Here's the latest installment in our series of online devotionals, written by a woman in our church for the women in our church. We're pleased to offer this as a substitute for an in-person Immeasurably More Bible Study this semester.

BY CECILIE PFLUGER

My favorite hymn as a child begins, “Blue skies and rainbows and sunbeams from Heaven are what I can see when my Lord is living in me.”

I loved this song and would request it almost every week to the music director at our church. It brought my 7-year-old heart so much JOY to sing these lyrics. Looking back, I might have just really enjoyed singing about rainbows, but the song traveled with me into adulthood.

I remember walking out of my college dorm on a number of fresh, crisp spring days and seeing the sun beaming through the big oak trees and the beautiful blue sky above. And, I quietly hummed and sang the hymn on my way to my Economics class – instant mood brightener as class was not where I wanted to go! Years later, as a young mother, I would awaken from sweet, much-needed sleep to my baby crying on the monitor. I would climb out of bed half-asleep, stumble down the hall to my precious child and begin to nurse him. This same hymn was one of my favorite songs to gently sing-whisper to each of my children in the middle of the night.

The words have always stuck with me. And, the song’s chorus is even more significant as an adult. I appreciate the meaning so much more.

“Jesus is well and alive today. He makes His home in my heart. Nevermore will I be all alone since He promised me that we never would part.”

Of course, mundane tasks and frustrating distractions of everyday life can cloud my blue skies. Virtual schooling, ice storms, economic changes, wow-who has not felt frustrations, loneliness, and perhaps despair in the last year?

One of the many ways God shows us his grace and mercy is by giving us moments of joy amid despair. When we are down, weary and broken, he breathes JOY into us! God whispers to us, "You are not alone!" He refreshes our soul. In those moments, we can see joy. By God’s divine design, I know that He imprinted this simple, sweet hymn of my childhood in my heart to stir the feeling of joy and loving appreciation of a Father who is always there and will never part, and a Jesus who is well and alive today.