His Promise Stands (The Subaru Song)
Another month in the red, let’s put the kids to bed / And talk it over for a while
If the Subaru can just make it to three hundred thousand miles, we’ll be fine
Life unrolled differently than we thought it’d be / But honestly I can’t complain
Through every trial and doubt, we’ve never been without / He’s provided just the same
We know His promise stands / If we give up our plans / And place them in the Father’s hands
Can we walk ahead, trusting Him instead / Of all the strength we think we have?
We always overthink and we start to sink / Looking at our feet and not His hands.
Counting pennies from the jar, good thing we didn’t buy that car, / That would have set us back a lot
We’ll drive the Subaru another year or two / And be content with what we’ve got.
Strengthen the Feeble
The dry land will be glad / As streams begin to flow
The wilderness will bloom / In the desert, new flowers will grow
Strengthen the feeble, encourage the weak / Steady the knees that quake underneath
Tell them, “Be strong, have no fear. / Your God will come.”
The eyes of the blind will see / The ears of the deaf will hear
The mute will shout for joy / And the lame will leap like the deer.
The righteous will return / Sorrow will flee away
Joy will overflow / On that glorious day
They will see the glory of the Lord / The splendor of our God
Women's History
Just fourteen, and we knew it all. / Girls planning lives in morning study hall.
Checklists and charts, how to pick the right man, / Life’s sure simpler when you have a plan.
Finish school, get married, get a good job, maybe / Buy a house, get a dog, and then I’ll have a baby
We knew it would work, it was no big mystery. / It’s the life of every woman through all of history.
Ten years later, we’re already off course / Dropout, unemployed, three kids and a divorce
All but Jamie, who would believe / Her house, her degree, and her golden retriever
So her friends fell away when “I do” became “maybe”
And she died when they said, “Be glad you couldn’t have a baby.”
Broken dreams, simple plans, it’s really not a mystery,
That’s the curse of every woman through all of history.
Your desire is for a man, and he will rule you. / Having children will bring you pain.
But Jesus comes to make His blessings flow,
Far as the curse is found / Far as the curse is found / Far as the curse is found.
We say we’ll be happy as a mother or a bride, / Til we are and we’re not really satisfied
No one’s life is what it seems, / Just know that you are living someone else’s dreams
What am I worth on my own? That’s still the mystery
At the heart of every woman through all of history.
Come, Spring
I wrote the check that spent the last / Of what we saved through seven years of famine
Though my hands are empty, still they cling / To the nothing that remains
So, come, Spring, and thaw my fingers / Until I’m not afraid to give.
Open them up like dogwood blossoms / Free my hands from winter’s sting
I read the words that broke my heart / Another dream out in the cold
I’ve heard that sacrifice will bring great blessing / But all it’s done is make me old
So, come, Spring, release my mind / Shake the snow from off my shoes.
Help me give when I have nothing / ‘cause, really, what I have I to lose?
I sang the song that closed the lid / As new snow fell on the tomb
I know the grave is not the end, / But my arms are empty as this room
So, come, Spring, ‘cause I am frozen
My love is dry as winter’s kiss, my heart is trapped in winter’s fist
This fear can freeze, and fear will kill, fear at the heart of winter’s chill.
Afraid to lose, afraid to give; afraid to trust, afraid to live
My soul is dead with winter’s frost. How much could freedom really cost?
Come, Spring, melt my heart / This ice might hide a pearl within.
Sleeping thorns will bloom to roses / When my soul learns to love again
Redeemed
Born into prison, a debt I didn’t make / I could work ten lifetimes, and not begin to pay
Sold for nothing, bought with only shame / I have no one, nothing to my name
But there on the mountains are feet drawing near / Bringing good news I never dreamed I would hear
You are redeemed, child, step out of your chains / You’ll never be a captive again
Shake off the dust, love, and be clothed with strength
Rise up, awake! You are redeemed.
There are days I think I see that face / In every shadow through the marketplace
‘Till I remember, he has no claim on me / I am always and forever free
I’ll bring this message to all who will hear / Lay down your sorrow, and cast off your fear
Shout for joy, you are redeemed
Break into shouts of joy together when you see the Lord return
He has comforted His people, Praise the Lord, you are redeemed.
You are redeemed, child, step out of your chains / Rise up, awake! You are redeemed.
Yesterday, Today, Forever
Oh, how sweet the glorious message that our faith can claim
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same
Still, He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick and lame
Cheer the mourner, still the tempest, Glory to His name
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus, never! Glory to His name.
He who was the friend of sinners seeks you, lost one, now.
Sinner, come and at His footstool, humbly, deeply bow.
He who said, “I’ll not condemn you; go and sin no more,”
Speaks to you this same word of comfort as He did before.
When on earth, He healed the sufferer by His mighty hand.
Still our sicknesses and our sorrows go at His command.
He who gave His healing power to a woman’s touch,
To the faith that claims His fullness, still will give as much.
Tiger Lilies
I love you in the morning by the tiger lilies / Summer breeze dancing through your yellow hair
We’ll run along the path and past the gate / Laugh at all the people walking there
I love the morning running through the tiger lilies / Dancing there with all the yellow butterflies
Laughing past the gate into the summer breeze / We’ll walk with all the people there outside
You’ll dance along the path one day and through the gate / I’ll tell the yellow sun that I know you’ll be fine
As long as tiger lilies laugh in my backyard / I will always say that you are mine
Really Free
She said, here we worship in spirit and truth / We pray the way that Jesus taught us to
God’s voice is in the whisper, not in the storm / And the Psalms say that in the quiet, we’re restored.
Gotta blend in, fit with the crowd / Keep your hands down, and don’t sing too loud
But if I’m really free to worship You, I will
Bow in awe / Dance for joy / Weep with gratitude
With shouts of praise / Lift up holy hands / Be still and know
He said, here we worship in spirit and truth / Forget the kind of worship that you thought you knew
David danced before the Lord, and if we’re quiet, stones will cry / The Psalms say you need to sing and shout and play with all your might
Gotta blend in, better learn how to shout / Don’t you dare sit down, or they might throw you out.
But if I’m really free to worship You, I will
Joshua won the battle with loud praise / Hannah’s prayer spoke through silence
John leapt in his mother’s womb / Mary pondered in her heart
If I take part with thankfulness, / Why am I condemned?
So whether you sit or shout, or whatever you do, / Do it all for the glory of God
Every nation, that’s quite a crowd / Every culture, every style is allowed
We’ll be finally free to worship You, and we will
Jehoshaphat sent the singers to the battlefront / Jeremiah wept when he prayed
Angels shouted to announce the Savior’s birth / But on Resurrection Sunday, they sat calmly by the stone.
Paul says a quiet life is good in God’s sight / David tells us to make a joyful noise
Suburbia
I live in Suburbia / Suburbia / All the neighbors get along
We love to manicure the lawn / And everyone sings a happy song
Here in Suburbia
The streets have rhyming flower names, our smiles caught in picture frames
That rancher with the sign looks nice, peek through the curtains once or twice
To see if it’s really worth the price, here in Suburbia (chorus)
I wonder why survivor shows never film in my zip code
Bear Grylls would have an easy time, find tomatoes on the vine
But garden theft is a major crime, here in Suburbia, Suburbia
I drive the oldest car on the block / That’d be cool if it was a classic, but it’s not
Sometimes all this comfort makes me feel a bit uncomfortable
I guess there’s nothing wrong with living well, just make sure you’re living well,
The party invite’s gold embossed, that shiny stuff seems worth the cost
But now I am a bit distressed, ‘cause even with my GPS,
I’m still a little lost, here in Suburbia
Be My Light
The morning starts before the dawn, / Crescent moon and cricket’s song
Dreams are fading from my mind / Pull back the curtain, look through the blinds
The frosty stillness will soon turn to day.
The children never sleep too late / They run to wake us, they just can’t wait
With bleary eyes and morning breath, / A simple kiss conceals its depth
The love that fills and builds us from within.
Lord, please be my Light / I just wanna get this right
Remind my heart to pray / So be my light and guide me through the day.
Pour a bowl of Cheerios / Grace with tiny hands to hold
The same routine every day / I know things won’t stay this way
So let this moment open up my heart.
Twilight spreads across the sky / It feels so sweet to close my eyes
Laughs from playing hard all day / Smooth away my aches and pains
Use the time that’s left to rest and be renewed.