They say sometimes you win some
Sometimes you lose some
And right now, right now I'm losing bad
I've stood on this stage night after night
Reminding the broken it'll be alright
But right now, oh right now I just can't
Sometimes you lose some
And right now, right now I'm losing bad
I've stood on this stage night after night
Reminding the broken it'll be alright
But right now, oh right now I just can't
It's easy to sing
When there's nothing to bring me down
But what will I say
When I'm held to the flame
Like I am right now
When there's nothing to bring me down
But what will I say
When I'm held to the flame
Like I am right now
I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
They say it only takes a little faith
To move a mountain
Well good thing
A little faith is all I have, right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Oh give me the strength to be able to sing
It is well with my soul
To move a mountain
Well good thing
A little faith is all I have, right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Oh give me the strength to be able to sing
It is well with my soul
I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone
Source: LyricFind
Yes, this song was my anthem for awhile. Especially when we were awaiting word on whether my son would be charged. Cried lots of tears listening to it. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kDCkn1xvfwMcPmGine7iloaNCxJ5njqu5u3ZFeJplAI/edit
ReplyDeleteAnother one was Worn by 10th Ave. North https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zulKcYItKIA
ReplyDeleteOh yes. That one gets me every time.
DeleteI read a commentary about the book of Job that said the big question addressed by the book is not "Why does God allow the good to suffer?" but instead "Is it worth it to follow God even if you get nothing in return?" That's kind of what Even If is about too. I noticed that if you read only the words of Job in the book of Job, it's a striking description of grief. It felt the same thousands of years ago as it does now. Another thing that someone pointed out about Job is that the speeches of the friends are similar the advice that people often give you when bad things are happening. And a lot of what they say is actually true, or at least true most of the time--but in both cases they are the right words at the wrong time, or for the wrong situation.
ReplyDeleteAnother book that had some shockingly relevant verses was Lamentations--it's pretty short and easy to read in one sitting. It was written after the Babylonians invaded and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and took most of the people into exile. The whole community was in shock, they thought that they were under God's protection because of the Temple and He would never let that be destroyed and never let his chosen people be defeated--and now the unthinkable had happened, they were totally humiliated, their world was destroyed, and they also knew it was because they had turned away from God and gotten careless in sin. Parts of it are also written as the city being a mother mourning that her children have been taken away and she's left alone.
Consider reading it sometime if you haven't already, but be ready (privacy, Kleenex, etc) if you do.
I have actually been reading Job, it seems to be our lives in a nutshell. We are greatly blessed but then terrible things happen and more things happen to us then seem to happen to others. My youngest son said after the hearing..."When will we ever catch a break" But again, we are blessed. So It is hard to complain when times are hard. But it seems our life is manic, high highs and low lows, to the extremes.
DeleteSorry, I keep thinking of more things, hope you don't mind, I really relate to this song...When I wrote my devotion, I was submitting it for a church booklet so I couldn't get too specific. But as I was waiting for our legal process to play out, I often felt like my trust in God was similar in my trust in our lawyer. I really did feel like "a little faith is all I have right now." I think once I wrote to my mentor that I didn't doubt that God was there but sometimes I doubted if I could trust him to do the right thing. We hired our lawyer in somewhat of a panic and I ended up feeling like I didn't really know if I should trust him or not but basically we had no choice. We couldn't do it ourselves and he was all we had. I look around at the world sometimes and wonder why I should trust God to do the right thing...but who else is there? When you hit stuff like this that shows you how powerless you are, in the words of another song, "Where could I go but to the Lord?" Or John 6:67-68 "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
ReplyDeleteAn image that helps me in this dept sometimes is one that we discussed in a Bible study once, and most people found it offensive but I found it oddly comforting. It's the image of God as a chess master. Most people didn't like the idea of God controlling the world like that, feeling it took away from their sense of autonomy. But the part that helped me was realizing that God is such a master of the game that he can see infinite moves ahead, knows so many ways to win the game no matter what might happen along the way. Sometimes he might make a move that seems crazy to me, but he knows better and has a plan I could never see. Or, I might make moves that are really stupid, but he can still find a way around the messes I make to get to the ultimate goal. When I did get word that our lawyer would finally be discussing our case with the DA (in less than 24 hours), I stayed up all night praying and listening to music. I eventually got to the point where I could see that the ultimate goal was that my son would turn away from the wrong he had been doing, that when he died and faced God, the ultimate Judge, he would be free of that kind of sin in the rest of his life. And I was, at least for a few hours, able to submit and go along that whatever had to happen in this legal world for that to happen in the spiritual world, I was OK with it. I just asked that God would give me the faith to know that he really did have this under control, and the strength to take it. I listened to this song a lot.
I was so relieved to get word that the DA was willing to give him legal mercy, if he made enough progress in therapy. The message from the lawyer was that they didn't have a specific plan in mind but they agreed on a general goal, and "the status quo remains unchanged for now." It was actually an image of Jesus' resurrection for me. The immediate, day-to-day world went on as usual but with the promise of at least the chance of a good, merciful ending, it all looked and felt different. (My sanitized devotion based on that: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YNThWTHmTEiwIbNYu8Iwpn-NOcfGaUEmjsnBCzPuU-k/edit)
I'm sorry your son didn't get that kind of chance but I do hope and pray that God will find a way to work around and through even prison and the registry to use your son powerfully for Him and bring your son to the place God wants him to be eventually in life.
Hope your family is staying strong this holiday season, we're keeping you in our thoughts.
ReplyDelete