Before All Others (Colossians 3:23-24)
Your blessed strength
Under which I walk
My hope
My heart
Beating once again
Now I face the day
To stand as the one called
To work as though for You
Before all others
In my deeds I hope they see
My hope
My heart
And they look to themselves
To see the difference is You
And Your blessed strength
Under which I walk
Colossians 3:23-24
Worry Not (Matthew 6:31-34)
I look to the world
To fill me with joy
Still I seek the world
To put food upon this table
Yet this world’s too busy
To worry of me
As I go empty
Until a word I hear
A heavenly whisper
To calm a trouble heart
Worry not
Place your trust in me
I am your hope
I am your all
Focus on me and all will come
Worry not
For I am here
My heart now filled
My soul renewed
Eyes upon my Lord
No longer do I go empty
Matthew 6:31-34
The Path (Proverbs 4:10-13)
Before my coming
You set the path
Before my first steps
It was all laid before
Then when I stumbled
You stood tall
There upon the pathway
Calling me on
And when I fell
You picked me up
And showed me the beauty
Of the path that stood ahead
Yet still sometimes
It’s hard to go on
Memories break the heart
And bring me to my knees
I try to lift my eyes
To look upon Your face
I try to lift myself
And walk beside You once more
It’s me that breaks myself
Yet it’s You that heals my soul
It’s me that falls so hard
Yet it’s Your arms that catch my fall
So I long to hear Your voice
Calling me on to You
It fills me once more with hope
And leads me onwards once again
Proverbs 4:10-13
I’ve just come across this song this evening, I believe it’s absolutely amazing and thought I would share it.
NO LONGER SLAVES by BETHEL MUSIC, JOHNATHAN DAVID HESLER & MELISSA HESLER
You unravel me, with a melody
You surround me with a song
Of deliverance, from my enemies
Till all my fears are gone
I’m no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God
From my mothers womb
You have chosen me
Love has called my name
I’ve been born again, into your family
Your blood flows through my veins
I’m no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God
You split the sea
So I could walk right through it
All my fears were drowned in perfect love
You rescued me
So I could stand and sing
I am child of God
I came across this song last night while I was selecting a YouTube video to accompany one of my posts. I found the Lacey Sturm version first and was intrigued by the lyrics, then I listened to the original artist, David Ramirez.
Such a brave song to sing to your audience, with some very raw lyrics and if you watch his live performance of the song, so much emotion.
I totally understand the lyrics, I have friends that have walked away from me since I was “forgiven”, I tried with them, but now they won’t even look me in the eye or say hello, sad really.
We love the broken, not the forgiven
THE FORGIVEN by DAVID RAMIREZ
They love me for being honest
They love me for being myself
But the minute I mention Jesus
They want me to go to Hell
It’s hard to find the balance
When I don’t believe in one
When you mix art with business
You’re just shooting an empty gun
You’re just a songwriter, you ain’t a preacher
We came to mourn you, not to look in the mirror
Sing about those hard times, sing about those women
We love the broken, not the forgiven
These songs will only take me
As far as the people will go
If I can’t make them happy
Well then they won’t come to my shows
Maybe that’s what killed
All the great voices in the world
Always bleeding for every line
But no one was bleeding in return
You’re just a songwriter, you ain’t a preacher
We came to mourn you, not to look in the mirror
Sing about those hard times, sing about those women
We love the broken, not the forgiven
All I can say is that I absolutely love this song, the more I listen to Brady’s album, the more it grows on me, it’s well worth a listen.
GLORIOUS NAME by BRADY TOOPS
You are the one true
God over all the earth
Our King and the Father’s love
Who became our sin
To save and to overcome
By Your glorious name
By Your glorious name
For You are the Lord
The Lord God so merciful
You are the Lord
And You’re abounding in loving kindness
You are the Lord
Full of grace and full of truth
Oh You never change
Oh what a glorious name
You are the risen Son
High above the earth
Our Lord, the victorious One
Let the nations bring You praise
Let the nations come
To Your glorious name
For You are the Lord
The Lord God so merciful
You are the Lord
And You’re abounding in loving kindness
You are the Lord
Full of grace and full of truth
Oh You never change
Oh what a glorious name
There’s no one like You
Oh no one like You
So great and marvellous
We cry out
Show us Your glory
Only Your glory
You’re great and glorious
There’s no one like You
Oh no one like You
So great and marvellous
We cry out
Show us Your glory
Only Your glory
You’re great and glorious
For You are the Lord
The Lord God so merciful
You are the Lord
And You’re abounding in loving kindness
You are the Lord
Full of grace and full of truth
Oh You never change
Oh what a glorious name
So it’s day one without the anti-depressants, which coincides with my 851st SoberDay. So far it’s been okay, a few headaches as the day went on, but other than that it’s been pretty good, although it will be too early to tell.
This morning on the way to work I had one of those moments of inspiration and support. As I do every time on the way to work, I stop by my Nan’s grave and pray. Obviously today I prayed for support today, for help to get through the next few days as I try to get through without the anti-depressants, I know it won’t be easy and I know I will need His strength to get me through.
I always leave me headphones in and the music on quietly when I pray, so as I finished my prayer and started to walk away, the song changed in that instant. Now I’ve experienced this before, where no sooner than I’ve finished my prayer, the song changes and brings comfort. Well this happened again this morning, usually though the song is from a Christian artist with a strong Christian theme, this time it was a little different. It was not a song which inspired from start to finish, not even a song by a Christian artist, it was only a part of the chorus that seemed to speak to me, the song itself seemed loader than usual and the chorus even loader, I couldn’t ignore it.
Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I’ll be right beside you dear
I have to say I have heard this song so many times over the years, it’s a great song, but never before has it put me on the verge of tears. This sort of thing happens quite often to me, I can hear a song I have heard time after time and suddenly this one time, it resonates with how I am feeling and provokes a strong emotional response, just like this morning.
I still know this will be a rough few days, maybe weeks, but I know I can get through it, because He is right beside me.
RUN by SNOW PATROL
I’ll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You’ve been the only thing that’s right
In all I’ve done
And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we’ll make it anywhere
Away from here
Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I’ll be right beside you dear
Louder louder
And we’ll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can’t raise your voice to say
To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do
Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I’ll be right beside you dear
Louder louder
And we’ll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can’t raise your voice to say
Slower slower
We don’t have time for that
All I want’s to find an easy way
To get out of our little heads
Have heart, my dear
We’re bound to be afraid
Even if it’s just for a few days
Making up for all this mess
Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I’ll be right beside you dear
I’ve made no secret of how much music has been a part of my life and in particular part of my journey, from a trapped alcoholic to where I am now, messages through the music I listen to have been a vital part of the process.
When I walk I’ve often felt a song has played in answer to a thought or prayer that has been running through my mind at that point. This morning was a little different, at first I felt one song had begun playing in answer to how I felt at that point, a little on the low side, it was Fall Apart by Josh Wilson, then followed by Becoming Who You Are by Mainstay, these two songs reminded me it’s okay to fail, it’s okay to struggle, God is there for us and as the song says “with every fall you’re just becoming who you are”. I thought at that point that these two song were the answer to how I was feeling, then a third song played which added to the ongoing response to my feelings, this time Jars of Clay with Weapons, just a reminder that sometimes we don’t need to keep fighting, just let God go before us. Then finally to complete the story was Our God Reigns by Jesus Culture.
So essentially it was as though I was feeling like I was falling apart, yet being told that’s okay, you can get through this and come out stronger, let God go before you and trust in him, all through four songs.
By the time I arrived at Church, I was once again feeling a completely different person and ready for a fantastic morning at Church once again.
FALL APART by JOSH WILSON
‘Cause my whole world is caving in
But I feel you now more than I did then
How can I come to the end of me
But somehow still have all I need?
God I want to know you more
Maybe this is how it starts
I find you when I fall apart
BECOME WHO YOU ARE by MAINSTAY
I keep on chasing the wrong things and coming up empty
This isn’t who I’m supposed to be
I keep on learning the hard way from every mistake
And I’m finding each time that you fall, you’re just becoming who you are
WEAPONS by JARS OF CLAY
Lay your weapons down
Lay your weapons down
There are no enemies in front of you
Hallelujah, we can finally see
How the bitterness was bruising on our skin
We didn’t notice that grace had run so thin
Till we’re falling apart and the cracks in our hearts let the truth sink in
OUR GOD REIGNS by JESUS CULTURE & MARTIN SMITH
Our God reigns
Our God reigns
Forever Your kingdom reigns
He reigns, He reigns
He reigns, He reigns
He reigns, He reigns
I must admit I had never heard of Brady Toops until yesterday evening. As you will know on YouTube you have suggestions down the right hand side of the page, when I was selecting a song to go with a post yesterday evening, I saw this song listed.
Normally I don’t bother clicking on any of these, I just select the video I want and then shut it down, but for some reason I clicked on this song. I absolutely loved it the first time I heard it, it’s such a great song. I downloaded the album version, but I think this version is so much better, it’s worth a listen.
O FOR GRACE by BRADY TOOPS
Oh for grace to lay down all my dreams in Him be found
O for faith to keep it true and never stop believing you
And when it’s strong or when it falls through
Oh lord to know my answer is you
And oh for love to trust some more to fix my eyes on heaven’s shore
And for hope with every step every word my every breath
When it’s strong or when it falls through
Oh lord to know my answer is you
For your light I lose my all, cause I’m not staying here, I’m moving on
So give me strength to hold on tight through stormy gales ‘til morning light
When it’s strong or when it falls through
When it’s strong or when it falls through
When it’s strong or when it falls through
Oh lord to know my answer is you
Over the last few days I’ve written a few times about my fears and thoughts on the vision that I witnessed back in October.
There have been a few things this week that have helped to calm this fear, together with a number of other things this week that I’ve managed to get under control.
But this morning I had one of those moments which put my mind at complete rest. Once more it was in the form of a song that I’ve heard dozens of times, but this morning the song rang out with words which spoke to me in my current predicament.
Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts risin’
‘Cause even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water
There have been so many times I’ve been spoken to via my music, not just since I found God, but before also, but this morning this song did just what I needed it to do.
WASHED BY THE WATER by NEEDTOBREATHE
Daddy was a preacher
She was his wife
Just tryin’ to make the world a little better you know, shine a light
People started talking
Just to hear their own voice
Those people tried to accuse my father said he made the wrong choice
Though it might be painful
You know that time will always tell
Those people have long since gone
My father never failed
Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts risin’
‘Cause even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water
Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts risin’
Even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water
Even when the Earth crumbles under my feet
Even when the ones I love, turn around and crucify me
I won’t never ever let you down
I won’t fall
I won’t fall
I won’t fall as long as You’re around me
Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts risin’
‘Cause even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water
Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts risin’
Even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water
Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts risin’
‘Cause even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water
Even when the rain falls
Even when the flood starts risin’
Even when the storm comes
I am washed by the water
The Bottom of a Bottle 