“Oh, My Soul” by Casting Crowns

Oh, my soul
Oh, how you worry
Oh, how you’re weary, from fearing you lost control
This was the one thing, you didn’t see coming
And no one would blame you, though
If you cried in private
If you tried to hide it away, so no one knows
No one will see, if you stop believing

Oh, my soul
You are not alone
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know
One more day, He will make a way
Let Him show you how, you can lay this down
‘Cause you’re not alone

Here and now
You can be honest
I won’t try to promise that someday it all works out
‘Cause this is the valley
And even now, He is breathing on your dry bones
And there will be dancing
There will be beauty where beauty was ash and stone
This much I know

Oh, my soul
You are not alone
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know
One more day, He will make a way
Let Him show you how, you can lay this down

I’m not strong enough, I can’t take anymore
(You can lay it down, you can lay it down)
And my shipwrecked faith will never get me to shore
(You can lay it down, you can lay it down)
Can He find me here
Can He keep me from going under

Oh, my soul
You’re not alone
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know
One more day, He will make a way
Let Him show you how, you can lay this down
‘Cause you’re not alone
Oh, my soul, you’re not alone

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bernie Herms / John Mark Hall

Dear God, I’m still not sure what happened yesterday. Was it good? Did I do something wrong? Did I leave something crucial out? Or was it exactly what it was supposed to be? I taught a Sunday school class on Hezekiah and his desperation in praying before you. I used “He’s My Son” by Mark Schultz as an illustration of what pleading with you looks like. It’s a song I’ve certainly prayed. I’ve ugly-cried to that song. I ugly-cried yesterday. But playing that song yesterday ended up being a trigger for some of the people in the room. Some have had their children die. Some have children in prison. Some have seen their children go through horrific physical issues that resulted in them living but with significant remnants of the disease they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Some have broken relationships with children.

I feel bad right now. Did I do the wrong thing? I know I just asked this, but it’s the question that is running around in my mind. If I were to be teaching the class next week I might continue with healing and leaning on you. What that looks like. What it doesn’t look like. One thing it doesn’t look like is just “being fine.” No, sometimes this is just going to hurt, and sometimes the hurt will never go away. Like I said yesterday, sometimes that anchor will be there, but you can use it to form us into something that we’d never have otherwise been.

The second verse of the song above is what is speaking to me this morning:

Here and now
You can be honest
I won’t try to promise that someday it all works out
‘Cause this is the valley
And even now, He is breathing on your dry bones
And there will be dancing
There will be beauty where beauty was ash and stone
This much I know

Yeah, this might never work out the way we want it to this side of heaven. But there is something you will eventually do for me. At the end of this physical life, you will breathe on my dry bones. There will be beauty made from ash and stone.

Holy Spirit, please be the comforter and counselor for each person in the class yesterday and those who were touched beyond the class. Forgive me if I missed something I should have said. Use the pain that happened yesterday for your good and the good of everyone in there. Use it as an opportunity to heal, call us to repentance, and teach us to lean into you a little harder.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen