It's ok with me!

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It's ok with me!

O faithful Lord

Added 13th December 2016

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O faithful Lord, my solid ground,
when storms are raging all around
your mighty cross, your precious blood,
will keep me safe within the flood.
Nothing in all this world, I know,
can separate me from your love.
So I will cling to being found,
my life secure within your hand.
 
How wise the folly of your ways:
this treasure held in jars of clay,
and breaking forth from brokenness
there comes a power not from us.
So I will boast, though it seems wrong,
for when I'm weak, then I am strong.
Now taking up my cross I walk
your narrow path of life, my Lord.
 
And when I walk through death's dark vale,
Lord, I shall fear no evil there;
for you are with me, whisp’ring still
your peace in times of trial and ill.
My boldest hope shall still remain:
to live is Christ, to die is gain!
Until the end, I'll walk your ways:
oh, hold me in my darkened days!
 
When you appear, all storms shall fade,
and there will dawn a brighter day.
Your faithful promises stand true
as all creation is renewed.
You’ll make your home with us to stay
as every tear is wiped away
and heav'n and earth cry out your praise;
Oh, how my soul longs for that day!

This song draws its origins from the time of the illness and death of my Dad. Singing and making music before the Lord became a particularly important expression of worship for me at a time when I was largely unable to process exactly how I was feeling. And yet there were very few songs that resounded with how I was feeling; often it wasn’t the lyrics that were the problem, but the tone or mood of the song that just didn’t resonate.

While sitting at the piano with these kinds of thoughts in mind one day, this song began to emerge. It sought to express a confidence in God, albeit a confidence expressed in brokenness rather than in triumph; yet a confidence determinedly holding on to the promises of God - not least the ultimate promise that, one day, God will make all things new.

The second, third and fourth verses were written first, and came together relatively straightforwardly - though with lots of tinkering on the way. The first verse was the struggle, and the writing of it encapsulated the move I had to make from seeing it as ‘my song’, coming out of my particular experience, to one that, hopefully, can be sung by others within their own contexts of brokenness - past, present or future.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?
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Richard Woolley at 08:58 on 10th January 2017