Many of you know that I’ve taken up a hobby of late, exploring abstract art and mixed media pieces. Most of them are random and based more in feeling than conscious thought, but one recent piece was inspired by the line of a song.
This particular song, written by Jen Holm of The Village Church, has been a favorite of mine since the first time we sang it as a congregation, but recently it gave birth to an extraordinary moment in life.
I had experienced a particularly rough week and went into the service that Saturday evening with fear weighing heavily on my heart. There were things in my life that were beyond my control—people I loved that I could not protect from heartache and pain—and a feeling of helplessness (and even, perhaps, hopelessness) had settled into my soul. I had tried to talk myself out of church that night. The thought of the long drive made me weary. The thought of being around other people, especially people filled with joy, made me feel uneasy. My world was wounded. I had no joy to sing about. I didn’t doubt God, but I didn’t feel Him either. I felt alone and unable to fix things.
After the message that night, we stood to sing and I did so halfheartedly. I mumbled my way through the first song and then we moved into Jen Holm’s “How Great The Love”—I think Lauren Chandler (our pastor’s wife) led us through it that night. I had heard the song before, as I said, but that night every word sprang to life in me. I found myself singing it out with all the other voices and, as the words washed over me so, too, did their reality.
I wept. I don’t mean that tears fell as I sang. I mean, I wept and sobbed through the song to the point that I was barely able to even mouth the words let alone squeak a sound from my throat. My hands were raised and I was caught up in something bigger than me. I don’t really know how to describe it fully. As I sang—or attempted to sing—those words, my soul experienced their reality. God’s love endures. It pursues EVEN A SINNER LIKE ME. It never tires. It’s boundless—there is NOWHERE that it cannot reach. It bears MY burdens. It restores my soul. It pardons me.
I realized, as I sang and wept, that it was God’s love that could impact those fearful situations. I realized that I couldn’t “fix” anything at all. I WAS completely powerless, just as I had felt when I walked into that service. But God was anything but. So, I let go. I put my worries and fears in the hands of the One who could bear them and just let His love cover me…that great love that stirs my heart to sing.
Jen’s beautiful song is now available on iTunes and Amazon on the new album from The Village Church called “Beneath the Canopy.” It’s a great album and I encourage you to pick it up, but if you can’t afford the whole project, I’d love for you to at least buy Jen’s song. I think it will bless you. And, as you listen, hang on to each word and plant the truth and assurance of them in your heart. There is great trouble in this dark world and much cause for fear…but it pales in comparison to the great love with which God covers His children.
HOW GREAT THE LOVE – by Jennifer Holm
How great the love of God
that it endures
It pursues
even a sinner like me
How great the love of God
determined
Resolved to save
to redeem
CHORUS
Unwavering
unchanging
Never resting
never tiring
Boundless
and unfailing
How great the love that covers me
How great the love of God
so merciful
That You don’t turn
Your face from me
How great the love of God
that it sustains me
Bearing my burdens
restoring my soul
REPEAT CHORUS
BRIDGE
How great the love that covers me
How great the love that pardons me
How great the love that stirs my heart to sing
How great the love that covers me
Buy "Beneath the Canopy" at AMAZON.
Buy "Beneath the Canopy" at iTunes.
