Love Never Fails

Love Never Fails

By Brandon Heath

Love is not proud 
Love does not boast
Love after all 
Matters the most 
Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside 
Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you
Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time 
Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t 
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you
When my heart won’t make a sound
When I can’t turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this 
Greater than this
Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life
Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you


1 Corinthians 13:4

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

{This was the best version I was able to find. If you know a better one, I'd love to hear it.}

How I spent my New Years Eve

Katie and I spent the evening with our best buddies: Ben and Jerry.

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
And never brought to mind? 
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
And days of auld lang syne? 
And days of auld lang syne, my dear, 
And days of auld lang syne. 
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
And days of auld lang syne? 
We twa hae run aboot the braes 
And pu'd the gowans fine. 
We've wandered mony a weary foot, 
Sin' auld lang syne. 
Sin' auld lang syne, my dear, 
Sin' auld lang syne, 
We've wandered mony a weary foot, 
Sin' auld ang syne. 
We twa hae sported i' the burn, 
From morning sun till dine, 
But seas between us braid hae roared 
Sin' auld lang syne. 
Sin' auld lang syne, my dear, 
Sin' auld lang syne. 
But seas between us braid hae roared 
Sin' auld lang syne. 

And ther's a hand, my trusty friend, 
And gie's a hand o' thine; 
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, 
For auld lang syne. 
For auld lang syne, my dear, 
For auld lang syne, 
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, 
For auld lang syne.

I Will Praise You In This Storm

Praise You In This Storm
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] 

{Psalm 121}

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains— 

where does my help come from? 

² My help comes from the LORD, 

the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip— 

he who watches over you will not slumber; 

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel 

will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you— 

the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day, 

nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm— 

he will watch over your life; 

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going 

both now and forevermore.

Today Was Like Love

I woke up this morning exhausted, struggled through two classes and a chapel, and as I was falling asleep during naptime around 11:30, I thought to myself, If I'm not sure if I'm okay, does that mean I'm not okay?

Last semester I struggled a lot with depression, and the year before that. Nothing too serious, but enough to confine me to my room most of the time and cry myself to sleep regularly. I had some solid support, my ex boyfriend was so great about it and did his best to help me, and I had a couple of good friends who were there for me to lean on, but it was a really difficult time. Sometimes I would be sitting in chapel and wonder what it would be like to jump off the balcony, or be standing on a bridge and wonder how effective it would be to jump. I don't know if I'd have done anything, but my mom's voice was always going through my head from a time in tenth grade that I was dealing with something similar, telling me "If anything happened to you, I'd have no reason to live."

Lately, things have been hard. No where near as hard as they were last semester, but lonely and sad, and I just don't want things to get to that point again.

I woke up at one and got ready for class, and then afterward I wandered around campus for a while, first going to the dock and realizing that someone was already there, and then scoping out Frost to see if I could locate the prayer room, to no avail at first. So I texted Chuck and then he, being the wonderful guy that he is, excused himself from class to call me and tell me where it was. As if he knew I needed it today. 

So I walk into this room, and the first thing I do is start to cry, because it's all I can do. This room is {first of all} so cozy. It's warm with the perfect lighting and just the right size. And then the walls are covered with drawn pictures and quotes written in crayon everywhere. Everyone talking to God. It was such a beautiful experience, sitting in this room that so many other people had contributed to. 

It seems right that tomorrow is the day of prayer. 

And in honor of the day of prayer, I give you a list of some of my favorite praise and worship songs.

Beautiful Things - {Gungor}
The Stand - {Hillsong}
Oceans from the Rain {Seventh Day Slumber}
Forever Reign {Hillsong}
In Christ Alone {Owl City}
Amazing Because It Is {The Almost}
Praise You In This Storm {Casting Crowns}
How He Loves {David Crowder Band}
Indescribable {Chris Tomlin}
Came To My Rescue {Hillsong}
What Faith Can Do {Kutless}

Also, if any of you, my readers, ever need prayer, feel free to shoot me an email. 

Be positive...be positive.

First things first: this photo does not belong to me, I stumbled upon it.
Next.
The little piece of paper on the window says that "every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day." SO TRUE. And I think this is something we need to focus on. For instance. Today, I got five and a half hours of sleep, woke up to endure two miserable classes, during the second of which a girl snapped at me for providing accurate information about a class that I will not be taking next semester, went to chapel and listened to people make rude remarks and illogical and somewhat arrogant propositions, went back to my room for a while then went to register for classes during which I found out that I will need to spend close to two grand to take a may term class, then went to power and prestige and poverty and watched that SAME GIRL mutter to herself and roll her eyes at every comment all through class. After all this, I was given a two word response by a certain fella, read for an hour and a half a book about inequality, ate a less-than-pleasant dinner, came back to my room and spent more than three hours doing spanish homework, and now am ready to kill myself. HOWEVER, i'm going to focus on the fact that I have a bag full of nerds to eat, a bed to sleep in, a job to earn money from tomorrow, it's almost friday, i'm hanging out with said certain fella on friday, more money on saturday, tea party saturday, and as for today, it was nice out. Joy joy joy.
Those last couple of joys may have implied a feeling less joyful than what I have been aiming for. Eh, not such a joyful day, I suppose. But I'm not feeling so much despair today, just exhaustion, so I'll be fine.
On another note, I was listening to my iTunes whilst writing a spanish essay and wanted to share this song with you. The first time I heard it I was listening to my iPod at work a few weeks before I broke up with Nate and I just broke down into a big mess of tears and heartbreak and confusion, but now I listen to it, and it's just a really pretty, really moving song.

Oh My Dear {Tenth Avenue North} 

I called you up, you were in bed, could barely make out the words that you said
But you wanted to see me instead, so I got dressed
So I stepped out into the snow, and walked for a mile or so
Felt the rush of blood come from the cold, within my chest

Well, you finally came to the door, and we talked for an hour or more
Until I asked if you would stay up until four, and you said that's fine
But you said "theres something I have to say, and I can just because I am so afraid"
And so I held you as you started to shake, that night

Oh, my dear, ill wait for you
Grace tonight will pull us through
Until the tears have left your eyes
Until the fear can sleep at night
Until the demons that you're scared of
Disappear inside
Until the scale begins to crack
And this weight falls from your back
Oh, my dear, ill keep you in my arms tonight

You slowly lifted your head from your hands
You said "I just don't think you'll understand
You'll never look at me that way again
If you knew what I dida"

And so your tears fell and melted the snow
You told me secrets nobody had known
But I never loved you more, even though
Now I know what you did

Oh, my dear, ill wait for you
Grace tonight will pull us through
Oh, my dear, ill wait for you
Grace tonight will pull us through
Until the tears have left your eyes
Until the fear can sleep at night
Until the demons that you're scared of
Disappear inside
Until the scale begins to crack
And this weight falls from your back
Oh, my dear, ill keep you in my arms tonight

Until the tears have left your eyes
Until the fear can sleep at night
Until the demons that you're scared of
Disappear inside
Until the scale begins to crack
And this weight falls from your back
Oh, my dear, ill keep you in my arms tonight
I'll keep you in my arms tonight

Yellow

Coldplay: I always though that they played music that was a cross between green day and nickelback. Basically, awful. However, my beautiful roommate is somewhat addicted to them and has downloaded (and played nonstop) their new Album.
Turns out, I'm in love with them.
This is a great song.
Lyrics:
Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And everything you do
Yeah, they were all yellow

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called "Yellow"

So then I took my turn
Oh what a thing to have done
And it was all "Yellow"

Your skin
Oh yeah, your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
And you know,
You know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh what a thing to do
'Cause you were all "Yellow"

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all "Yellow"

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
And you know
For you I'd bleed myself dry
For you I'd bleed myself dry

It's true, look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And all the things that you do

Enjoy!

Good evening

Saturday night and I can actually say that for the first time I saw Anasapphira play live. Who's Anasapphira, you ask? Why, just the greatest band e'er.

Actually, today was the first time I had ever heard them play, and I went to this show on a strict obligation. You see, the tall, lanky man standing at the far left in the above picture is a friend from home. We went to Honduras together, and braved the terrors of Parkhurst & Co., Inc. together. We helped one another through a pretty rough time and we keep in touch now that I'm back at school. I love 'im. But like a brotha. 

However, the music that he tried to expose me to is what we, here at Gordon College, call "hardcore". I.e., metal, screamo, what have you. All in all, not my kind of music. But the thing about this kind of music is that you can actually feel the passion and energy that they have just from being present.

[Ana Sapphira errone]

That is, if you don't get stepped on and thrown around, which is a pretty viable threat.

Their front man is nuts. In a really awesome way. Its so cool to watch them interact and to watch them feel what they're playing and singing. Just an overall awesome experience. 

There may even be a chance that I would go to another one of their shows. I've been told that they're pretty solid for a metal band (woohoo!). However, I'm 5'3" and 110 pounds so I would be tossed around that place like a feather. I may have to weigh the pros and cons (and the value of my life) before I decide to go. 

On another note, I attended this show with three guys; we'll call them Tom, Dick, and Harry. Harry is a sophomore who I met through college bound (which I'll touch upon at a later time). He's pretty much a space case but he's really thoughtful and really nice. When I was getting trampled, I escaped, and he followed me out to make sure I was all right. Good guy.

Dick is wonderful. A junior at Gordon, he's crazy and hilarious and precious. Also a really good guy. He tried to protect me from the mosh pit, to little avail.

"Tom"...

Ohhh boy. I'm basically in love with him. Which isn't something I should probably be confessing to online. But the chances that he'll stumble upon this are incredibly slim, so I'll worry not. He's a guy that's been through hell for basically his whole life. It's worsened over the past few months. There was a girl involved and family problems that I don't know the depth of but basically, he's a great guy with a lot of bad, messed up, problems. To make things worse, he's one of my ex's best friends (score!). Ultimately, the last person I could ever be involved with. Sooo we'll be working on that. Right there on my to-do list. 

So its saturday night. Tomorrow I get up for church and then spend the afternoon with my beautiful aunt, and then waste away the evening doing homework, and then we begin another beautiful, wonderful week!