How Firm a Foundation

1. How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
Who unto the Savior, who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

 

3. Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

When Denzel died, the week leading up to his funeral just the very first phrase was going through my mind.  How firm a foundation.  I didn't know why it kept repeating but it did.  At the viewing one particular friend came through the line  I told him that I wasn't ready to be the "oldest" (granted Denzel will always be the oldest, but I wasn't ready to step into the shoes of having the younger sibling call me for advise or things like that).  The first couple weeks after the funeral the phrase "I'll strengthen the help thee and cause thee to stand" kept going through my mind.  Slowly over the few years since Denzel died, I've come to learn what Heavenly Father was trying to teach me. 

How Firm a Foundation.  Yes I felt like I had to be that firm foundation for my family.  That I couldn't waver.  They needed me.  I had to be there whether phiscally or over the phone when they needed to call.  Someone they could lean against.  But then who was I suppose to lean against?  Who was my firm foundation.  I learned that like my family needed a firm foundation and someone to lean against, so did I.  Our Savior is that foundation.  He is that rock to lean against. I can't help to think of Footprints in the Sand poem.  Christ was definately carrying me and helping me. 

I'll Strength Thee Help Thee and Cause thee to Stand.  Christ has definately strengthened me and helped me in so many ways.  He as carried me many times but has also helped me to stand to push through the bad times.   To understand things. 

I am grateful for the lessons that I learned.  Grateful that Denzel still takes time to be an Uncle and teach my kids things like breaking eggs, or going out in shorts and a sweatshirt, or little things like that even though he's not here.  Grateful for Heavenly Father and the lessons he teaches whether I realize it here and know or it takes time to sink in and me realize what I've learned.