Day by Day

“You have trusted [god] in a few things, and he has not failed you. Trust him now for everything. You find no difficulty in trusting him with the management of the universe and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about his management of it?”—Hannah Whitall Smith (1832–1911)

Life is often pictured as a journey. Step by step, day by day, we travel along a road that is uniquely ours. Although we sometimes share our joys and griefs with others we meet along the way, nobody else’s journey is exactly the same. The one thing that we do have in common, however, is the possibility of a life companion and counselor who will be with us each moment. God says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” and “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.”

If you look back at your journey through the past year, particularly times when you struggled, you can probably recognize situations that could have played out better had you prayed for guidance and followed the path that God indicated. But don’t worry! It’s a new year, fresh with new possibilities.

Take a few minutes to think about your daily routine. Perhaps you could start a prayer diary, or make a plan to read through the book of Psalms or the Gospels, or take five minutes when you wake up or before you go to sleep to think about the good things in your life and thank God for them. Whatever you decide, make it a resolution and stick with it, for you have “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
—Lina Sandell (1832–1903), translated from Swedish to English by A. L. Skoog

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Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV) ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

Psalm 32:8 (NIV)
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Proverbs 18:24 (NIV)
One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.