Songs of Hope

Just over a week ago, Canadian singer and song writer Carolyn Arends performed a concert here in Ottawa. I, along with my Awana girls, went to support and hear this great Christian artist. She sang some of her older stuff, as well as several new songs from her recently released album Pollyanna's Attic. I bought the cd because two songs in particular that she performed moved me to tears. The album, as Arends proclaims, is a bit darker than her previous work. Very much filled with hope, but darker.

Over the past week I have had these poignant lines from her songs running through my mind. I have had a rough few days... really feeling Satan's attack, and trying with all my might (although not always succeeding), to not let him win. These words have become my prayer... they have given me hope.

The song To See Your Face (which was not one that she sang), really spoke to me. I have recently felt exactly what the chorus expresses... needing the Lords loving hand so badly, yet feeling as though I lack the utter strength to even ask for His help. To just turn to Him... to see Him, hear Him and feel Him... to leave our old ways behind, and make the better choice... the one that honours Him! Despite the struggles that have come my way, that is what I want to do.

If I ever get to see your face

And if you will spare me

I know that my allegiance to the human race

Will not ensnare me

If I ever get to know your mind

And I survive it

I'm sure that I will leave a way of life behind

I won't revive it

Lord, you know I need your love so bad

I hardly even have the strength To take Your hand

If I ever set to hear Your voice

And I can take it

I'm certain that I will listen

To the better choice

And I will make it

Part way through her concert, Carolyn sang Not Alone. I started crying then, and never really recovered. (Shocking, I know!) This verse really struck me... just to be reminded that there is nothing we could go through on earth that He has not already gone through. He promised us that He will never leave us. When I am under the worst of Satan's attacks, my nights become "nights with no relief". Loneliness and sadness are quick to set it. But even in those darkest times, He understands... and I am not alone.

There are friends who offer comfort, and they mean well

But sometimes it’s like salt inside a wound

And it’s good to speak of heaven,

when it feels more like hell

But we ask our hearts for healing much too soon

There’s a Man of Sorrows, acquainted with our grief

And He’s done His share of crying in the night with no relief

There isn’t any heartache that He has not known

So we are not alone

We are hard pressed, but we are not crushed

We are struck down but not destroyed

Cause no matter what may happen

We are not abandoned

We are not alone