There is Sunshine in My Soul!
There is sunshine in my soul today! But let me tell you how it got there…
For those who don’t know, I have Tourette Syndrome. This causes me to make various motions and vocalizations that I cannot help(these are called tics). Over the past year or so, I have noticed my tics gradually getting worse - to the point where I was feeling tired and sore much of the time. It’s kind of like having mosquitoes buzzing around you all the time, except they don’t go away when you swat them!
Well, about two weeks ago the Lord put the hymn “Sunshine in My Soul” in my mind. I was feeling anxious and worried about something and it was the sunniest song I could think of (well, God thought of it). At the time, I wasn’t sure why God brought it to my mind, I just knew that He wanted it in my mind. So, I just assumed it was a ‘God smile’.
A week later, I was talking with a friend on the phone and was telling her about how badly my tics were bothering me. She suggested that I try singing a hymn or part of a hymn whenever I I’m having a lot of tics. Now, everything I have ever tried to lessen my tics has either worked a little and then stopped working or hasn’t worked at all. So I’m not very apt to get excited about a potential remedy. But something in the tone of my friend’s voice made me think: I feel like God may have been speaking through her. My friend made me promise to try her suggestion, so I promised. Then, I went and told my mom about it. My mom’s first response? “Maybe God was speaking through her”. Double confirmation! At that point, I definitely knew I was going to give it a try.
It’s been about a week since then and I’m happy to report that my tics are much better. I still have them, but when I sing about the Lord and to the Lord, it helps me get a level of partial control that I haven’t been able to have before. In addition, others have seen a peace about me and I feel even closer to the Lord than I did a week ago. God is so good - we don’t deserve such goodness!
And guess which hymn has helped me the most - Sunshine in My Soul! It reminds me that Jesus has filled my heart with His sunshine(as He has every believer) and no form of darkness can hurt me or keep me in bondage. I’m not saying that I am at perfect peace or that my life is perfect. Rather, with my hope in our amazing, beautiful, majestic, all-powerful God and His plan for my life and eternity through His Son, I have every reason to trust Him and let my light shine! A light that can never be taken away! Oh, blessed sunshine!