That’s Enough

The next entry for my Blog is That’s Enough, which was written by Brandon Heath, Mallary Hope, and Molly Reed.  It was first released April 22, 2022.  A link to Brandon Heath singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

That’s Enough

Mind if I tell you a secret
A few simple truths about me
Might be hard to believe
Guess I’m just trying to come clean

Sometimes I don’t know where I’m going
It’s hard to admit where I’ve been
When I come to the end of myself
This is where I begin, again

I am here
I am loved
God is good
And that’s enough

I don’t know your situation
What kind of story you’re in
If you’re high on that mountain
Or down in the valley again

You might be holding your baby
You might be holding a drink
You might be holding a secret
That’s getting harder to keep

But you are here
You are loved
God is good
And that’s enough

And I am here
I am loved
God is good
And that’s enough

It’s okay if I don’t have the answers
It’s okay to be right where you are
It was patience and kindness and love
That got us this far

You are here
And you are loved
God is good

And I am here
I am loved
God is good
And that’s enough

He is here
He is love
God is good
And that’s enough

How many of us have secrets?  My guess is that all of us have something deep inside of us that we have never shared or have only shared with a select few people.  Sometimes, we just need to share one or more of these closely guarded secrets because they are tearing us apart inside.  People who are close to us and people who are casual acquaintances may know us only by our exterior persona, but they have no idea what we may be struggling with deep inside.  My wife accuses me of hiding things in various vaults in my head, where they can never be found.  With all of this being said, most of us reach a time where we just need to bare our soul regarding some of the things going on in our lives and our past that we have been reluctant to share. 

In this song, I believe the singer has reached the point where he just has to talk to someone, because it is tearing him up on the inside and has been hidden by that façade we many times hide behind.  I believe all of us are in this situation and the time comes where we just need to come clean.  Maybe you invite someone or a few friends to grab a cup or coffee or a drink with you.  As you sit there, you start to explain how you are not the person you appear to be.  The person or people you are talking to have always viewed you as someone who has it all together.  Perhaps you are the one seemingly always loving life, with everything going your way.  Perhaps it is your demeanor, maybe it is how many friends you have, your successful career, how much money you appear to have, or perhaps your perfect family.  As you start to tell your true story, the people with you become speechless as they hear what has really been going on inside of you.  They start to understand that maybe your entire life has been a trainwreck and you have kept it hidden behind a well-developed façade.  Your best friends start hearing about your childhood as part of a broken family, how your marriages have failed, how you are deep in debt, and that your entire life has been a failure.  For you, success has been temporary and fleeting as your inner secrets continue to take over your mind and distract from the life you want to live.  It is almost as if you have been hanging off of a cliff, were able to pull yourself back up; and then start hanging off a different cliff as life beats you down again.  I realize I have painted a picture of gloom and doom, but I truly believe there is a little bit of this in all of us and a lot of this in many of us.  I believe that the people who just heard you bear your soul were handpicked by God for this point of time in your life.

It is in our weakest moments when we turn to the only place where we have unconditional love and this is from God and his son Jesus; he never leaves our side.  In our darkest moments as we reach out to him, he is with us.  He tells us this in Matthew 28:20, “And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”  As the singer of this song tells his sad sad story, God stops him and says “I am here”, you are never alone.  Note that God does not say he is there for a period of time, he says he will be there always.  The bible also tells in the book of John 3:16, “that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to die for us.”  How much more can someone love you, than to give up their only child for you?  Yes, God is good and he has made sacrifices for us and promises to us that will last for eternity.  God has to remind us sometimes that he is here, that he loves us, and that we will care for us.  With God saying he is with us always and then he gave the life of his son for us, I say that’s enough.

We never know or even completely understand someone else’s story or situation, but I believe everyone has their own personal challenges in life.  All of us probably get on that mountain top from time to time, only to slide back down into the valley; but God is always there with his hand out ready to pick us up yet one more time.  We all have something to hide, maybe it is something associated with your family, maybe you have a problem with drinking or drugs, you can never keep a job, or maybe you just feel as if your entire life is coming unraveled and your secrets are becoming more and more difficult to keep within your façade.  The real question the song seems to ask, is where does God fit into your life?  The answer is to let him into your heart, he is waiting for you to invite him in. Once you allow God into your life, you start to put your trust in him since you should know that he holds the future.  We don’t have to always understand why things have happened to us, but God only focuses on our future; he is not concerned about our past.  Once we accept his son Jesus as our personal savior, our past is forgotten and we become white as snow on the inside.  We may never understand why we have had these challenges in our life, but it is important to understand that God puts the right people by our side at various stages in our life for a purpose.  These are people we can talk to about our burdens and maybe help us to find our way out of the darkness.  He is simply waiting for us to reach out our hand and place it into his and feel his power, his glory, and peace that only he can bring. 

It is really ok not to know all of the answers and God will be with us regardless of where we go in our lives.  The song says it is God’s patience, kindness, and love that has gotten us this far.  God is good, God is here, and that is enough.

Click to Hear Brandon Heath Sing That’s Enough

We Won’t Be Shaken

The next entry for my Blog is We Won’t Be Shaken which was written by Casey Brown, Jason Roy, Jonathan Lindley Smith, and Tim Roseneau. It was first released by Building 429 in 2013.  A link to Building 429 singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

We Won’t Be Shaken

This world has nothing for me
This life is not my own
I know You go before me and I am not alone
This mountain rises higher
The way seems so unclear
But I know that You go with me so I will never fear
I will trust in You

Whatever will come our way
Through fire or pouring rain
No, we won’t be shaken
No, we won’t be shaken
Whatever tomorrow brings
Together we’ll rise and sing
That we won’t be shaken
No, we won’t be shaken
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
No, we won’t be shaken

You know my every longing
You’ve heard my every prayer
You’ve held me in my weakness ’cause You are always there
So I’ll stand in full surrender
It’s Your way and not my own
My mind is set on nothing less
Than You and You alone
I will not be moved, oh

Whatever will come our way
Through fire or pouring rain
No, we won’t be shaken
No, we won’t be shaken
Whatever tomorrow brings
Together we’ll rise and sing
That we won’t be shaken
No, we won’t be shaken

We will trust in You
We will not be moved
We will trust in You
And we won’t be shaken
We will trust in You
We will not be moved
We will trust in You
Yeah, we won’t be shaken
We will trust in You
We will not be moved
We will trust in You
Yeah, we won’t be shaken
No, we won’t be shaken

Whatever will come our way
Through fire or pouring rain
No, we won’t be shaken
No, we won’t be shaken
Whatever tomorrow brings
Together we’ll rise and sing
That we won’t be shaken
No, we won’t be shaken
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
No, we won’t be shaken
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh
No, we won’t be shaken

If we think about the grand picture of life as it relates to eternity, it is a pretty small blip on the radar screen. Whatever we gain today physically, emotionally, or materially pales in comparison to the eternal home God offers us. We are in a temporary earthly life that God has given us and has allowed us the option to secure our eternal home by sending his son to die for us. We are basically living in a borrowed home as we prepare for our final residence. Jesus has come and has paid the way for all of us, we just need to accept him as our savior to earn God’s promise. Putting all of this in perspective, everything we have today will be replaced by an eternity of no pain, no fear, and no sorrow.

We face challenges that seem insurmountable. We have faced wars in the past, floods, hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, and Covid-19; and we have gotten scared, maybe lost our homes or loved ones. Perhaps we have reached the point of just throwing up our arms in despair since we just can’t seem to overcome the latest challenges or the culmination of events in our lives. We often reach that point when we can’t seem to find our way through the fog and over the mountains. The thing we seem to forget along the way is that we have never been and never will be alone. God knows what we are going through, he is there with us, and he is also on the other side of that mountain or challenge; he knows what it looks like on the other side of the storm we are facing. He alone holds the future and is there to hold our hand every step of the way; we just need to let him. He knows no fear since he is all powerful and we can feel his power whenever we completely lay our burdens at his feet and let him guide us along the way.

As we walk with God, no fear can overcome us; he will lead us over the mountains and through the valleys of life. With him, we can know that all things will truly work out as they should. We will not be shaken by the events in our lives or in our world because we have the assurance that we will never be alone and that this is just a temporary home. We can be like David, who faced impossible odds against Goliath. Our focus should be on God and what he wants us to do during our brief earthly life. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, we are told to stand strong and not be shaken: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” We will be able to look back across our journey in life and will be able to sing praises to a God that delivered us from all evil and led us through every challenge that was hurled at us.

It is important to note that not only is God there in our deepest darkest times, he is also aware of every need that we have. He hears and answers our prayers, and in our weakest moments of depression, frustration, and angst; he is there to lift us up. Basically, God has already told us that he will take care of us and watch over us, so the next step is really in our court. We must give our lives to him and ALL of our trust, we can’t just go part way and take some things to him and try to handle some alone. For us to be everything he wants us to be, for us to stand strong in an overwhelming world, we must completely surrender to him and trust in him alone. Through this surrender we can sense and see the true love and power that only God can wield. As the song says, our focus is on his way; not our way.

Are you standing on the solid rock of Christ that brings the strength and peace that gives you power to face the never endings battles in this world, or are you still fighting alone?

Click to Hear Building 429 Sing We Won’t Be Shaken