An 83-year-old church member was recently diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. I asked him to share how he had experienced God’s comforting presence when receiving such news. He quietly said, “God is my Sustainer!” We often find ourselves on our knees in fervent prayer one day and then rejoicing with exhilaration the next. This is what I call the Prayer-to-Praise cycle. How do we handle the constant ups and downs? We need a constant, a Sustainer, so we rely on God’s caring and compassionate heart for comfort.

We’re a long way away from Easter, but in the middle of the hymn, I Know That My Redeemer Lives (LSB 461) is stanza five — an example of this Prayer-to-Praise cycle. Stanza one is sung with Resurrection jubilation, and then stanza five mentions fears, tears, and troubles … what happened? Our JESUS LIVES to wipe all those stanza five troubles away!