when the saints

Hey friends! We’re back in action in Mexico… I flew into Brownsville Tuesday afternoon, and we’ve mainly just been unpacking and catching up since we got back.  I just wanted to share this song with y’all- its by Sara Groves and called “When the Saints”- but the lyrics really spoke to me.  When I was driving back from Asheville after visiting Molly I had it on repeat for at least 30 minutes… I just kept sobbing when I got to the last verse.  Anyways- here it is.  But you really have to hear it with the music to get the full effect, so I highly suggest buying it from itunes…

Lord I have a heavy burden of all I’ve seen and know
It’s more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I cannot let it go

And when I’m weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it’s all that I can’t carry and cannot leave behind
it often overwhelms me
but when I think of all who’ve gone before and lived the faithful life
their courage compells me
And when I’m weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the dying man’s side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them

It was cool because I really spent a lot of time in the Old Testament over the break, so Moses in Pharoah’s court was fresh on my mind, etc.  Friends, as believers we have such an incredible call.  Jesus handed us the authority to the Kingdom- he went down and got the keys from hell after he died on the cross- and we get to be his ambassadors, the ones to walk in the power of the Spirit and share this incredible news of grace with EVERYBODY.  I’m so excited to see what the Lord has in store for this semester in Mexico, and I also can’t wait to hear how God uses all of you in America.  Let the words “Well done, my good and faithful servant” be the words to motivate us to a life of bringing the Kingdom to earth… that His will would be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!  Claim it!