Jesus, Lover of My Soul

Jesus, Lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly
while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high.
hide me, o my Savior, hide till life's storm is past;
safe into the haven guide; receive my soul at last.

other refuge have i none; i, helpless, hang on Thee.
leave, o leave me not alone; support and comfort me.
all my trust on Thee is stayed, all help from Thee i bring.
cover my defenseless head in the shadow of Thy wing.

Thou, o Christ, art all i want - here more than all i find.
raise the fallen, cheer the faint, heal the sick, and lead the blind.
just and holy is Thy Name; i am all unrighteousness.
false and full of sin i am; Thou art full of truth and grace.

plenteous grace with Thee is found; grace to cover all my sin.
let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art; let me take of Thee;
spring Thou up within my heart for all eternity.
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i just finished reading the time traveler's wife, which, in the words of my cousin heather (who recommended the book rather insistently), "that book broke my heart (in a beautiful, altering, flowers-growing-out-of-the-cracks, my-heart-never-looked-so-good-before sort of way, of course, hehe)." couldn't have said it better myself. which, of course, is why i quoted it. anyway, i'm not going to recommend that everyone run out and buy it or check it out of the library. this is not a book for everyone. if you want my 5-minute schpiel on what to expect, email me at my opheliarhiana yahoo email address. it's not something i can sweepingly recommend, not by a longshot. but boy did it serve God's purposes in my heart and draw me into His love more deeply and to trust Him more fully. now of course there are alot of other extenuating circumstances which He lovingly ordained to bring me here, but that book sure helped tie them together.
so why bring this up? because one way that ttw really changed my way of thinking is that me and my lil classical self have gotten all into the idea that, in a way, i (and really the whole church) am penelope waiting for odysseus to come back. Jesus is (of course) odysseus. and there are plenty of problems with this analogy. but what makes it so helpful to me are these two ideas: 1) that Jesus really is coming back to get us. really really really. for sure. it's like the surest thing there is. 2) the fact that He's coming doesn't mean He isn't already here. this is one of those fun "already but not yet" things in the christian life. the Holy Spirit lives inside us. where we go, He's there. always. and not only that, but we feel Him. we are reminded of our security in Christ, in our hope for the future, in the depth of the Father's love for us, by His presence literally IN us. this is a huge fact - the level of intimacy i share with God (merely by reason of His nearness - He's actually INSIDE us - do not misread me and think i mean He's chilling out with our pancreas or something, but hopefully you see what i'm getting at. if not, holler.) is wayyyyyyyyyy more close and permanent than any other kind of intimacy - AND JESUS IS NOT EVEN BACK WITH US YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Jesus, Lover of my soul" is such an understatement. consider my mind blown.