Mash-up

The past couple of days have been very busy.  I am trying to do my best to handle the responsibilities that have fallen in my lap.  I feel like I'm in over my head, especially given my state of mind right now.  I will be very glad when this portion of the mess is over.

Being back at work is helping.  It is good to be doing something completely unrelated to my problems, and I am surrounded by such wonderful people.  I love PFCN!  Thank you all for your prayers, friendship, and support.  I am so blessed to be a part of your church.

I've started listening to a lot of music again.  There have been plenty of times in the past when a particular song has played and been just what I needed to hear.  The past couple of days, it seems like every song was written just for me.  Here are just a few of the lyrics that have touched my heart:

"Downpour on my soul.  Splashing in the ocean, I'm losing control.  Dark sky all around. Can't feel my feet touching the ground.  But if I can't swim after forty days, and my mind is crushed by the crashing waves, lift me up so high that I cannot fall, lift me oh oh.  Lift me up (when I'm falling).  Lift me up.  (I'm weak and I'm dying.)  Lift me up.  (I need you to hold me.)  Lift me up.  (Keep me from drowning again.)"  "Flood," Jars of Clay (one of my favorite albums ever)

"This is my father's world.  Oh, and let me never forget that though the wrong seems often so strong, God is the ruler yet."  "My Father's World," Maltbie Babcock (cover by Jadon Lavik)

"And though I cannot see you and I can't explain why, such a deep, deep reassurance you've place in my life.  We cannot separate 'cause you're part of me, and though you're invisible, I'll trust the unseen."  "Never Alone," Barlow Girl

"Speak, and my heart starts aching.  Reach, and the numbness dims.  Beat, still my mind's uncertain.  Breathe, it begins again.  You are the one real thing, you are the one true thing that I know.  You are the one real thing.  No matter what the future brings, you're the one real thing.  Stay, locked within your presence.  Truth, renewing my mind again.  Rest, 'cause I know you're faithful, and I trust 'cause I know your name."  "One Real Thing," Skillet

"And I lay down my life, and I put it before you.  All that I am is in your hands.  And I'm not gonna question why you're so faithful, why that you give me the blessings that you have.  Let the glory be known, let the glory be shown, to lift you up onto the throne.  You are my God, you are my king, to you I give, I give you everything.  All I need is your love to come and fill this heart of mine.  My heart is a desert that has gone dry, and I need your love to carry me by..."  "All I Need," Shawn McDonald

"I was lonely; you came waltzing over to me.  And your eyes, they saw right through me, and you heard each one of my cries for help.  And you came to rescue me.  I was broken.  Every prayer that I had spoken reached your ears, and all my tears weren't cried in vain.  You carried all my pain and put me back together again.  You watch over me in the darkest valleys.  You watch over me when the night seems long.  You help me to see the way before me.  You watch over me; you watch over me."  "Watch Over Me," Aaron Shust

"I look beyond the empty cross, forgetting what my life has cost.  I wipe away the crimson stains and dull the nails that still remain.  More and more I need you now, I owe you more each passing hour.  The battle between grace and pride I gave up not so long ago.
So steal my heart and take the pain and wash the feet and cleanse my pride.  Take the selfish, take the weak, and all the things I cannot hide.  Take the beauty, take my tears, the sin-soaked heart and make it yours.  Take my world apart, take it now, take it now.
I serve the ones that I despise, speak the words I can't deny, watch the world I used to love fall to dust and thrown away...
Take my world apart, take my world apart.  I pray, I pray, I pray, take my world apart.  Worlds apart."  "Worlds Apart,"  Jars of Clay (one of my favorite songs ever, although I never meant it quite as literally as God seems to have taken it...)

Thanks to those of you who have sent me song lyrics in the past couple of weeks.  What is it about music that is so emotive, that reaches in and touches places nothing else can reach?  What a gift God has given us in music.  I pray the right song finds you at the right time in your place of need.