MY SONG OF JOY

JESUS HAS BEEN WATCHING ME TODAY

As I drove to the dentist this morning I saw numerous spikes of lightning in the western sky above Tulsa and soon the rain began. Seven tornadoes had hit Tulsa in the past week, but I was trusting God to keep me safe.

Suddenly I thought of a poem I had written 54 years ago on a long, lonely drive to Canada for a missionary conference at Prairie Bible Institute. Piles of snow were packed on each side of the narrow road in Idaho, and I thanked God that it wasn’t still snowing. The road could have been dangerous and I didn’t have any car insurance.

I was a missionary to the Navajo Indians at the time. I knew it was unwise to drive so far without insurance, but I barely had enough support to pay for room and board and gas for the car.

The words God gave me that day in 1956 comforted me and strengthened my faith. I couldn’t write them down as I drove, so I had memorized each line before composing the next one, singing them to myself in a melody the Lord gave me. When I got to my motel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, I wrote it all in a notebook. Months later I managed to write out the music which has been resounding in my soul ever since.

“Jesus has been watching me today.
Faithfully He cares for me alway.
I will never yield to doubt or fear,
For I know my Savior’s always near.
And so I’m trusting Him and no danger can alarm.
In His perfect will He is leading me on.
I am leaning hard on His everlasting arms,
And no matter what may come, I’ll always have a song.”

I have passed through many storms since then and God has always been with me. I had no idea I would spend five years in Laos so near the Vietnam war, but God kept me safe there. Later I encountered some severe storms in my personal life. But God has been faithful to keep me true to Him.

I am glad that Jesus is still watching over me today. This is the greatest comfort a Christian can have.