Not Alone!  It may seem that you are all alone, but you are never alone.  God is always with you and often other people are with you too.  We often fail to realize who and what we have, until it’s too late.

7.  Prayer Is Powerful!  We often pray as a last resort.  When we are hurting, we need to make sure that we are working to stay in constant communication with God.  You may not have any idea what to say and that is okay.  Just take some time to talk with God and make sure that you are listening, because He will speak.

8.  This May Be New to You, But It’s Not New!  When we are hurting, we may be experiencing something that we have never experienced before.  Just because we have not experienced the hurt, does not mean that it’s new.  The truth is this:  Others have experienced it and survived and you will too.

9.  Others Are Hurting Too!  A lot of times when we are hurting, we are totally oblivious that there is anyone else in the world.  The reality of life is that other people are hurting too and it may be that you are the very one to help someone through their hurt, so pay attention.

10.  There Is Stuff Worth Remembering!  These are just a few of the things that we need to remember when we are hurting.  When life begins to hit you with hurts that seem to be taking you down for the count, remember what to remember and be amazed at the healing that begins to take place.

Lord, I pray for my friends that are hurting today.  Please be with them and help them to remember what to remember, so that they might experience your healing and move from hurt to happiness as they trust in You…

Even when you don’t know it or understand it, God is leading you.  What a wonderful and beautiful thought.  A friend of mine was out walking one morning and she began to sing this song.  Later when she got home, she posted a link to a video of the song and it reminded me of one of my favorite hymns.

Here are the lyrics to “He Leadeth Me”

He leadeth me, O blessèd thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be
Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

The words were written by Joseph H. Gilmore and put to music by William B. Bradbury.  Read here as Gilmore tells the story in his own words:

“As a young man who re­cent­ly had been grad­u­at­ed from Brown Un­i­ver­si­ty and New­ton The­o­lo­gic­al In­sti­tu­tion, I was sup­ply­ing for a cou­ple of Sun­days the pul­pit of the First Bap­tist Church in Phil­a­del­phia [Penn­syl­van­ia]. At the mid-week ser­vice, on the 26th of March, 1862, I set out to give the peo­ple an ex­po­si­tion of the Twen­ty-third Psalm, which I had giv­en be­fore on three or four oc­ca­sions, but this time I did not get fur­ther than the words “He Lead­eth Me.” Those words took hold of me as they had ne­ver done be­fore, and I saw them in a sig­ni­fi­cance and won­drous beau­ty of which I had ne­ver dreamed.

It was the dark­est hour of the Ci­vil War. I did not re­fer to that fact—that is, I don’t think I did—but it may sub­con­sciou­sly have led me to real­ize that God’s lead­er­ship is the one sig­nif­i­cant fact in hu­man ex­per­i­ence, that it makes no dif­fer­ence how we are led, or whi­ther we are led, so long as we are sure God is lead­ing us.

At the close of the meet­ing a few of us in the par­lor of my host, good Dea­con Watt­son, kept on talk­ing about the thought which I had em­pha­sized; and then and there, on a blank page of the brief from which I had in­tend­ed to speak, I pen­ciled the hymn, talk­ing and writ­ing at the same time, then hand­ed it to my wife and thought no more about it. She sent it to The Watch­man and Re­flect­or, a pa­per pub­lished in Bos­ton, where it was first print­ed. I did not know un­til 1865 that my hymn had been set to mu­sic by Will­iam B. Brad­bu­ry. I went to Ro­ches­ter [New York] to preach as a can­di­date be­fore the Se­cond Bap­tist Church. Go­ing in­to their cha­pel on ar­riv­al in the ci­ty, I picked up a hymn­al to see what they were sing­ing, and opened it at my own hymn, “He Lead­eth Me.”

Of course, Gilmore went on to serve as the Pastor there and had a great ministry proving the words of the song true!

Psalms 23:3 says:  “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”  You may not see it, believe it or understand it, but God is leading you and that makes all the difference!

Today I will make my annual trek back to a place that I love, the place that I call home.  I was blessed to grow up in a very cool little town called Williamston. I love my town and all of the people who helped to make it special for me growing up!  Today is the annual Spring Water Festival.

A festival that celebrates the founding of the town by West Allen Williams.  The story goes that one day while riding across some of his land, he became tired, laid down to rest for a few moments and fell asleep.  While he was sleeping he had a dream about a spring that people from all around would come and drink from and experience healing and miracles.  When he woke up from his dream, he found the spring in his dream and you know the rest of the story – a town grew up around it.

That spring is still there and folks are still drinking out of it.  It is has been surrounded for years by a beautiful park that family and friends have enjoyed celebrating at, for as long as I can remember.  I have more special memories there than I can count.  It was a special and magical place for me growing up as a boy and I still love being there today.

Back when I was getting ready to leave Williamston and head off to college, I remember Leo Glasby, one of the older and wiser men in our community saying to me: “Don’t ever forget where you come from!” He was reminding me to always remember and be influenced by who I was, not what I was becoming! He knew then, what I am just now beginning to learn, and that is this: Our value is not something out there waiting to be earned!  We are valuable right here and right now, not because of who or what we are going to be, but because of what we already are:  A unique. one of a kind, special creation of God!

Don’t Forget Where You Come From!  We were and are sinners – people lost without any real or meaningful direction, but with Jesus we are sinners saved by Grace – people that now have a special gift that they never dreamed or imagined possible! The devil wants us, but He can’t have us, because we belong to God and His Kingdom. I am not of this world, I am only passing through. I am headed back to where I came from! I came from God and I am headed back to God and every day I get a little closer, a little more fulfilled and a little more excited about all that I am right now, right here today!

One of the exciting things about going back to Williamston is getting to see family and friends.  God created us as special in this life, so that we could share the specialness with special people!  I am looking forward to seeing some special folks today in Williamston!