{"id":151,"date":"2012-02-20T14:41:48","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T14:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=151"},"modified":"2012-02-20T14:41:48","modified_gmt":"2012-02-20T14:41:48","slug":"the-comfort-in-the-words-of-a-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=151","title":{"rendered":"The comfort in the words of a song"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the book contest, please see the February 15 blog. <\/strong><\/p>\n

My sweet pastor often tells of how he does his best thinking in the car. I have never really confessed to him that my most ardent grieving happens in my van as\u00a0 I \u00a0really listen to the words of songs on Christian radio. Sometimes the songs remind me so much of someone or some situation that I have to pull over and simply cry. I am not so self-centered to believe that God gave those folks the lyrics for me, but often, it does feel that way.\u00a0 Such is what happened one day when I heard the words to Aaron Schust\u2019s My Hope is In You<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love God and I am humbled to know His ways are so much higher than my own.\u00a0 This time, he knocked it out of the park for this little girl.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>The first time I heard this song was shortly after receiving some not so pleasant news from the Mayo Clinic.\u00a0 Even though many believe that Sawyer is completely healed, the Mayo doctors know differently (and so does our checkbook).\u00a0 We ran into some complications, and it hit me so hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, why this? Why now? They told us four years, and now, they are telling me possibly many more. Hasn\u2019t he been through enough?\u201d\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t sure that God is big enough to take my questions, read Psalms 88.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t answer right away, but a few more miles down the road, on came My Hope is in You<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cOkay, God, I get it.\u00a0 Yes, I will wait for you! I won\u2019t be shaken by drought or storm.\u00a0 And thank you for sending me the peace that passes understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

My second thoughts reminded me when I heard the story of the origin of the song, It is well with my soul<\/em>.\u00a0 Horatio Spafford\u2019s faith is one that amazes me, and to think he wrote a song that has timelessly comforted grieving people is a blessing straight from God.<\/p>\n

As preparations for the last Reed\u2019s Run begin, we have really wanted to have a theme that won\u2019t be easily forgotten.\u00a0 A theme that leaves people with the memories of what the event was all about for the four years.\u00a0 As a family, we chose, \u201cTo rise from tragedy, cling to hope.\u201d\u00a0 Then another one of those van cruising days (of which I have plenty) happened, and again, God gave me this song.\u00a0 Cue the big light bulb above my head, \u201cHow about not only theme words, but a theme song?\u00a0 And THIS song is it!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

It defines Team Stevens.\u00a0 If quit isn\u2019t in our vocabulary, HOPE definitely is!\u00a0 And one of the goals of Reed\u2019s Run has always been to \u201cReach Others for Christ\u201d.\u00a0 Sometimes what a hurting world needs is the knowledge that there is a colossal hand that is reaching out to grab yours before you fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later that evening after the epiphany moment, I went home and searched for the music video.\u00a0 What I saw brought my eyes\u00a0to tears and my knees\u00a0to reverence of God\u2019s love.\u00a0 We are not alone.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Others have walked our path through the valley of the shadow of death.\u00a0 And others too want people to know that only God knows the ending of the story if we just reach out and hold on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So even though I am certain that Aaron Schust, the artist, or his videography team know absolutely nothing about Team Stevens, I am equally certain that God does!\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you would like to see for yourself, you can find the video at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ugD0i5Y3cw8<\/a> It is now the official song of the 2012 Reed\u2019s Run.\u00a0 Personally, I cannot think of a better send-off reminder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the book contest, please see the February 15 blog. My sweet pastor often tells of how he does his best thinking in the car. I have never really confessed to him that my most ardent grieving happens in my van as\u00a0 I \u00a0really listen to the words of songs on Christian radio. Sometimes the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[254,274,300,301,316,384,397,505,526,575],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}