While driving from errand to errand one afternoon, I thought of how my life seemed to be out of control—financial, relationship, and physical problems all at the same time. My tensed shoulders and hands gripping the steering wheel revealed the turmoil inside me. Little did I know that God was about to show me a sight that would remind me how to find peace through my relationship with Him.
I frowned impatiently at how slowly the stop-and-go traffic crept along in spite of the green light ahead. Soon I saw the reason. A mother duck was marching across five lanes of traffic, with four baby ducks in tow, who waddled behind her with a steady rhythm in front of the stopped cars. I sat mesmerized and wondered, “Why aren’t they frightened by all the cars and noise surrounding them?”
Then I noticed that the mother duck was staring intently at her destination—the other side of the street. The ducklings kept in single file with eyes fixed straight ahead. Suddenly I understood that God was reminding me of the secret to peace—to not look at the problems surrounding me, but to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, “the author and perfecter” of my faith (Hebrews 12:2 NIV). I have learned how to find peace: by concentrating on Christ, my guide who has promised to get me safely to my destination, regardless of what’s going on around me.
Enjoy this hymn that describes the ultimate peace: It is Well With My Soul, from the album, “Together for the Gospel Live” from Sovereign Grace Music.
Learn more about the history of this beautiful hymn, its author, Horatio Gates Spafford (1828-1888) and the tragedy he experienced before writing it.
©Dianne Neal Matthews. Dianne is a freelance writer and the author of The One Year Women of the Bible and three other daily devotional books. Visit her at www.DianneNealMatthews.com.
I appreciate all you wrote and I especially love the hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.” I tell myself that often when things appear to be out of control.
Clearly when Mary learned that she was pregnant with a child but yet she was a virgin her very world must have shook, confusion set in, and bless her heart her mind must have begun to weaken her thoughts, but when she began to ponder the notion of being filled with that much love I can feel her response ever so deeply as she declared it to be well with her soul…What seems out of the ordinary and beyond our wildest dreams is GODS natural order of business. That is why HE requires those who belong to HIM only to believe!
What a reminder for us all. Thank you so much for sharing.