Anchor
The first four months of the year are usually the hardest months of the year for me – tax season. It seems that during this time I find a that resonates to give me hope and encouragement during these hard moments of stress and late nights. This year with the COVID-19 it was a double whammy, just like the rest of the world.
I must have played the Glorious Ruins album from Hillsong it seems like a 100 times during this season, many days that was the only album I listened to. Again and again and again.
This album gave me so much hope. Seeing the world around me fall apart. Seeing things that we thought were certain a week ago quickly became breakable. The prestigious castle that we used to look upon, quickly went from being made of strong bricks to crumbling sand that can easily wash away with the tides.
This time of breaking and tearing down opened my eyes that what I may see as ruins, are not ruins to Him. They are just pieces awaiting rebirth. A line from the title track of the album that I love is,
So let the ruins come to life
In the beauty of Your Name
May we have hope that whatever rubble you are surrounded in, these pieces of a once firm foundation will build anew. Just as God can breathe into a valley of dry bones, He can breathe into the valleys we are in now. But when the world comes back alive, may we see that it’s not because of our doing, but His. The chorus concludes with the following line,
Rising up from the ashes
God forever You reign
May we see during this time, that the only thing that will always endure is God. He is one who can cause life to rise up from the ashes…not me. Only Him. Not you either. Only Him.
The entire album is a great reminder, but the title track wasn’t the song of this season for me. No, it’s one of the last tracks. It was a song that I would replay over and over. It was my anthem during this rocky season of highs and lows. But though the uncertainty, I felt secure because of where I put my trust. Not in myself, which easily loses footholds and strength, but in the One who holds me as I try to feebly hold onto Him.
Anchor
I have this hope
As an anchor for my soul
Through every storm
I will hold to You
With endless love
All my fear is swept away
In everything
I will trust in You
There is hope in the promise of the cross
You gave everything to save the world You love
And this hope is an anchor for my soul
Our God will stand
Unshakeable
Unchanging One
You who was and is to come
Your promise sure
You will not let go
There is hope in the promise of the cross
You gave everything to save the world You love
And this hope is an anchor for my soul
Our God will stand
Unshakeable
Your Name is higher
Your Name is greater
All my hope is in You
Your word unfailing
Your promise unshaken
All my hope is in You
In this shaky time, may you find comfort in knowing a God who doesn’t waver in fear of a pandemic, a savior that doesn’t cower in surrender in a foxhole, a Lord who doesn’t wander blindly through an uncertain path.
Our God will stand unshakable.
May we stand or kneel before Him and feel the sturdiness on this holy ground.
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness veils his lovely face
I’ll rest on his unchanging grace
In every high and stormy day
My anchor holds within the veil
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
What a nice anchor to have during these times.
Peace
