Do you have favorite songs? Songs that you know every word to. Songs that you sing loudly and with abandon. Sure you do. I do, too….when no one is around to hear. My singing is not a joyful noise, let me tell you. The older I get the more off key I sing, but that doesn’t stop me from turning my car radio up and singing along with my favorite artists.
After the past year, however, I’m a little more careful about song lyrics that I sing. There were plenty of times in the past when I belted out the words to songs like Jesus, Bring the Rain by MercyMe, and Keep Making Me by Sidewalk Prophets, never truly considering what I was saying. Oh, I knew the words, and in my naiveté, I really thought I meant them. Let me share a few of them with you:
KEEP MAKING ME
Make me broken
So I can be healed
‘Cause I’m so calloused
And now I can’t feel
I want to run to You
With heart wide open
Make me broken
Make me empty
So I can be filled
‘Cause I’m still holding
Onto my will
And I’m completed
When you are with me
Make me empty
[Chorus:]
‘Til You are my one desire
‘Til You are my one true love
‘Til You are my breath, my everything
Lord, please keep making me
Make me lonely
So I can be Yours
‘Til I want no one
More than You, Lord
‘Cause in the darkness
I know You will hold me
Make me lonely
Make me broken, make me lonely, make me empty. Nice, huh? Check out a few of the words to this one:
JESUS, BRING THE RAIN
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain
I am yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain
Both sets of lyrics from www.songlyrics.com
Bring me anything that brings You glory. There’ll be days when this life brings me pain, but if that’s what it takes to praise You, Jesus bring the rain.
I had no stinkin’ idea what I was saying.
For the final month of 2014 and the first six months of 2015, I was so broken that I thought there was no way my heart could ever be pieced back together. The hurt I experienced was so deep that the thought of leaving earth was not far from my mind on a few occasions. Thankfully, those days are behind me now. I’m glad. I have never been in such a place of pain before, and I’m not eager to go back.
I KNEW in my head that God was with me. I KNEW that He never allows anything that does not have purpose in His Kingdom. I KNEW that His plans for Me are for good, and not evil. I KNEW all of that in my head…I had that head knowledge. But, there were times I didn’t feel it in my heart.
These are times when a Jesus-follower has to draw from the well of faith. If I had not had such a deep, abiding walk with Jesus prior to the tsunami of pain hitting me, I cannot fathom what I would have done. My daily time in His Word and communication with Him was the solid foundation for survival in those days. His presence was sweet and comforting, and He ministered to me in amazing ways. My faith grew in that season. Mind you, I would have preferred that growth had come through a different mechanism.
Will I sing words like those above again? Yes, I will and I do. I am not itching for another season of pain and trial. BUT, I will be very sure to stay in close fellowship with Jesus so that when pain and trial do come into my life, I will be able to say, once again, that my faith was not greatly shaken.
What about you? Is your faith shaken during times of trial? Are you taking preventative measures NOW, in the good times, to assure that you are able to stand strong when tough times come? Perhaps you are smack in the middle of a tsunami yourself? Are you clinging with all your might to Jesus? He is your anchor, friend. Hold on tightly.
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Linking up with my friend, Jennifer Dukes Lee at #TellHisStory.
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