He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there
The song of victory.
When the chords begin and evoke a memory, suddenly the words come naturally rendering the powerpoint unnecessary - like lines from a movie we've all seen a dozen times. You can't say them without the movie necessarily - but with the context - all the words just appear ready to say.
We sang this song, "Victory in Jesus" tonight at a prayer vigil for a friend, someone who stood in the gap for us when victory seemed far from our grasp and the verse I have shared above offered a sweet vision.
Since this is my space for honesty, I cannot say that I have felt victorious or claimed victory lately -or ever in the last seven hundred and so days, but that changed for a brief moment tonight. Sometimes, when the song's melody creates the right context and when prayer has opened an injured heart, I can see heaven, again, as a reward where a sweet, tart, red-headed beauty sings, where one day she will hold my hand again, where happiness and joy won't seem foreign or far away.
Momentary as it was, I am thankful for the warmth that filled my heart, for the memory of the faith my family shares, for a community whose first reach is for prayer, and for the thought that our girl sings in a place that shines brighter than she does.
#golighttheworld