Saturday, April 19, 2008

Then Sings My Soul Saturday


Emotions are fickle things. And as women we often tend to give them more weight than we ought, just because they are such an integral part of our daily lives.

This can wreak havoc on our spiritual lives. As long as we are on the mountaintop, we "feel" God's presence, His favor, His peace, His love.

Sadly, once we descend into the valley and the clouds and shadows obscure our vision, we often begin to doubt. Doubt His goodness. Doubt His promises. Doubt our salvation, our faith.

But just as the mountain remains even when covered by fog and clouds, God's covenant of love remains unbroken and He is faithful, even when we don't sense Him.

My mom has struggled with this for 25 years as she has suffered with depression. Coming from the generation where "good Christians" didn't have issues like that, she determined that God had withdrawn His favor from her. And since my grandmother (her mom) was known on occasion to demand ask folks to return her gifts to her when they irked her, it's easy to see how my mom learned to project this characteristic onto her Heavenly Father.

A hymn that has become so dear to me as I have observed this and as I have had my own spiritual ups and downs is the beautiful song O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go. Take a few moments to listen to David Phelps sing about God's steadfast love and worship with me.



O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Words: George Matheson, 1882.
Music: Albert Peace, 1884.

Go here for more Then Sings My Soul Saturdays songs!!

Photobucket

View blog reactions

18 comments:

Xandra@Heart-of-Service said...

I love this song, and love, love, love David Phelps! Great choices all around for this Saturday....

Praise God for His steadfast love...

Xandra

Stephanie said...

He has an amazing voice! Very poetic hymn, too...thanks for sharing!

Lisa @ The Preacher's Wife said...

Your hymn posts are amazing...Love this, Linda!

LAURIE said...

David Phelps is my all time favorite singer, and once again he blesses the socks off of me! Thanks for sharing. -God bless, Laurie

Susannah said...

Such amazing acapella to open this song! An wonderful encouragement...

Blessings, e-Mom @ Chrysalsi

Faith said...

What a beautiful hymn...the lyrics just bless me every time I sing/hear them! Great post!

Melanie said...

This is sucha beautiful hymn with words that mean so much to me. I am so thankful that God's love does not let me go... no matter what is going on in my life what is going on. Thanks for sharing this special hymn today!

ocean mommy said...

This was a much needed song today!! Thank you for sharing..

blessings,
stephanie

Jenifer said...

Thanks for sharing! Beautiful!

Many blessings,
Jenifer

Anonymous said...

WOW! I Just loved your spiritual truths, insights and your words really touched me!

I am a feelings person and learning to put them in align with the facts and my FAITH! I need to allow my faith to lead my feelings and the Holy Spirit to control them!

Very difficult for me! I, too, have struggled with depressions and manias, which they label, Bipolar. I claim victory in Jesus!
and HE is MY HEALER! My chains have fallen (from another song that someone else shared Amazing Grace by Chris Tomlin)

I will soak in your hymn and allow the words to remind me as I worship along with you and your song! Thanks!
Peggy

Julie said...

That was beautiful.

I remember singing that song as a little girl....such a beautiful song.

Have a blessed day,
Julie

Kelley said...

There is nothing like listening to old hymns! I love them!!! Thanks for sharing this today and for your kind words on my blog this morning...

Susan said...

Thanks Linda, this song was so GOOD!

Thanks also for stopping by this morning.

I'm so sorry you've had to deal with depression when you were growing up. This must of been hard for you with your mom.

Thank God you have found someone who's love never changes.

Blessings to you♥

Mrs.Naz@BecomingMe said...

Linda, what a beautiful introduction to a beautiful song! Thanks for sharing your heart as you do so well. Love, Angela

Chris @ Come to the Table said...

Thanks Linda! This was so beautiful! I have missed you....

Anonymous said...

very beautiful Linda, Praise is the best way to defeat depression:)
Blessings,
Deb

Lisa Spence said...

Beautiful! Praise God, nothing can separate us from His love for us in Christ Jesus!

Mrs.Naz@BecomingMe said...

Hey girl, I just saw that your sweet blog was chosen as CWO's blog of the month. Congrats.