Matthew 28:20 – Song Dive

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

Tell Your Heart to Beat Again

The next entry for my Blog is Tell Your Heart to Beat Again, which was written by Bernie Herms, Matthew West, and Randy Phillips. The song was initially released January 8, 2016. A link to Danny Gokey performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Tell Your Heart to Beat Again

You’re shattered
Like you’ve never been before
The life you knew
In a thousand pieces on the floor
And words fall short in times like these
When this world drives you to your knees
You think you’re never gonna get back
To the you that used to be

Tell your heart to beat again
Close your eyes and breathe it in
Let the shadows fall away
Step into the light of grace
Yesterday’s a closing door
You don’t live there anymore
Say goodbye to where you’ve been
And tell your heart to beat again

Beginning
Just let that word wash over you
It’s alright now
Love’s healing hands have pulled you through
So get back up, take step one
Leave the darkness, feel the sun
‘Cause your story’s far from over
And your journey’s just begun

Let every heartbreak
And every scar
Be a picture that reminds you
Who has carried you this far
‘Cause love sees farther than you ever could
In this moment heaven’s working
Everything for your good

Oh, so tell your heart to beat again

This is a song about the loss of a loved one and suggestions on how to somewhat recover from that loss. Note that I do not even pretend to know how each of you are impacted by a significant loss such as this, I am just sharing my views. The singer of this song actually lost his wife at an early age and this is his story. Just imagine losing the one person in your life who you loved the most and who felt the same about you. Many of you have perhaps had to live through this situation already. As this happens, the world around you just shatters and comes crashing down in small pieces. There are no words that bring comfort and no embrace that can fill your empty and broken heart. At this point in time, you probably can’t even imagine making it through today, much less tomorrow. The whole weight of the world has suddenly fallen upon your shoulders as you crumble to your knees. One of the biggest challenges for us, is how do we rise out of the deep dark pit of loss and our intense feeling of loneliness? Our emotions are out of control and our desire to live seems to be fading away. We may have many friends who love us, but even their tears and their embraces bring us little hope.

Psalm 121:1-2 can provide us hope in these times of anguish. “I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I realize there is a period of grief we must all go through as we experience our loss, but there also comes a turning point as we start to open our eyes to life once again. The chorus of the song is delivered with such power and with a strong message of encouragement and direction. At some point, we need to realize that we must rise from our knees and take that first step into our changed future. We have to almost tell our lungs to breathe and our hearts to beat again; and we have to look to the light that only God can provide. He is there to give us strength and comfort and to take our hand as we begin our new journey. This strength may be felt through our prayers, our family, and our friends. I know that God listens to our prayers and I also believe that he brings the right people into our lives at the right time. The sooner we put God in control, the sooner we can start our new future. We will always have the past with us as a heartfelt memory, but we must go forward and not let the past dictate our future. The hardest part is taking that first step into your new future and driving your heart to beat again. In the book of Isaiah 41:13, we are told that God will help us when we are ready to move forward, “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”

As we start our lives over, it is like a new beginning. We are starting over and starting to find our way out of the darkness. God has been with us every step of the journey through our darkness and loneliness, and he gives us his love as he prepares us for that first step. He is there to lead us, to guide us, and to love us. As we take our first steps into our new future; we start to leave the darkness and feel the bright sunlight shining on our face. It is a time of building a new future and beginning the next chapter in our lives. We have to learn to deal with the conversations around our loss, how we handle dinner invitations when we are now alone for the first time, how we go to events, and how we completely restructure our lives. Perhaps Matthew 6:34 gives us some of the best guidance regarding one day at a time, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” It is not only a new beginning for us, but also for those around us. It may be the first time we have paid attention to just how many people care about us and how they have been there supporting us during our deepest darkest hours.

Our heartbreak will never go away, but it doesn’t mean we can’t go on living. Our loss has taught us lessons about cherishing every moment of every day; take nothing for granted. Yes, we will have the scars of our loss forever, but we have also learned to keep walking forward no matter what life throws at us. Every moment of our past means even more and every memory is more precious than we could have ever imagined. We must look to the future and the path that God lays before us. We can have hope once again as God opens the new doors of our future and helps us close the doors of the past. We will never be alone, God tells us this in Matthew 28:20; “and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

Maybe, as others hear about the scars on our heart and soul, we may be able to help them find their way and continue their story.

Click to Hear Danny Gokey Sing Tell My Heart to Beat Again

He Was There All the Time

The next entry for my Blog is He Was There All the Time, which was written by Gary Paxton and released in 1980. A link to the Blackwood Brothers performing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

He Was There All the Time

Time after time I went searching for peace in some void
I was trying to blame
All my ills on this world I was in
Surface relationships used me ’til I was done in
And all of the while someone was begging to free me from sin

He was there all the time
He was there all the time
Waiting patiently in line
He was there all the time

Never again Will I look for a fake rainbow’s end
Now that I have the answer My life is just starting to rhyme
Sharing each new day with Him Is a cup of fresh wine
And oh what I missed, He’s been waiting right there all the time

He was there all the time
He was there all the time
Waiting patiently in line
He was there all the time

When you believe you are on the verge of depression or just ready to give up on everybody and everything, what do you do? I am sure there are days where you just want to stay in bed and pull the covers over your head, perhaps you feel as if you want to crawl under a rock and hide from the world, and some people just wish they could just end it all. Maybe you have these bad times and turn to alcohol, or food, or even drugs. The end result is that none of the above brings forever happiness. Some of the options I listed perhaps bring some temporary relief, but all of the issues causing your negative feelings are still there. The sad part is we get into a vicious spiral that takes us down to rock bottom and we have a tendency to stay there.

While in this period of darkness in our lives, we try to blame anyone and everyone for the situation we are in. We want the blame to fall on someone else so we can shift the anger to that person, those people, or that thing. Maybe you start thinking you are too old, too big, too small, of the wrong race, of the wrong nationality, your friends are to blame, your parents are to blame……… We depend on other people so much in our lives, and inevitably they let us down. Some let us down unintentionally, although the pain is real, and we discover that some people were not the people we thought they were.

I believe all of us have misery in our lives and just don’t know where to turn. The problem is that we explore every option to eliminate our unhappiness, and maybe then we turn to Jesus. As the song says, Jesus is always there; he has his hand out and is always asking you, begging you, to dedicate your life to him. Although the things and people around us may let us down, we are told in Hebrews 13:5 that “God will never leave us nor forsake us.” In Matthew 28:20, Jesus tells us “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” So, the real problem is we try to solve all of our issues on our own or rely on those arounds us, but no one has the answers you seek except our Lord and Savior. All we have to do is open our minds and our hearts and take his hand so he can lead us through the darkness we are facing. He has always been there and will always be there and there is no end to his patience. No matter how stubborn we are, or how much we turn our backs on him, he patiently stands before us with open arms.

As we go about our lives, we endure a lot of rainbows that promise a pot of gold, but seldom does it work that way. We all have hopes and dreams, and sometimes they do come true, but too many times they do not because we try to be successful on our own. Think of how life could be if we walked in lockstep with our Savior toward our hopes and dreams. By being in step with Jesus, we will be marching toward goals he helped us to set as opposed to goals we set on our own. By being in collaboration with Jesus, we will never face that false rainbow again because we will be doing what he wants us to do, and by accepting Christ as our Savior we have the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it is eternal life.

We need to begin each day communicating with our Savior, walk with him every day, and then end our day still talking with him. If we don’t walk with him and talk with him, how can we understand what his plans are for us today and for eternity? Does your faith lie more with your friends, your family, your possessions; or does it lie in the hands of Jesus? Imagine starting and ending every day with Jesus on your mind and in your heart, allowing him to bring some peace to you as your day ends and the next day begins. Having Christ with you doesn’t mean that you will no longer have struggles and challenges in your life or that everyday is going to be a great day, but it does mean that you will never face your world alone. Even though we face this darkness in our earthly life; Christ has promised us an eternity of peace and joy once we reach our heavenly home.

He is there all the time, just waiting for you.

Click to Hear the Blackwood Brothers Perform He Was There All the Time