Tuesday, June 10, 2014

You Make Me Brave


Kory and I were able to getaway and spend some time in Saugatuck, MI and it’s been really refueling.  We were at a coffee shop yesterday and I was listening to music on my headphones. A song came on that spoke so deeply and resonated so profoundly with my soul, I just took it in.  I closed my eyes and felt it.  The words were rich with truth. The song was "You Make Me Brave" Bethel Live Music and here are some of the lyrics…

            As your love, in wave after wave
Crashes over me, crashes over me
You are for us
You are not against us
Champion of heaven you made a way for all to enter in

I’ve heard you call my name
I’ve heard the song of love that you sing
So I will let you draw me out beyond the shore
Into your grace, oh your grace

As your love, in wave after wave
Crashes over me, crashes over me
You are for us
You are not against us
Champion of heaven you made a way for all to enter in

You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves

You make me brave
You make me brave
No fear can hinder now the love that made a way
No fear can hinder now the promises you’ve made

You make me brave
           

Jesus, you have made me brave.  So brave.  You have done it, no one else gets the credit, no one else deserves the glory for what you have done in our lives and my heart.  You are not a god who allows us to sit, stale without growth.  You continue to call us out beyond the shore and into the waves.  You keep drawing us out towards yourself, even though it demands every part of our being to get there.  You don’t let us settle, Lord.  You push us to our limit.  You push us past our fears, past what we thought would destroy us.  You call us to trust, even if it means the waves.

The first step off the peaceful, calm seashore is the hardest and usually forced.  Whether it’s circumstance or our own doing, our first foot is in the water.  And you do the rest.  You call us to keep walking towards you.  So we step, we get ankle deep, then knee deep.  We wonder why you would be calling us out into deep water.  Do you want us to drown?  What is your plan, what are you thinking?  But we continue to walk.  We continue to trust.  We know that no matter how afraid we are, we want to keep walking towards you.  We get down to shoulder deep and we start to panic. “But Lord, I can’t walk any farther, it’s too much!”  Then the waves come.  We get large gulps of salt water and can’t catch our breath.  We think we will be destroyed.  And that’s when we realize what we are swimming in, a sea of grace. 

Your love, in wave after wave
Crashes over me, crashes over me
You are for us
You are not against us
Champion of heaven you made a way for all to enter in

You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves.
No fear can hinder now the love that made a way

You make me brave.

And here I am, a braver person because of my God who would not let go.  My God who would not allow me to be destroyed by sorrow.  My God who invited me into part of his story of grace.  He has counted us worthy of suffering, that we may know him more deeply and more intimately.  Thank you, Lord,  for not letting me sit, stale and dry, but for allowing me to be drenched and soaked from head to toe in your grace.

“If grace is an ocean, we are all sinking.”  David Crowder


“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”  Isaiah 43:2-3


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