What Do You Know, Joe

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Psalms 34:18 — The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Joe came from a well-off family. They weren’t uber-rich, mind you. But they were comfortable. He grew up going to decent schools. He wore high-end clothes. He may or may not have worn monogrammed underwear.

When he turned 18, he was going to join the military like his dad, the officer, wanted. But there is a well known saying in the military, “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken excrement.” We are who we are.

Joe just wasn’t the military type. He was creative, he wrote poetry, for crying out loud. So he went to college instead.

Turns out, the poet was a great student. And he realized something important during college: He liked teaching.

So he got a job as a private tutor. It was a fun gig. He taught the children of a good family, and life was shaping up nicely.

Things got even better when he met a girl. She was lovely. Charming. They became obsessed with each other, constantly annoying all those around them with PDA.

It wasn’t long before they were engaged. Joe was probably happier than he’d ever been. They started planning the wedding.

Only days before the big event, there was an accident. It all happened so fast. His bride-to-be drowned. The accident happened right in front of Joe. His was the last face she saw.

Joe was catatonic. He had PTSD. Night terrors. He couldn’t stop seeing her face. His friends and family didn’t know whether he would ever get over her.

The worst part of it all, he often said, was the loneliness. Loneliness is the worst sensation in the human experience.

He finally left home for a fresh start. He took a job in a rural town with a tiny population. A town so small they the city-limits signs were nailed to the same post.

He lived in the sticks. He joined a church. Mostly, Joe kept to himself. He was a quiet guy. He spent a lot of time alone in nature.

Also, they say he helped people. He was a handy guy, so he was always at someone’s house fixing something. He was usually helping the disabled folks in town, and the shut-ins.

He earned a reputation for being a hard worker. Locals tried to hire him, but he had a personal rule he followed. Joe would only work for those who couldn’t afford to pay. He accepted no money.

You know. Just a really good guy.

Then he met Catherine. They had an instant connection. It was one of those relationships that just worked. They started hanging out a lot. He loved her so deeply it hurt. And just like that, the loneliness was gone.

They got engaged. It was the happy ending of a very long grief process. A ray of sunlight. But shortly before their wedding, Catherine developed pneumonia. He was at her bedside when she died.

After that, Joe was a wreck. They say he threw himself into the work of helping others, if for no other reason, than to combat loneliness.

He wrote poetry, too. Lots of it. Late one night, while writing a letter, he wrote one such poem.

The page was dotted with drops of saltwater, smearing the ink in little puddles. The beginning verse of that poem went:

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and grief to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!

And anyway, now you know the rest of the story.

— Sean Dietrich

 

 

Lyrics:

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer!

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he’ll take and shield thee; Thou wilt find a solace there.

-Joseph M. Scriven, 1855
(Tune by Charles C. Converse, 1868)

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Jesus Calls Us Back to Life

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John 11:25 — “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”

Have you ever thought about the fact that the primary way that God chose to reveal Himself to us is through story? I think God chose to do this because He knows us best.

One of my favorite stories comes from the dramatic scene in John where Jesus finds Himself at the tomb of His best friend, Lazarus. By the time Jesus got there, Lazarus had been dead for four days.

In Jewish tradition, the soul would hover over the body for three days, but on the fourth, there would be no more hope for any reversal of the loss. This little cultural detail sets up the story to show Jesus faced with an impossible situation.

Surrounded by weeping family and friends, Jesus calls out…'”Lazarus, come out! Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

This is our story! Apart from Jesus, you and I are without hope, without life, and without promise. No matter how far gone we think we are, we can all still hear the powerful and authoritative voice of Jesus calling out to us.

“(insert your name here), come out! Take off the grave clothes and be free!”

Because, just like Lazarus, He has called us back to life!

— Phil Wickham

 

LYRICS

How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation, I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night
Then through the darkness, Your loving kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished, the end is written
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Who could imagine so great a mercy?
What heart could fathom such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own
Beautiful Savior, I’m Yours forever
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus, Yours is the victory, whoa!

Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope

Jesus Christ, my living hope
Oh God, You are my living hope

Songwriters: Brian Johnson / Phil Wickham

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From Forgiveness to Family

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Matthew 6:12 – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Over the past few years, I’ve been on this journey of writing songs inspired by the real life stories that people send to me.

This one story in particular has had a profound impact on me. It hit me kind of hard. It’s about a woman who did the impossible, and it made me ask myself if I could do the same.

Renee had four kids. Two of her daughters were twins. Megan was coming home from the beach one night with her best friend when their car was struck by a drunk driver named Eric, a 24-year-old kid.

Megan lost her life. Eric killed both girls that were in the car. Renee lost her daughter in an instant. Next thing she knows, she finds herself in a courtroom watching this young man, this 24-year-old man, get sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Renee wrote to me and said, “I now have a mission that I never would have chosen.”

What she meant by that is that in the years that followed, she began to travel around to schools and churches and different functions, and she would speak about the dangers of drunk driving.

But as the years progressed, she felt like something was missing from her presentation, and that’s when God put it on her heart that she had not forgiven this man who took the life of her daughter. And so she reached out and did the impossible.

She reached out to Eric in prison and said, “I forgive you.”

The ripple effects of that act of forgiveness are still being felt today. That young man’s life was absolutely changed because this woman forgave him.

He said, “I can’t even forgive myself, and she forgave me.” Eric said he found his eternal salvation as a result of this act.

One by one, all of Rene’s family members followed her lead, and they reached out and expressed forgiveness to Eric. So much so that now they describe Eric as part of their family, like a son to Renee.

The story doesn’t stop there though. Renee went to the courts along with her family, and she was able to have Eric’s sentence cut in half from 22 years to 11 years.

This blew me away.

The reason she did it is so that Eric could have a second chance at life, and so that he could join her in their presentations. She told me that now she shares not only about the dangers of drunk driving, but also about the power of forgiveness.

— Matthew West

 

LYRICS

It’s the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those that don’t deserve

It’s the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just to real
It takes everything you have just to say the word…

Forgiveness
Forgiveness

It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It’s always anger’s own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
Say you gotta right to hold a grudge
It’s the whisper in your ear saying “Set It Free”

Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness

Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible

Forgiveness, Forgiveness

Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness

It’ll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what it’s power can do
So, let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you

Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness

Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness

I want to finally set it free
So show me how to see what Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me

Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness
Forgiveness

Songwriters: Matthew West

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Say Goodbye to Yesterday

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2 Corinthians 5:17 — “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

There was always one.

One student always showed up to youth group and sat in the back. Hoodie up. Eyes down. Never sang. Never responded.

And I could not stop thinking about him.

We did not start Elevation Rhythm for big stages. We started in rooms like that—small, loud, and imperfect— with students like that who were not yet sure what they believed about God but still came.

We began by remixing worship songs, just trying to help them connect. Eventually, we started writing our own. Not to sound cool. Not to go viral. But because we knew not every kid listens to the same thing, and if God speaks every language, then maybe He could speak through every genre, too.

Our hope was that in all the noise of the world, they would hear one song that felt personal like God was saying, “This one is for you.”

During one of those writing days, it was just me, Gracie Binion, and Mitch Wong. We were talking through what God had done in our lives and how hard it can be to stop believing the lies about who we used to be.

Then Gracie said, almost in passing, “I think I finally said goodbye to who I used to be.”

And that was it. We knew our students needed to hear that.

That was the beginning of our song “Goodbye Yesterday.”

We already had the name of the album, Victory Lap, but the meaning sank in deeper that day.

A victory lap is what you take after the race is finished—Not to win but to celebrate what has already been won. That is what life in Jesus is. Freedom. Not striving.

And maybe today, you are the one sitting in the back, not literally but in your heart. You are still unsure if God sees you and still dragging around the shame of a life He already paid for.

If that is you, hear this: you do not have to be weighed down by a version of yourself Jesus already set free.

The cross is before you. The past does not have to define you because He has already won. So, say the words even in a whisper.

“Goodbye, yesterday.”

And the rest of your life? It is your Victory Lap.

— Josh Holiday

 

Lyrics:

Goodbye yesterday
I’m living in the light of a new day
I won’t waste another minute in my old ways
Praise the Lord I’ve been born again

Goodbye yesterday
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
I’ve got resurrection in my veins
Praise the Lord, I’ve been born again

Again and again and again and again
You rescued me out of the mess I was in
Traded my sorrow for something to sing
I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in

I have decided
To follow Jesus
The world behind
The cross before
I won’t turn back

Written by Joshua Holiday, Gracie Binion, Mitch Wong, Steven Furtick

GOODBYE YESTERDAY – LEARN MORE HERE

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Life After Letting Go

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Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”

If you had asked me a few years ago what surrender looked like, I probably would have given you a lyric or a sermon point. I might have even sung about it on stage. But life has a way of taking your songs and asking if you actually believe them.

We were in the middle of another packed tour—city after city, set list after set list. People were singing along. Ministry was happening. On the outside, everything looked like it was working. But on the inside, I was struggling to catch my breath.

I was missing dinners. Bedtime stories. The small in-between moments at home that no one claps for, but that matter more than anything. One night, sitting alone in a venue parking lot, I remember thinking—not in a dramatic way, but in a soul-deep way—What am I even doing?

I had given so much of myself to ministry, but somewhere along the way, I stopped asking if it was still what God wanted—or if I had just forgotten how to stop.

That night marked the beginning of surrender.

I sat with the guys in the band and said, “I think we need to step back from touring.”

It hurt to say. But it opened the door to healing. We took time off. We made space for our families. And in that space, the lyrics to our song “Control” came to me:

“Oh how You love me
Somehow that frees me
To open my hands up
And give You control
I give You control”

When we released it, we started receiving letters—people telling us about the things they were finally letting go of. Control of their children’s futures. Control of broken marriages. Control of their image. The #ControlCampaign became more than a hashtag. It became a shared sigh of relief.

And that is what I never saw coming: the rest. The clarity. The peace that comes when you stop reaching for everything and hand back to God what was His in the first place.

So if your heart feels overwhelmed and stretched thin, maybe the way forward is not to try harder. Maybe it is to trust deeper. Surrender is not failure. It is where freedom starts.

— Mike Donehey

 

Control (Somehow You Want Me)

Here I am, all my intentions
All my obsessions, I wanna lay them all down
In Your hands
Only Your love is vital
Though I’m not entitled
Still You call me Your child

God, You don’t need me, but somehow You want me
Oh, how You love me, somehow that frees me
To take my hands off of my life and the way it should go
Oh, God, You don’t need me, but somehow You want me
Oh, how You love me, somehow that frees me
To open my hands up and give You control
I give You control

I’ve had plans shattered and broken
Things I have hoped in, fall through my hands
You have plans to redeem and restore me
You’re behind and before me
Oh, help me believe

God, You don’t need me, but somehow You want me
Oh, how You love me, somehow that frees me
To take my hands off of my life and the way it should go
Oh, God, You don’t need me, but somehow You want me
Oh, how You love me, somehow that frees me
To open my hands up and give You control

You want me, somehow You want me
The King of Heaven wants me
So this world has lost its grip on me(Repeat)

God, You don’t need me, but somehow You want me
Oh, how You love me, somehow that frees me
To take my hands off of my life and the way it should go
Oh, God, You don’t need me, but somehow You want me
Oh, how You love me, somehow that frees me
To open my hands up and give You control
I give You control
You want me, somehow You want me
The King of Heaven wants me
So this world has lost its grip on me

(Written by: Mike Donehey, Jason Ingram, Matt Bronleewe)

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He’s a Good Father

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Psalms 103:13 — As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.

Pat Barrett had sung about God his whole life. But when his daughter was born, something in him shifted. As Harper Gray lay asleep, soft and small in his arms, Pat paused mid-prayer.

How am I going to explain God to her?

He had heard it all. God as judge. God as distant. God as angry. He had led worship at dozens of conferences where the message shifted depending on the speaker or the crowd. One week, God was gentle. The next, furious. Disappointed. Hard to please.

But now he was a father. When you’re raising a child, you do not have the luxury of vague beliefs anymore. You need to know who God is not just for your sake, but for theirs too.

In that season of wrestling, Pat sat with his guitar, heart heavy, and out came a lyric more like a sigh than a song.

“I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think You’re like…”

Meanwhile, his friend Tony Brown had been leading worship in their Atlanta house church, singing a chorus that had been sitting with him for years:

“You’re a good, good Father…”

For Tony, who had grown up without a dad, those words carried deep personal meaning. God was not just a comfort. He was the only Father Tony had ever known.

The two met up, shared what they were wrestling with, and together they finished the song “Good Good Father” with no spotlight in mind.

The song caught on fast—first in their home church, then beyond. Word spread, and one day Chris Tomlin heard it. He called, asked to record it, and the song took on a life of its own. Churches around the world began singing the same simple truth.

But for Pat, the most important moment was still at home. It was hearing Harper Gray sing along. Because that is what he had wanted all along. He wanted his child to grow up with the right story. God is a good father.

Maybe that is what you need, too. Maybe the stories you were told about Him left you unsure, guarded, or aching. But the truth is still true.

God i s not just a good Father in theory. He is a good Father in practice. He is present, attentive, and steady, and He wants to be that to you and for you.

Would you let Him?

 

LYRICS

VERSE 1
I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think You’re like
But I’ve heard the tender whisper of love in the dead of night
You tell me that You’re pleased and that I’m never alone

CHORUS
You’re a good, good father
It’s who You are, it’s who You are, it’s who You are
And I’m loved by you
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am

VERSE 2
I’ve seen many searching for answers far and wide
But I know we’re all searching for answers only you provide
‘Cause You know just what we need before we say a word

BRIDGE
You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways to us

VERSE 3
Love so undeniable I can hardly speak
Peace so unexplainable I can hardly think
As You call me deeper still
As You call me deeper still
As You call me deeper still
Into love love love

Written By Pat Barrett and Tony Brown

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Guided by God’s Word

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2 Corinthians 12:8-9 — “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

I had already made the list in my head: I was not smart enough, not qualified enough, not the kind of person who should even consider Bible school.

Study music ministry? I could not read sheet music, much less memorize long passages or pass a theology class. Still, the thought would not leave me alone. Every time I prayed, I felt that tug—a strong, steady pull I could not ignore.

So, I started asking around. That was a mistake. Everyone I talked to told me no in one way or another. And I get it. They knew my story. I had spent most of my school years just trying to hide a learning disability, praying no one would call on me to read aloud.

Eventually, I made a deal with God.

“If You take away my learning disability,” I told Him, “I will go.”

I had been reading that part in the Bible where Paul begs God to take something painful away, and I thought, “That’s it. That’s how I will know. If God fixes me—that will be my answer.”

But He did not fix it.

What He did instead was slower, harder—and far more beautiful. He kept leading me back to that same passage, and each time I read it, I started seeing it differently.

God was not waiting to heal me so I could go. He was waiting for me to trust Him enough to go anyway.

So, I went.

The struggle did not disappear. Learning remained slow. Some days, reading Scripture felt like running uphill in the dark, but I kept showing up.

Now, years later, I can say with full confidence: His Word is my compass. It is what I use to make decisions when I am scared or uncertain or hurting. It corrects my thoughts when my feelings run wild. It reminds me that I am not the one holding everything together. He is.

These days, people carry a lot of convictions. We talk with passion. We post with intensity. But unless our convictions come from Scripture, they will not hold. They will only confuse us more.

Truth lives in the Word. And through it, God will do things you cannot explain—not always by removing your weakness, but by walking with you through it.

So, just know this: you do not need to be the best or the brightest to follow where God leads. You just need to know where to look for direction.

And His Word will never lead you off course.

— Mark Hall

Lyrics

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I’m in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He’s holding out His hand
But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I’ve tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again, “Boy, you’ll never win!”
(Never win)
“You’ll never win!”
(Never win)

But the Voice of Truth tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says, “Do not be afraid!”
And the Voice of Truth says, “This is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth

The stone was just the right size
To put the giant on the ground
And the waves they don’t seem so high
On top of them lookin’ down
And I soar with the wings of eagles
If I’d stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
Singing over me

And the Voice of Truth tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says, “Do not be afraid!”
And the Voice of Truth says, “This is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)
I will choose to listen and believe (I will stand and believe)
I will choose to listen and believe
The Voice of Truth

Writers: Mark Hall and Steven Curtis Chapman

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From Wandering to Worship

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Romans 5:8 – “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Robert Robinson had a reputation — wild, sharp-witted, never one to stay in the same place for too long.

He spent his teenage years chasing whatever kept the silence away. Friends, noise, drink, distraction — anything to stay out of his own head.

But the ache always followed him.

One Sunday, he decided to visit a local revival. He did not walk into that tent looking for anything holy. He was there because his friends were, and the noise inside him had gotten too loud. But something shifted when he heard the preacher speak — not about rules or guilt, but about a kind of love that did not flinch when it met a broken person.

That night, Robert believed. He took a step toward something better, and he gave his life to Jesus.

But change did not come easy. The old pull stayed strong. Doubt crept in. He still felt like the boy who could not get it right. So, one evening, he sat with all of it and wrote what he was too tired to pretend about anymore: “Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love”

That line, honest and worn, became a hymn. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was not written from a mountaintop. It came from the valley and from a man who still wrestled with the weight of being human.

The hymn endures because it is true. Most of us, at some point, feel like we have wandered too far, but grace does not keep score. Grace stays put. It waits for you, steady as ever.

If you feel far off, hear this: you are not disqualified. You are not too late, and the One who loved Robert back home has not stopped reaching for you.

 

COME THOU FOUNT

Come, Thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise mine Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I’m come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wand’ring from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

And, O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts-

Above all else, I adore Your name
Above all else, tune my heart to sing Your praise
Above all else, I adore Your name
Above all else, tune my heart to sing Your praise
Above all else, I adore Your name
Above all else, tune my heart to sing Your praise, oh
Above all else, I adore Your name
Above all else, tune my heart to sing Your praise

The highest praise, the loudest praise
To the Name above every name
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

Songwriters: Shane Barnard
Come Thou Fount (Above All Else) lyrics © Songs From Wellhouse

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The Unbreakable House of the Lord

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1 Corinthians 3:16 — “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

Do you remember the day the world shut down? It felt like a single, collective gasp. Stores closed their doors, streets emptied, and even the churches locked their gates.

I remember standing there, staring at my calendar that had just gone blank. Concerts, church services, small group gatherings—canceled overnight. Plans evaporated, and the sense of normalcy we clung to vanished in an instant.

I asked myself, “What does church look like now?”

But then I started to notice the small things. My wife’s smile as we walked the neighborhood. A neighbor’s wave from a safe distance. A phone call that turned into an unexpected lifeline. Even behind masks, I saw the same eyes of kindness and compassion that had always been there.

It dawned on me that the house of the Lord was not bricks and wood. It was us—ordinary people carrying God’s presence into the everyday. COVID-19 did not cancel that. It revealed it.

That was the moment my song “House of the Lord” came to life. I wanted to sing about the real church. It’s the one that cannot be shut down by a virus or anything else. It’s a family that laughs and cries together, that keeps showing up even when the world feels shaky.

Even with the “new normal” now behind us, I keep hearing “House of the Lord” on the radio, and I remember that the truest kind of worship is not found in the stage or the pew. It is found wherever we choose to love each other, to stand together, and to encourage each other in the Lord.

The body of Christ is a family that stands strong through every season. That is the house of the Lord, and it is waiting for you to find your place in it, no matter where you are today.

— Phil Wickham

Lyrics

Verse
We worship the God who was
We worship the God who is
We worship the God who evermore will be
He opened the prison doors
He parted the raging sea
Our God He holds the victory

Chorus
There’s joy In the house of the Lord
There’s joy in the house of the Lord today
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise
There’s Joy in the house of the Lord
Our God is surely in this place
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise
We shout out Your praise

Verse
We sing to the God who heals
We sing to the God who saves
We sing to the God who always makes a way
He hung upon that cross
Then He rose up from that grave
My God’s still rolling stones away

Chorus
There’s joy In the house of the Lord
There’s joy in the house of the Lord today
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise
There’s Joy in the house of the Lord
Our God is surely in this place
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise

Bridge
We were the beggars
Now we’re royalty
We were the prisoners
Now we’re running free
We are forgiven, accepted
Redeemed by His grace
Let the house of the Lord sing praise

Cause we were the beggars
Now we’re royalty
We were the prisoners
Now we’re running free
We are forgiven, accepted
Redeemed by His grace
Let the house of the Lord sing praise

Chorus
There’s joy In the house of the Lord
There’s joy in the house of the Lord today
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise
There’s Joy in the house of the Lord
Our God is surely in this place
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise

There’s joy In the house of the Lord
There’s joy in the house of the Lord today
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise
There’s Joy in the house of the Lord
Our God is surely in this place
And we won’t be quiet
We shout out Your praise
We shout out Your praise
We shout out Your praise
We shout out Your praise

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Hold Tight to the One Who Calls You His

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Isaiah 43:1b – “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

I used to think the perfect vacation meant white sand beaches, sunshine, and a good book. But when you’re a girl dad, vacation often means something else entirely—like shopping. And lots of it. That’s how I ended up in the heart of New York City, weaving through streets with my daughters, surrounded by endless storefronts and towering skyscrapers.

One evening, we stepped into the pulse of Times Square. It was a sensory overload—neon lights, shouting street performers, protesters, and vendors all competing for attention. The noise pressed in on every side. I felt my daughters’ small hands in mine, and I gripped them tightly.

“Stay close,” I said. The crowd could have easily swallowed them up.

That moment stuck with me—not just because of the chaos, but because of the clarity it gave me.

The world is a lot like Times Square. Loud. Confusing. Constantly trying to grab our attention and define us. It’s easy to get swept up in the noise. The lies we hear—or even the ones we tell ourselves—can feel louder than the truth. A rough school year can whisper that we’re not enough. A broken home can brand us as unlovable. A divorce can scream that we’re worthless.

And Satan? He thrives in that confusion. If he can convince us to believe a lie about who we are, we might never step into the life God created for us.

But God? He does the opposite. He speaks into the noise, and His voice cuts through with one beautiful truth: You are mine.

He doesn’t call you by your failures. He calls you by your name.

In that moment, holding my daughters’ hands, I knew they were safe as long as they stayed close, and I was reminded that I’m safe, too—as long as I stay close to my Father.

So if the world feels like too much today—if the lies feel louder than the truth—hold tight to the One who calls you His. Let Him remind you who you really are. You are loved. You are redeemed. You are His.

— Matthew West

LYRICS

Hello, my name is regret
I’m pretty sure we have met
Every single day of your life
I’m the whisper inside
Won’t let you forget

Hello, my name is defeat
I know you recognize me
Just when you think you can win
I’ll drag you right back down again
‘Til you’ve lost all belief
These are the voices,
these are the lies
And I have believed them,
for the very last time

Hello, my name is child of the one true king
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, and I have been set free
Amazing grace is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true king
I am no longer defined
By all the wreckage behind
The one who makes all things new
Has proven it’s true
Just take a look at my life

Hello, my name is child of the one true king
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, and I have been set free
Amazing grace is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true king

What a love the Father has lavished upon us
That we should be called his children
I am a child of the one true King
What a love the Father has lavished upon us
That we should be called his children

Hello, my name is child of the one true king
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, and I have been set free
Amazing grace is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true king
I am a child of the one true king

Music video by Matthew West performing Hello, My Name Is (Lyrics).

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