If we’ll listen, the Holy Spirit has all kinds of ways of speaking to us. And probably one of the most powerful is a song.
I remember standing in the dim room, the only light peeking over the top of the curtains. My two youngest children were asleep on pallets on the hotel floor. It was a Monday– a day on which I always sat down to write my weekly devotional for Mirror Ministries. But this morning, in this place, I was struggling.
That’s when the Holy Spirit began to sing softly in my spirit.
“The anchor holds… though the ship is battered. The anchor holds… though the sails are torn. I have fallen on my knees to face the raging seas. The anchor holds… in spite of the storm.”
I hadn’t heard that song in years, but it was so appropriate at that moment.
Our oldest son Benjamin was across the street from our hotel in an intensive care unit with 3rd degree burns on a large portion of his body. His breathing was unstable and it looked like the doctors were going to have to give him a tracheotomy (a tube in his neck to help him breath without difficulty). To say the least, I was feeling the waves of this storm.
But as the Holy Spirit sang those words to me, my heart remembered God’s Word. “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil” (Hebrews 6:19). I got my Bible and looked it up. Then I found my phone and went straight to iTunes to find the song. As it played quietly in the room, with my Bible before me, I crumbled to the floor.
Every Monday, although I thought I was writing for subscribers, God’s Word had become a strong anchor for my own soul. His Word gave me hope for our situation. And as I fell to my knees, with hands lifted in thankfulness, tears streaming down my face, I entered behind the veil where His love held me close.
The writer of Hebrews understood that the hope of our soul, which is our mind, will, and emotions, must go beyond this world (what we can see, touch, feel, or even know) into the presence of God. It is in this place where we find our security. For “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide [be dedicated and held stable] under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1).
My younger children continued to sleep while God stabilized my swirling emotions. I walked over to the desk, sat down and wrote that week’s devotional, properly entitled The Anchor Holds (which later became part of my book, Facing the Mirror) –and the song has a permanent place on my worship playlist. It’s a constant reminder to me that God, and His Word, have always been my anchor.
Storms may come and go, but I KNOW the anchor of my soul. I hope you do too.
