Growing up I listened to a lot of Southern Gospel. Now whenever I hear a reference to Revelation I hear in my head The Gaither Vocal Band start singing “Upon the isle of Patmus a man was cast one day…”.
Just like the tune for John the Revelator, bits of Revelation has a tune that plays through my head when I read it. Is it just me or do you “sing” these words when you read them? “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY [is the] LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all], WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME [the unchanging, eternal God].”
As the 24 elders throw down their crowns they say ” You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.” Of the worship John heard, this praise is always on my lips. Praise to Him who “created us and brought us into being.”
It is easy to breathe through life forgetting who gave us that breath. It is that breath that I start my day each morning with a prayer of thanks for another day.
I have shared in another post that my life verse is Ecclesiastes 8:15. These last few years have brought about a lot of toils that have tested individuals’ faith and ability to be joyful. After a particularly rough week in 2020, my husband and I headed to music practice on Saturday morning. It was one of the few times I struggled with facing the day with joy. I hurt for my husband who was an essential worker until he was not.
When we got to practice, the last place I wanted to be, we were introduced to a new song that the team was going to learn. The first verse says “I can’t count the times I’ve called Your name some broken night And You showed up and patched me up like You do every time, I get amnesia, I forget that You keep coming around Yeah, ain’t no way You’ll ever let me down (me down)”
As we ran the song the tears really started to flow as we started in on verse two “You say Your love goes on forever, that Your mercy never stops So why would I assume You’d be somebody that You’re not. Like the sun in the morning, I know You’re gonna be there every day So what on earth could make me be afraid? (Afraid)”
As I look back on my 40 years I can’t name a time when He ever let me down. At an early age, I survived abuse and neglect to which He provided two parents that prayed and fought to get me placed with them. He surrounded me with individuals to love me as I worked through the sudden loss of my adopted mother. He provided me with a strong, God-fearing man to do this life with. And so much more, so why would I let this get to me now?
It was at that moment that I was determined not to let a day go by where I do not start my day without singing His praise with a thankful heart. He created us for a purpose and no matter what we do or what we are going through we cant outrun His mercy. Therefore my first breath each morning carries the words
“Good God almighty
I hope You’ll find me
Praising Your Name no matter what comes
‘Cause I know where I’d be without Your mercy
So I keep praising Your name at the top of my lungs”