“Jesus, I am Resting, Resting.” It’s a favorite hymn and I love the arrangement that my friend Buddy Green does on this particular hymn.

Jesus, I am resting, resting, In the joy of what Thou art

I hope you love that arrangement as much as I do.

And I have sung it in so many places, but never in so odd a place as the Country Buffet restaurant in Kirkland, Washington some time ago. I was to speak at a conference in the area that night and I’d gone to the restaurant for an early dinner. So instead of saying grace around the table, we sang a hymn – there weren’t a lot of people in the restaurant and we didn’t think it would disturb anyone.

Little did we realize that the family who were sitting about four tables away in the corner from us, they heard us. And the mother came over to tell us that they were Christians. She said that her elderly parents were joining them for dinner and before we knew it, after dessert, we meandered over to their table, pulled up a few chairs, and we started singing hymns. It was wonderful! And a few Christians who came into the Country Buffet even joined us after eating. We had a real “hymn sing”; a great time!

Not long ago I received an email from the woman who came up to our table. She said, “Dear Joni, I don’t know if you will ever realize how much our time together meant to my elderly parents, especially to my mother. She talked about singing hymns together till her dying day. And I thank you for doing that. I believe that Jesus was standing there in the midst and blessing all of us – for sure, singing praises to our Father in a restaurant was a first for me.”

The Bible says, “Speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” Friend, you can do that no matter where you are: in your car, around your dinner table, at a church on any given Sunday morning, at prayer meeting, and you can even sing hymns and spiritual songs at the Country Buffet restaurant in Kirkland, Washington. But there’s something else to learn here. And that is, learn to sing your way through suffering. One of the reasons that I always hum a hymn is because I need to—even if it’s in a restaurant.

So today, not only sing to others, but speak Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to yourself, to your own heart. Contentment and peace and joy will be yours for the simple price of, well, nothing but a song, a song that uplifts the Lord Jesus. Singing hymns is a great way to keep your focus on Christ and His Word. So share your spiritual songs with me today on my Facebook page. And together, would you, let’s um, let’s sing our way through suffering. How about it?

By: Joni Eareckson Tada

© Joni and Friends

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