Song lyrics

They That Wait Upon The Lord

Anyone who is struggling to trust God through a long time of waiting – be encouraged to know that Laura and Andy and myself are singing this to you from heart-felt experience!

Yes, we are all grateful for the miraculous interventions: incidents where we “see” God at work on our behalf. But even these are only recognised as such through faith. Christians live, scripture tells is, not by sight but by faith.

It is without seeing our Lord that we love Him. We wait upon him whether we are currently running and leaping spiritually with the excitement of knowing Him or whether we are quietly “plodding on”. This last phase is one that David has often used with dismissive cheerfulness to describe himself and in his choice of words I hear again the courage that I so respect and admire.

What does it mean to “wait upon the Lord”? Isaiah 40 v31 in the Amplified Version says: Those who wait for the Lord (who expect, look for, and hope in Him) shall change and renew their strength and power.

The chorale in this song was written by Andy, setting the last part of this verse from Isaiah.

God Of All Comfort

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1 vv3 & 4. RSV)

Father’s Song

How seemingly contradictory our metaphors can become! Front-Line Soldier urges is to stand and fight the battle of faith whereas Father’s Song invites us to be at rest! The Mind Of Christ is a song about paradox. These images are all from the Bible and not one contradicts the other in the life of faith. “They said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6 v28 & 29)

Believing is the Christian’s “work”. It is work for both disabled and able-bodied alike.

“For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory. Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches. Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two edged swords in their hands.” (from Psalm 147, italics is mine.)

Holy Dove

1Peter 1 vv 6,7,13; Hebrews 12

I remember expressing doubts as to whether Holy Dove should be included on this album. I wondered if the words were too esoteric. Were they delivering hurtful “pat” answers to the pressing theological questions with which we struggle when suffering becomes a personal reality in our lives?

“But it’s an issue you can’t dodge,” Andy insisted. “Jesus said that anyone who wanted to be his disciple must take up their cross and follow him. One way or another suffering is going to come.”

So here is the song Holy Dove for our dear friend Sylvia whose picture of a dove rising out of the fire inspired it. And for all those who seem to have much more than their “fair share” of suffering and yet whose faith shines with a very special beauty and in whose faces we see Jesus.

Saviour’s Song

I consider this the most personal of the songs and the one “closest to my own heart”. Knowing the love that inspired these words, I am still moved when I hear it. This song relates to the words of Jesus found in Matthew’s Gospel chapter 25 as well as to the mystery described in verse 27 of the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Perhaps it is a song to turn to after listening to the “Reflection” entitled “The Other Fisherman” on this website.

Cormorant Diving Notes

I remember David saying how he identified with these words from a letter written to the church at Philippi by the Apostle Paul, who had himself suffered physically and materially:

“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. …the loss of all things… that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.” ( chapter 3 verse 8)

The seabirds of the Northern Isles where David and I had lived were experiencing disaster as the sandeels, on which the surface-feeding birds depended for food, were disappearing north to cooler waters. The islands’ cormorants were faring better because they were accustomed to diving deeper and finding there in the depths the food they needed.

And as David discovered, we humans survive our own crises by entering and finding peace in the depths of the love of God.

“Cormorant Diving” was originally a poem. But Andy transformed my simple tune with a glorious arrangement, adding a choir!

The Mind of Christ Notes

How amazing! The Jesus of the song “Lo, Your Hero” calls us His friends! We may have many unanswered questions but all that we, with our finite human minds, need to know He has shared with us. He does not leave us alone in a bewildering dark and we find that we can trust Him even when we do not understand.

Isaiah 55 v8; 1 Corinthians 2 v16; John 10 v4; 13 7; 15 v14.

LO, Your Hero

This was originally a short song based on the vision in chapter 19 of Revelation which begins “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse!”

In this arrangement Andy has interwoven it with his setting of a song by David. This is not so much a song that David composed but rather heard and then later sang for me to hear too after an extraordinary experience of God acting in our lives to help us. There is no space here to relate what happened but it confirmed again that the awesome and majestic Son of God, who in the vision of Revelation is riding at the head of heaven’s army, is always passionately concerned about ordinary soldiers like us!

Front-Line Soldier

To David

When first I saw the man who would become my husband he was striding along with a loaded rucksack on his back. David did not know that he had M.S. (multiple sclerosis. Our first conversation was characterized by a great deal of laughter and over the years laughter has been one of the many gifts by which God has helped us through the progression of this terrible disease. The greatest help of all has been knowing that God is in this suffering with us, loving us and giving us the love and strength to support each other. David has shown great courage and a complete lack of self-pity. He was only 45 when having become severely disabled he entered permanent residential care because I was no longer well enough to continue looking after him. We had only been married for eight years and this separation was something we had been dreading. Yet sitting in his wheelchair in the nursing home and wanting to comfort me, this man (who was an expert rock-climber and who used to enjoy long-distance walking and energetic ceilich evenings) said: “I haven’t got better in the way you’d hoped. I haven’t been miraculously healed of the M.S.. But this closeness with Jesus is miraculous and nothing to complain about.”

“This is the victory that overcomes the world” writes the Apostle John. “Our faith.” There are circumstances when it is no easy thing to continue believing in the love of God. There’s a battle of faith. I have the privilege of being married to a very special front-line soldier. This song is a tribute to my lovely David.

You Are A Letter

This song was written to David in the summer of 1992 which had already been a traumatic year. He was about to return yet again to hospital and God spoke very personally to him through the words of 2 Corinthians 3 v3. The phrase Christ who is he likeness of God appears in 2 Corinthians 4 v4.

Shining

After Michael and Emily Gould had met us for he first time they commented to each other about the brightness of David’s face. “He really shines doesn’t he!” When Emily told me this I was delighted and I told her that I had just written a song about David called Shining and maybe we could meet with our instruments one evening and try the song together?

It is thanks to Michael and Emily that this album has been made. For years I had longed to record my songs because God had comforted me with them and I wanted to pass this comfort on to others. Michael and Emily decided that indeed a recording should be made and they have given generously of their time and energy to see the project through.

2 Corinthians 3 v18 – 4 v18; John 1vv4 &5; Matthew 5 vv14 & 15.

Found – a postscript

It felt right to include this song although it was written after we had finished recording for the CD. Hence the simple arrangement with Andy harmonising and accompanying on guitar. How this song came about is described in “He Dances With Wheels”. It references that beautiful verse 3 in chapter 3 of Paul’s Letter to the Colossians.

At the time of writing this song, David’s eyesight had been so progressively damaged by the MS that he could no longer read. But he could still remember the promises of Jesus.

In the original sleeve notes of 2003, I wrote how David…

” … still has such wonderful things to say. Here are some things he has told me lately: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee”. That’s all we need. The words of Jesus speaking for this moment. If we’ve got these words, Jesus saying “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” then we have everything we need. If you know God loves you then that is all you need to know.” “