Daily Archives: February 17, 2013

Lent 2013: “Lord, who throughout these forty days”

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Posting late because the Internet connection at home hates me. 🙂

The idea for today’s hymn came from Leanne who mentioned it in her Ash Wednesday entry. I’m all about the traditional hymnody and this is a pretty one.

Here are the words:

Lord, who throughout these forty days
for us didst fast and pray,
teach us with thee to mourn our sins,
and close by thee to stay.

As thou with Satan didst contend
and didst the victory win,
O give us strength in thee to fight,
in thee to conquer sin.

As thou didst hunger bear and thirst,
so teach us, gracious Lord,
to die to self, and chiefly live
by thy most holy word.

And through these days of penitence,
and through thy Passiontide,
yea, evermore, in life and death,
Jesus! with us abide.

Abide with us, that so, this life
of suffering over-past,
an Easter of unending joy
we may attain at last!
(HT: Oremus)

Here’s a YouTube video of it.

The Proverbs 31 Project: She fears not the snow…

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Proverbs 31 Project

This last week was so insane for me that I didn’t even look at my database and I missed an amazing guest post on Proverbs 31:21 that was light years better than anything I could have written. Andrea, I’m really sorry and your piece is going up today because I think people need to read it.

She fears not the snow for her house-hold; all her charges are doubly clothed. –Proverbs 31:21

I have personally struggled with Proverbs 31 since the first time I read it. I found each and every verse to be filled with impossible standards, which I thought I could never meet. I chose to write about this verse for Jen because it was this verse that made me realize the standards are impossible for us to do alone, but not impossible if we let God into our lives.

Worrying is what I do. I??m a worrier by nature; my husband would agree. My mind is constantly filled with what ifs for the future. What if my children aren??t healthy? What if I never find a good job? What happened to my husband if he didn??t return my call as quickly as I??d like?

Proverbs 31: 21 tells us that we should not worry, for our ??charges are doubly clothed??. Upon reflection I have found that this means that God blankets us with His comfort and with His wisdom. In times of sorrow, Jesus is next to us. When we are faced with difficult decisions, we can trust that as long as we truly place God in the center of our lives the decisions we make will allow Him to rejoice.

Although this makes sense to me logically, realistically it is hard to live life believing God will always provide. I know I shouldn??t fear for my family, health or finances, but I do regardless. So many women I know struggle with worries about the future. But women are commanded not to fear. God will take care of our lives.
Over the past few years I have actually found myself to be less anxious than I was at a younger age. Most days I trust that my family??s future will be bright.

Everyday I strive towards minimizing my worries. I ask God to take away my anxiety about the future. I ask Him to leave me with a sense of peace and trust. I find that when I pray more regularly, I am more in tune with what God wants and my worries are fewer.

If you tend to worry about your household, I encourage you to give all your anxiety up to God. He is more equipped to handle it.

Andrea is a Catholic, wife, mother and grad student. When she is not tending to bruises, studying or sipping wine she writes for Coffee with Mama Leigh about faith, family, food and budgeting.