You Alone

*not sure why this blog is listed first...I published it a couple of weeks ago and when I updated some settings on it, blogger moved it to the top.

You Alone

When this life has overwhelmed me

and I feel like giving up

I will cling to all You've promised

It will always be enough

And when the world around me crumbles

and it's hard to understand

I will run to You my shelter

I am safe within Your hands

You are my help forever

I will not fear, God You are with me

I know You're near

You'll never leave me, I will trust in You alone

When I'm broken in the silence

I can hear You whispering

"You're not alone here in this trial

I will hold you faithfully"

You are my help forever

I will not fear, God You are with me

I know You're near

You'll never leave me, I will trust in You alone

And when my heart and strength have failed me

My God, You won't, Your name is mighty

I will trust in You alone

You are a fortress for the weak

The strength that carries me

When I am on my knees

The cross reminds my heart to trust 

Your faithfulness and love will always be enough

You are a fortress for the weak

The strength that carries me

When I am on my knees

The cross reminds my heart to trust 

Your faithfulness and love will always be enough

I will not fear, God You are with me

I know You're near

You'll never leave me, I will trust in You alone

I will not fear, God You are with me

I know You're near

You'll never leave me, I will trust in You alone

And when my heart and strength have failed me

My God, You won't, Your name is mighty

I will trust in You alone

I will trust in You alone

I will trust in You alone

When I first heard this song, I immediately connected.  Others in choir have described the song, saying that the lyrics and music have never matched a song more than this one.  The swell, the lyrics, the intensity.  It all adds up.  

Let's start with the verses.  These are meant to be extremely personal.  And they are.  I think everyone on earth can relate to these circumstances.  Everyone has gone through struggles in their life.  Everyone has felt like they can't go on or that they need someone to carry them through it.  For me, it brings me back to a time when I wasn't thinking about the Lord.  The only thing I was thinking about was myself.  And being that selfish and self-centered made me a miserable person.  Thinking that you don't need God to carry you is destructive.  You continue to spiral downward.  I was there in that place.  The image that comes to mind is a person at the bottom of a deep and empty well, with nothing to sustain them and no way out.

The second part of the verse at the beginning speaks of a world in chaos.  Man, if that's not mirroring what we are experiencing today, nothing else could describe it.  We live in a time of mass school shootings and religious massacres.  Of tolerance for everything liberal or you're on the wrong side of the issue.  Being a christian was never supposed to be easy.  The bible tells us that we will be persecuted for our beliefs and then tells us how to be prepared for that.  We are to run to Him because He is our shelter.

The third verse is maybe the hardest to live in...we are made for companionship, so being alone, in silence, to hear our own thoughts can be dangerous.  But...if we listen for that still, small voice...we can hear great things.  This song suggests that we might hear Him say we aren't alone in our suffering and He will hold us faithfully.  What a promise!  

One person shared last week in choir that the part of this song that speaks to her the most is the chorus...it says, "I will not fear, God You are with me."  She recalled a time when she was little and Isaiah 41:10 was a verse that comforted her and continued to do so throughout her life.  It says:

Fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Another person said they loved the ending when we repeat "I will trust in You alone" several times.  I love it too...it's like a short statement with a lot of power behind it.  A mantra that we can all live by, in any season of life.

There are times when we sing songs in choir that maybe we don't love.  Songs that we wouldn't be sad not to sing again.  But this is DEFINITELY not one of them.  I can't wait to sing this on Sunday.