I fear I don’t tell you often enough
how grateful I am
for the blessings and gifts, the graces and favors
you’ve dropped in my lap, so generously
over all the years of my life…
Sure, I’ve had problems, worries and fears,
losses and disappointments
but the bottom line, when I add it all up,
shows a bounty of mercies, tender and kind:
many more than I might ever merit,
far beyond what I might deserve…
And greatest of all – the gift of faith –
the virtue feeding my hope and my trust
that you’re ever, Lord, my guard and my guide
on the journey I’m traveling home to you…
But tonight I pray, Lord, for family and friends
whose path is rocky, whose seasons are hard,
whose blessings and favors may yet lie hidden
beneath and behind their everyday tears…
When their trials, Lord, are too many to count
when their last bit of faith begins to give way,
when waves of doubt
make them feel like they’re drowning,
help them to know in their hearts
what’s always the truth:
your tender mercies are close at hand
especially when seasons are hard…
Protect us, Lord while we’re awake
and watch over us while we sleep
that awake, we might keep watch with you
and asleep, rest in your peace…
Stanzas 4 and 5 of my prayer above borrow freely from the lyrics of tonight’s song.
Been a hard season
Been a broken road
All the dreams I was dreaming
They went up in smoke
But I keep on believing
There is a reason
For this hard season
Been brought down to my knees
But I’m too weak to pray
So, God, I hope You can hear
The words I can’t say
Do You know what I’m needing
Are You still holding me in
This hard season
I lift up my eyes where my help comes from
I fall in the arms of the only One
Who knows the reason
For every hard season
Lord, You wrote the story that I can’t see
So even in the dark my heart will believe
There is a reason
For every hard season
When the tears and the trials
Are too many to count
When my last bit of faith starts to give way
To the waves of my doubt
It may feel like I’m drowning
But I know I’m not alone in
This hard season
Chorus
Weeping may last for a moment
But joy’s gonna come in the morning
Blessings will flow from these battles
And beauty will rise from these ashes (3X)
Chorus