I've Got Plenty to Be Thankful For: Then Sings My Soul

Sharing a clip and a song from my favorite Christmas movie, Holiday Inn. Thought it appropriate for this Thanksgiving weekend.

I've Got Plenty to Be Thankful For

Bing Crosby

I've got plenty to be thankful for
I haven't got
A great big yacht
To sail from shore to shore
Still I've got plenty to be thankful for

I've got plenty to be thankful for
No private car
No caviar
No carpet on my floor
Still I've got plenty to be thankful for

I've got eyes to see with
Ears to hear with
Arms to hug with
Lips to kiss with
Someone to adore

How could anybody ask for more?
My needs are small
I buy them all
At the five and ten cent store
Oh, I've got plenty to be thankful for

Holding the Key: Then Sings My Soul

Continuing my Jason Gray love fest this week with "Holding the Key." Jason minces no words in pointing out how we simultaneously desire both to be known and to hide our true selves. I pray everyone has someone who not only holds the key but uses it.

Holding the Key

Jason Gray

I came here tonight with a mission

To confess what I'm trying to hide

But here in the hour of decision

I want to give you the company line

There are secrets I don't want to tell you

And wounds you might not want to see

But they keep me bound to my sorrow

And I really want to be free

And you're the one holding the key

You don't have to give me an answer

An answer is the last thing I need

There's no magical cure for this cancer

I just need you to listen to me'

Cause You're the one holding the key

We were made with these hearts

Meant to be open

Then we locked them away

Afraid of being broken

But we're given each other to set it free

And you're the one holding the key

This dark room is perfect for hiding

But I don't want to hide anymore

You can't force the light here inside it

But you can help me open the door

You're the one holding the key

We were made with these hearts

Meant to be open

Then we locked them away

Afraid of being broken

But we're given each other to set it free

And you're the one holding

The key to the truth

Of what's really going on

Your listening ear

Is the grace of God

Love will take the shackles off

But you're the one holding the key

We all need it sooner or later

A safe place for telling the truth

I'm happy returning the favor'

Cause I'm holding the key for you

How I Ended Up Here: Then Sings My Soul Saturday

Guess I'm on a bit of Jason Gray kick this month. I think he writes some of the most honest lyrics I've ever read. If you ever get a chance to see him, it is so worth your time. It's unlike going to see the big-name groups in huge arenas. When he sings, it is almost like having him in your living room. He sings, tells stories (funny ones and ones that touch your heart), and is just very down-to-earth and accessible.

How I Ended Up Here

Jason Gray

There's something I need to confess

At the risk of exposing my faults

But I'm starting to find that most of the time

I just don't like people at all

When I saw you five minutes ago

I was afraid you might talk off my ear

I panicked inside and decided to hide

And that's how I ended up here

Crouching behind the live lobster tank

Hoping you'd just pass me by, oh...

That's how I ended up here

That's how I ended up here

Oh how I wish I could say

It's my first time to hide in this spot

But with all of the people I try to avoid

I find myself down here a lot

I mean, just look at these guys in the tank

With the red rubber bands 'round their arms

If they don't open up

And just keep to themselves

They won't do anyone harm

So I screen my calls, don't answer the door

Sometimes wish I could disappear, oh...

That's how I ended up here

That's how I ended up ..

Building a wall so no one could bother me

Living my life in isolation

Opening up to only those close to me

Nobody's close to me, what have I done?

See, I really want to be known

But I'm not quite as strong as the fear

That you won't understand the fool that I am

And that's how I ended up here

That's how I ended up here

That's how I ended up here

Praise God on High - Then Sings My Soul Saturday

I won't say a whole lot about this song... I'll just let the words speak for themselves.

Praise God on High

Someday our pain will be no more.
Someday our tears will fade away.
Someday we’ll see our Lord and
Savior face to face.


Someday we’ll rest from all our burdens.

Someday we’ll see His smile.
Someday he’ll look us in the eyes
and say “Welcome home, my child.”

Chorus
Praise God on high!
All that’s wrong will be made right.
How we long for the day
every wounded soul

will be made whole.
So let’s worship Him with a mighty voice
like we’re already with Him in paradise.
Praise God on high! Praise God!


Someday we’ll walk beside the Father.
Someday we’ll rest at His feet.
Someday our trials

will all be over.
We’ll be completely free!

Chorus

Chorus

Tag
Praise God on

high! Praise God!

For more music, join Amy for Then Sings My Soul Saturday.

Grace - Then Sings My Soul

This week's song is one that may not be familiar to many. It doesn't get wide airplay, except maybe on a local Christian station, if you are lucky to have one, or if he has been in or near your town in concert. This particular video is from a station in OK, where he visited and performed live on air. But all that is secondary to the song... Grace. In this song, Jason has anthropomorphized grace into a girl who loves him even though he doesn't deserve it. Not a stretch from the truth of the matter, is it?

Just a little more about Jason... He has a speech impediment (stuttering) and uses his weakness to glorify God. He writes some of the most intense and personal lyrics I have ever heard. Please check him out. If you are blessed enough to get a chance to hear him in person, go. You will be blessed. He is real and approachable; it isn't like seeing one of the big name artists in an arena. It's almost like a living room singalong.

For more songs, visit Amy's.

Grace

Jason Gray

Sweet Grace amazes me

The way that she can see

Beyond the man I am

To the man that I could be

She’s bringing out my best

While she covers all the rest

Some say her love is blind

But I say her love forgets

She don’t like it when I try so hard to impress her

‘Cause when I do that, it’s a lie that makes her love look the lesser

The truth is I know

I’ll never be, I’ll never be good enough

I’ll never deserve her love

I’ll never be, I’ll never be good enough for Grace

But she takes me anyway

I am the cheatin’ kind

But she’s changing my mind

The way she takes me back

Though I fail her every time

She’s got friends who tell her that she

Is much too good for me

Well, I’ve told her that myself

But she refuses to leave

I’d like to think my strength won her affection

But the truth is it was my weakness that caught her attention

I’m grateful to know

When my tears fall down like rain

She wipes them from my face

She tells me that I’m lovely

And if I am, it’s all because of Grace

This love turns my inside out

And my world upside down

Grace is changing me…

Painting Pictures of Egypt: Then Sings My Soul Saturday

I'm enjoying participating in this weekend meme, "Then Sings My Soul Saturday," hosted at Amy's. I have been reacquainted with old favorites and made some new ones as well. If any of you have visited Amy's to see the other songs posted each Saturday, I hope it's been worth your time as well, and that you've been refreshed by it.

This week's song is one I came across a year or so ago. It was a free music download somewhere (I'm thinking probably Itickets.com). I didn't know at the time how much the lyrics really applied to my life, but I like to listen to it occasionally to remind me of my tendency to be like the Israelites sometimes and look backward at where I've been...

Painting Pictures of Egypt

Sara Groves

I don’t want to leave here

I don’t want to stay

It feels like pinching to me either way

The places I long for the most

Are the places where I’ve been

They are calling after me like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith

It’s not about trust

It’s all about comfortable

When you move so much

The place I was wasn’t perfect

But I had found a way to live

It wasn’t milk or honey

But then neither is this

CHORUS:

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt

Leaving out what it lacked

The future seems so hard

And I want to go back

But the places that used to fit me

Cannot hold the things I"ve learned

And those roads closed off to me

While my back was turned

The past is so tangible

I know it by heart

Familiar things are never easy to discard

I was dying for some freedom

But now I hesitate to go

Caught between the promise

And the things I know

BRIDGE:

If it comes too quick

I may not appreciate it

Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

If it comes too quick

I may not recognize it

Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

Big House - Then Sings My Soul Saturday

Seems only fitting to have this song on my mind lately. God is blessing us with a "big, big house" in Huntsville, but it's nothing compared to what he has waiting for us in eternity.

Big House

Audio Adrenaline

I don't know where you lay your head

Or where you call your home

I don't know where you eat your meals

Or where you talk on the phone

I don't know if you got a cook

A butler or a maid

I don't know if you got a yard

With a hammock in the shade

I don't know if you got some shelter

Say a place to hide

I don't know if you live with friends

In whom you can confide

I don't know if you got a family

Say a mom or dad

I don't know if you feel love at all

But I bet you wish you had

Pre-chorus

Come and go with me

To my father's house

Come and go with me

To my father's house

Chorus

It's a big big house

With lots and lots of room

A big big table

With lots and lots of food

A big big yard

Where we can play football

A big big house

It's my father's house

All I know is a big ole house

With rooms for everyone

All I know is lots a land

Where we can play and run

All I know is you need love

And I've got a family

All I know is you're all alone

So why not come with me?

It keeps getting better

So I haven't really had time to do much more than post a meme every weekend lately (and I missed that last weekend... but as you will see, I had good reason!). Time to bring folks up to speed on the plans to move on to a new place and a new phase in our lives.

Brian is currently on leave and is back in Alabama, working at the job that will be his post-Air Force career position. He's been there since the beginning of the month, and aside from a quick trip back for a couple of days this coming week (Halle's birthday is Monday), will be there till the middle of November.

Halle and I flew to Huntsville last Friday so that I could help Brian look for a house. Last weekend was really the only free weekend he would probably have, so we jumped at the chance to get started on the hunt. We flew into Nashville, where my sister met us at the airport for the short (at least when you spend the whole time talking) drive south.

We hit the ground running Saturday morning.... between 9:30 and 4:30 we looked at 6 or 7 houses. The following day, we had 3 or 4 more to look at in the afternoon, including a return visit to the one house from the previous day that would not leave my head. We took my sister and her husband along as well; they were invaluable in pointing out things we hadn't seen or thought of as we looked at the houses. When we returned to the house that was becoming my favorite, we realized it really was the one we wanted. Even better than the fact that it has all the rooms and space we wanted is that the location is awesome. We can get to my sister's house in less than 20 minutes, and it is less than 30 to Brian's work. There are a nearby grocery store and fast food restaurants, plus it isn't far to the Arsenal for my main grocery shopping and also healthcare there.

We made an offer on the house shortly before Halle and I left town to come home, and got a phone call from our buyer's agent about 3 1/2 hours later with the counteroffer. We accepted it, and then marveled at how easy it was. The home inspection was yesterday... no huge problems to take care of. We are set to close by the 20th of next month, but probably will not get to move in till the end of December.

I am still in awe that we found something so quickly. I am really looking forward to the move and setting up housekeeping in a place where everyone has his/her own room and plenty of space to keep their things. We have room to put our school things in a separate space, there is a bonus room upstairs for video gaming and hanging out, and we have enough space to have folks over without having to sit in each other's laps. (And a driveway that will hold all the cars, too!) I don't have pictures, but will put some up when I have the chance.

"Grace Tells Another Story" - Then Sings My Soul Saturday

The first time I really heard the lyrics to this song, I think my mouth dropped open and hit the floor. In those lyrics were phrases that were almost identical to ones I'd uttered recently to friends in talking about my struggles to overcome my past. So to hear that someone else identified with those thoughts and feelings was, in a way, comforting. But what brought even greater comfort was the reminder in the rest of the song. The reminder that those things were lies fed to me by the father of lies, and that God's grace reveals another story, the TRUTH.

Enjoy the video. Lyrics are beneath.

Grace Tells Another Story - Mercy Me

They say don't waste your time

You simply cannot find

An ounce of good within the heart of man

They say we've got to lay

In the bed we've made

And live this life without a second chance

But I'm inclined to say

There must be something more

We've been told that the heart is just too far gone to save

But grace tells us another story

Where glory sends hopelessness away

Oh grace tells us another story

They say we cannot change

There is no other way

Get used to it cause this is all there is

They say don't raise your voice

Cause we don't have a choice

We're dealt this hand so learn to live with it

Well I have to believe

There must something more

We've been told that the heart is just too far gone to save

But grace tells us another story

Where glory sends hopelessness away

Oh grace tells us another story

And though we may not understand

Why You'd give us another chance

We praise You who lets us start again

We've been told that the heart is just too far gone to save

But grace tells us another story

Where glory sends hopelessness away

Oh grace tells us another story (repeat)

"While I'm Waiting" - Then Sings My Soul Saturday

No one likes waiting. It's not always fun; it's not always easy; it's not always pleasant. But there are times it is oh, so necessary. What do you do, especially when that waiting isn't necessarily something tied down to a finite timeline?

John Waller's song, While I'm Waiting, began receiving widespread airplay after the release of the movie Fireproof. The words and message were a perfect parallel to the storyline unfolding on the movie screen, where a husband was quietly trying to win back the love of his wife by demonstrating his love through acts of kindness, and by obeying God. He put feet to his faith.

Do we do the same thing, or do we treat God like a candy dispenser in the sky, dropping in our coins (prayers) and waiting for him to answer them? I love the message in this song: "I will serve you while I'm waiting; I will worship while I'm waiting..." and more importantly, "...taking every step in obedience." That line reminds me that my obedience isn't something to be bargained about with God; I will not be like a petulant child and withhold my obedience until I get what I want. That's just not how our God works.

I hope you are blessed by the words and music below.