Lyrics to Life

These past 6 months have been hard. A lot has been uncertain... the future far from known. Hopes would go up, get dashed, get changed, get re-changed, and changed again. Waiting for direction has never seemed so hard or so long, as the months ticked by and we still didn't know what where we'd be in a month, or what we'd be aiming for.

God has answered. There are still a lot of questions, but we have some direction, and that is a huge blessing. Somehow, I know that I never will be through learning this lesson of trusting God amid a lot of unknown... After all, we are looking to things that are unseen, so our vision will never be clear this side of heaven.

Steven Curtis Chapman's album "The Glorious Unfolding" has often been played these past months. It often feels like he was reading my mind with the words that he sings, and they never failed to remind me to trust the Lord even when my emotions were all over the place. I streamed it so much on Youtube they started giving me ads between every song, as they could tell I'd listened to it so many times before!

Maybe some of the lyrics will encourage you too. Below are some of my favorites, relating to the struggles of the past months.

From "The Glorious Unfolding" -

Lay your head down tonight
Take a rest from the fight;
Don't try to figure it out.
Just listen to what
I'm whispering to your heart.

Cause I know this is not
Anything like you thought
The story of your life was gonna be.
And it feels like the end has started closing in on you
But it's just not true.
There's so much of the story that's still yet to unfold...

And this is going to be a glorious unfolding.
Just you wait and see and you will be amazed.
You've just got to believe the story is so far from over...
So hold on to every promise God has made to us,
And watch this glorious unfolding

God's plan from the start,
For this world and your heart,
Has been to show His glory and His grace;
Forever revealing the depth and the beauty of
His unfailing Love.
And the story has only begun...

From "Take Another Step" - 

We walk by faith and not by sight, we know it's true.
We say it and sing it and love the way it sounds.
But none of us can even begin to truly understand
What it really means 'til all the lights go out.
And there we are, nothing to hold on to
But the promises God's made to me and you...

Take another step, take another step.
When the road ahead is dark,
And you don't know where to go.
Take another step, take another step;
Trust God and take another step.

If there's an ocean in front of you,
You know what you've gotta do,
Take another step and another step.
Maybe He'll turn the water into land,
And maybe He'll take your hand and say,
"Let's take a walk on the waves;
Will you trust Me either way?"

From "Something Beautiful" -

I see you sitting over there with your head in your hands
And the mess life's made of your best laid plans
You really want to shake your fist
But you don't know who to blame...

Oh, but grace has just begun.

And God's says:
I'm gonna turn it into something different,
I'm gonna turn it into something good.
I'm gonna take all the broken pieces
And make something beautiful like only I could.
So put it all in the hands of the Father;
Give it up, give it all over to
The only one who can turn it into
Something beautiful...
Something really beautiful

From "Finish What He Started" -

You take two steps forward and three steps back,
On a journey of a thousand miles.
And you cry and you pray,
But you know at this pace you never will arrive.
Well I know in your heart, you believed from the start,
God had a purpose He knit you together for.
But life has pulled at the seams
And you’re unravelling,
And you can’t hold it together anymore... 

But God will, He will finish what He started.
No thread will be left unwoven,
Nothing will be left undone.
Every plan and every purpose
That He has will be accomplished
And God will finish what He’s begun. 

And it may feel like 40 long days in a hard driving rain,
Or 40 years in a dry desert sand.
But when He’s finished we will SEE
A beautiful tapestry,
And know that nothing has been wasted in the end...

Isn't it amazing to have a God who is Sovereign, has had a plan from the beginning of time, and knows what's next even when you don't? I've discovered that I am still not good at waiting and not being able to have a plan myself, but He gives grace upon grace as He continues to teach me. He is good, and His ways are good. We can rest in His hands.

Now, go listen to Steven Curtis Chapman's album, "The Glorious Unfolding." Reading the lyrics doesn't do justice to the beauty and power of the songs!