life verse

College was such a struggle for me – emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, & socially.

And all of you reading this who knew me back then will probably shout a hearty “AMEN!!!”

;-)

I think it was my freshman year, during a particularly difficult period...

What am I saying?! ALL of my freshman year was particularly difficult!!!

Anyway, during a particularly difficult period in that particularly difficult year, I was struggling with something – that would have been the fall of 1968, or the winter of 1969.

One afternoon, I was upstairs practicing piano (I was a music major).

We had a practice room one that hall that was set aside for prayer.

I remember leaving my practice room & going down there to pray.

I forget what it was specifically I was grappling with – there were SO many things!

But inside my head, I had this thought drop into it...

“ 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,' thus saith the Lord God of Hosts.”

Yeah, yeah... I was reading in the King Jame Version back then – when I read the Bible, which wasn't all that often.

But I felt like God had spoken to my heart – I'd never read or heard that statement before.

Some time later during my freshman year, someone quoted Hebrews 13:5b – I don't remember where – on a Sunday in a sermon? In chapel on day? In a Bible study?

Can you imagine how weird I felt when I realize what I'd heard in my head a while back was being quoted?

So I held on to that verse - & I've held on to the truth of which He assured me.

I still do.

And just so you know, He's never left me, He's never left me holding the bag.

He's always been with me, through it all.

And He always will be.

There is so little we can hold on to in this world.

I know, through experience, that what God whispered to me in a little practice room on the second floor of the music building at Asbury College in late 1968 or early 1969 is just as true now as it was then.

“I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”

God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never run away from you.” (ERV)

for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (ESV)

God has said: ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’. (J B Phillips)

God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” (The Message)

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (NIV)

God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (NLT)

He has said, “I will never leave you; I will always be by your side.” (The Voice)