The Road to My Own Emmaus

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Author’s Note: As heard on my Latter-Day Lights interview! I’ve recently updated the title of this poem from “Lord, Abide with Me“ to “The Road to My Own Emmaus” to better reflect the heart of this story.

Backstory:
I read in Luke 24 an interesting story. After Jesus’ was resurrected, 2 of His disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus. Jesus came and walked and talked with them, without them recognizing who He was. They asked Him to “abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” The word abide means more than stay the night. On a deeper level it means “to dwell with, remain present and make your home with us”. They weren’t just asking Jesus to share a meal, they were in essence saying “stay with us as light fades. Don’t let us face the night alone.” This made me think of the hymn “Abide with Me”. Henry Francis Lyte who wrote the lyrics of this hymn was an Anglican priest in England in 1847. He wrote this hymn while he was gravely ill knowing he was nearing the end of his life.

The Road to My Own Emmaus

Lord Jesus, I know that I am weak on my own,
Please abide with me so I am never alone.
Especially as the light fades, stay with me in the darkness,
Until I fall asleep and am no longer conscious.

Daily my body is in pain and weak,
Please stay with me every day through the week.
I have days when I feel discouraged and like darkness follows me everywhere I go,
Help me feel thy Loving Light on my face so that with you I can glow.

When I am feeling like I am at the end of my rope,
Please be with me so that I can always feel like there is hope.
I don’t know why I have to go through the hard trials that I do,
Just help me to not feel so blue.

Please be with me when I have to wait for answers to my prayers,
And help me feel like you are always there.
I wish that I could see You standing there beside me,
And then maybe from my trials I could feel free.

I know that life isn’t meant to be easy,
Help me feel like You love me deeply.
I know that You do love me for who I really am on the inside,
And that with me, You will always reside.

The Takeaway: There are moments in this life when we all feel alone and like no one understands what we are going through. But we are never alone because we always have our Savior who is waiting and willing to abide with us every minute of every day. We just need to invite Him into our lives and our hearts and there He will stay.