A Sweet Melody

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.


When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil. His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming blood. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my Hope & Stay.


My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean in Jesus' name.


This song was my sweet melody as we would go and see Damian Jr during his 26th day stay in the hospital after his birth. Damian experienced a significant global brain injury during delivery, and the medical outlook was very, very bleak. I remember the words of one of the doctors as he shared the news of the trauma with tears in his eyes, "We hope and pray that Damian Jr proves us wrong...We hope and pray Damian Jr proves us wrong." Many of the doctors were extremely concerned that he wouldn't make it out of the hospital, and if he did, he would probably be like a vegetable.


So we were up against some scary, overwhelming, and confusing realities. There was nothing else we could grab onto for strength, stability, comfort, reassurance than Christ. We were literally experiencing "sinking sand". Standing on Christ and His promises was our our only real hope.


I can't remember how this amazing song, "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less" by Edward Mote (1797-1874), came to be the perfect melody of my heart during this painful, gut-wrenching time in our lives. I just remember thinking about the tune and quickly looked through an old hymn book. I copied the page and took it with me to the hospital as we visited Damian Jr in the intensive care unit. I would sing this beautiful song of grace to him over and over and over again as tears swelled in my eyes. This song seemed to fully and completely capture all of my feelings, beliefs and convictions was we witnessed our son fighting for his life.


I am grateful for this sweet melody. It will always remind me of my hope! And I trust that you too will have a sweet melody to carry you through life's most challenging moments.