Be Still My Soul


When we visit my parents in the summer, there is only one thing my mom asks from me; to play the piano.  She paid for 10 years of piano lessons for me and still gets great joy from listening to my somewhat rusty renditions of her favorite songs.  I don’t have a natural ear for music, but I do enjoy it, and Roma Schankweiler put great effort into teaching me to play from the old church hymnal.  I have no interest in playing classical music (although she tried to teach me that as well), or learning anything new.  But those old hymns are still a joy to play and they make my mother happy, and so I play for her whenever I come home. 

As I paged through the hymnal and played through the songs I could remember, it was like opening an old treasure box full of memories.  One in particular stood out:  Be Still My Soul.  I often find myself with a noisy soul, struggling with the uncertainty of our future.  This song brought my heart back to precious truth.

Be Still My Soul the Lord is on they Side
Bear patiently the cross of Grief or Pain
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul, thy best thy heavnly friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

In every change He faithful will remain:  Hasn’t He proved that to me so many times over?  In every change he has provided for my needs and met me in my fears.  I have spent my summer recounting those stories to people as we have reconnected with friends and family.  The ways He has met those needs hasn’t always been neat and tidy or peaceful and pretty.  They have often seemed thorny and uncomfortable.  But each time the end result is the same; He has met us in our fears and uncertainty; provided a way forward, and brought us joy in the knowledge of who He is and how He loves us. 

Be still my soul thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake
All now mysterious shall be bright at last
Be still my soul the waves and wind still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below

“To guide the future as He has the past”:  How quickly I forget.  The scriptures are overflowing with examples of how He has orchestrated time and history in perfect wisdom.  It contains story after story of His faithfulness to keep his promises to individuals and nations in spite of their failures.  That brings clarity, because my life is also full of those stories.  I don’t need to fear a hostile government system or a powerful ruler of this world, because I know the one who rules the waves and the winds and He loves me.  There is a lot of mystery in my future, but I can certainly trust Him to be sovereignly in control as He always has been. 

Be still my soul the hour is hastening on;
When we shall be forever with the Lord;
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. 
Be Still my Soul, when change and tears are past
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

We spend a lot of time in our lives saying goodbye.  Goodbye to family and friends who we leave in the states after every visit.  Goodbye to our China family as they come for one or two year missions and then move on or return to home countries.  My children make and say goodbye to their friends in the international school yearly as their parents jobs continue to transfer them around the globe.  It can be exhausting and disappointing and often brings floods of tears.  Someone recently asked me where my children consider to be “home”.  As cliché as it could sound, the only answer I have for that question is heaven.  They have no memory of living in America, and we are all painfully aware that as much as we love it, China can never be our permanent “home”.  That leaves my children (and us) in this world with no particular place to hang their hats or hearts, but it also frees them in a powerful way to live life in the clear reality that heaven IS our home.  This journey of life that we find ourselves on, which can sometimes feel never-ending, is in reality just the blink of an eye in the scope of eternity.  Someday we will gather with our heavenly family from every side of the world to live at rest with our Savior in the first and last place that will ever be truly “home”. 

Tomorrow we climb back on the airplane and head back to the other side of the world.  The future remains uncertain and the goodbyes will be hard as they always are.  But reflecting on these truths as they call me to fix my eyes on my Savior, truly does bring a stillness to my soul.  In Him, I find my past, my future, my joy, my strength, and my home. 

Be Still My Soul
by Katharina Von Schlegel

Be Still My Soul the Lord is on they Side
Bear patiently the cross of Grief or Pain
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul, thy best thy heavnly friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still my soul thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake
All now mysterious shall be bright at last
Be still my soul the waves and wind still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below

Be still my soul the hour is hastening on;
When we shall be forever with the Lord;
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. 
Be Still my Soul, when change and tears are past
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

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