But once again, I say "Amen" ...

Lately, it seems that the church both Ben & I attend, and where my husband is one of the Pastors, has been caught in the middle of a horrific storm that seems to have no end.

As Ben's Mom shared in the comment area of the "Thing Down" post, the past several months have been overwhelming, to say the least. And when I think of all we have gone through, other words come to mind to describe how we all must be feeling; words like, "shock" and "numb". I say "shock", because all of these incidents seemed to have come like unexpected tidal waves and have taken us all completely by surprise. The word "numb" reflects exactly how I know most of us are feeling; after having to face yet another heavy situation today...


What about you? Have you been here? Can you relate to any of these feelings? 


To give you a quick summary, our church has had to deal with several funerals within the past three months. Not to mention the scare when Ben and the other people in his vehicle were in a severe car accident and were blessed to have survived, and with such minor injuries. Before that, we had the incident where a soybean planter crashed into our church and destroyed a couple of our Sunday School classrooms. Even as I write and review these incidents, I find myself taking a slow, deep breath, in an attempt to de-stress and give it back to the Lord. This by no means is easy, but I have realized that it must be done and done often.

And today, we found out another member of our church had passed away, this time because they had been a severe car accident the previous day and suffered life-threatening injuries.

As I was attempting to function throughout my day and especially focus at my job, I found that the the song lyrics, which I posted below, kept coming to mind. I believe it was a blessing from God and something I wanted to share with all of you as a source of encouragement and comfort.

*Verse one really spoke to me, especially where it says, "But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining." The statement that I put in bold is reflective our current situations and yet, what I found the most compelling was the statement which preceded that, where it says ...

"But once again, I say "Amen"...

Powerful.

I will Praise You in this storm, Lord ... I will. 

I was sure by now

God You would have reached down

And wiped our tears away

Stepped in and saved the day

But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls

I barely hear Your whisper through the rain

"I'm with you"

And as Your mercy falls

I raise my hands and praise the God who gives

And takes away

[Chorus:]

And I'll praise You in this storm

And I will lift my hands

For You are who You are

No matter where I am

And every tear I've cried

You hold in Your hand

You never left my side

And though my heart is torn

I will praise You in this storm

I remember when

I stumbled in the wind

You heard my cry to you

And you raised me up again

My strength is almost gone

How can I carry on

If I can't find You

But as the thunder rolls

I barely hear You whisper through the rain

"I'm with you"

And as Your mercy falls

I raise my hands and praise the God who gives

And takes away

[Chorus]

I lift my eyes unto the hills

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord

The Maker of Heaven and Earth

[Chorus x2]