Rising strong,Â
He holds me still –
Like the sand,
The Ocean fills.
I’ve swum to shore,
I’ve drifted to sea –
And all the while,
He has asked me to Be.
Still in His Love,
Still in His Strength –
Even when I,
Cannot go the Length –
The length of great Faith,
The width of Love –
The depth of His wealth,
Hope’s Height from above.
And when I am weary,
With the length of this Way,
He speaks to me,
At the break of Day.
The hallways of Time,
Echo so bright –
The good and the bad,
Shine forth in His Light –
What has been, and
All that is Past –
I hand off to Him,
To hold what will last.
Last for my Future,
Endure for Tomorrow –
And, smiling I wave,
Goodbye to my Sorrows.
The scars remain,
And I’ll always recall –
The loves that changed me,
Their rise and their fall.
The fall of mistakes,
The rise to what’s Real –
The fall into Love,
The rising to Heal.
Into a person,
Seasoned and sown –
Wiser, today,
More vulnerable and known.
I look in the mirror,
And wonder just how,
These years have all passed,
And who I am now.
So much has changed,
And much more to come –
But He will remain,
Steadfast like the Sun.
And when others move on,
And my life feels behind –
I look back to remember,
His Goodness, I find.
People have asked,
Why I believe,
Why I have faith,
In this life, He has weaved –
Drawing these shades,
Sketching these stories –
Of love braving pain,
Of heartache to glory.
How could one ever,
Deny such a Gift?
That offers such bounty,
Not a finger, we lift.
To pay or to earn,
This freedom of Peace,
In His Arms, all our
Strivings, simply cease.
Outlandish it seems,
Too good to be true –
And yet it’s more real,
Than all that I knew.
Knew in my head,
Felt in my heart –
It doesn’t make sense,
Being whole, yet apart.
But walking this road,
Between faith and sense,
At some point, we must –
Jump off of the Fence.
To taste and to see,
The mystery of Good –
Beyond this one side,
Past where I’ve stood.
Our logic must go,
When hearing His voice,
Suddenly we realize,
He offers a Choice –
The choice to embrace,
More than we hold,
From our own making,
From all this world told.
And beyond the science,
Told by our books,
The story fits perfect,
When I dared to look.
To look and to savor,
Peace from my fears –
A Shepherd to guide me,
Through all of these years.
Someone I found,
At rock bottom, of Hell,
Empty of Hope,
My Soul, found this Well.
Deep as the ocean,
Full as the sky,
Quenching forever,
Past how and why.
He opened my hands,
He carried my Loss,
He showed me His heart,
Broke at the Cross.
So when I am weak,
And all words are lost –
I remember the One,
Who counted the cost.
To love me, forever,
To love me, in pain-
To love me, so boldly,
His death, my gain.
Still, I will wait,
Still, I will go –
Still, I will sing,
Through all these unknowns.
Rising strong,Â
He holds me fast –
He whispers to me,
The first shall be last.
The first shall be last,
And finally the Day,
Will break through the dark,
And show me the Way.
The Way He has planned,
Up out of this Well,
And Glory, we’ll speak,
Of His Love, we will tell.
Our children will dance,
Our children we’ll Hold –
And someday these words,
To them will be Told.
So hold onto Hope,
For all that we long,
Falling too weak,
We’ll rise so strong.
Rising strong,
Into His glory –
Rising strong,Â
He’ll tell the story.
The story He planned,
Down in the deep,
The things He reveals,
And the details He keeps.
And whatever He shines,
And whatever He shields –
I’ll trust His Hand,
His best to yield.