MOM Day 2 "Held" by Natalie Grant

Today's song, "Held" by Natalie Grant is one that really resonates with me these days. Click on the Title of today's blog to hear some of the song and to go to her website. Here is Natalie's explanation of the song and the lyrics:

Held Lyrics

(Christa Wells)

Christa Wells, a part-time songwriter and stay-at-home mom of three in North Carolina wrote this song in response to two very difficult losses that happened within 48 hours. And for her, I think it must have been one of those total shake-your-fist-at-God moments where you cry, “Why God?” These are the things in life that we cannot understand or explain, and the lyrics reflect that honesty. God didn't promise us we'd be okay or that life would be easy. My faith does not protect me from pain, but it provides me with peace. God only promises us that when we suffer, when we're in pain, we'll be held in His arms through every circumstance.


Two months is too little
They let him go
They had no sudden healing
To think that providence
Would take a child from his mother
While she prays, is appalling

Who told us we'd be rescued
What has changed and
Why should we be saved from nightmares
We're asking why this happens to us
Who have died to live, it's unfair

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it and
Let the hatred numb our sorrows
The wise hand opens slowly
To lilies of the valley and tomorrow

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

If hope if born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait, for one hour
Watching for our Savior

This is what it means to be held
How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved and to know
That the promise was that when everything fell
We'd be held

Repeat Chorus


Why this song?

One thing hard to understand is that if God loves us and if by becoming followers of Christ we come into his family, how come tragedy and grief come into our lives the same as those who hate God and mock Christ? I think it's very common to believe something like, "Now that my soul is saved and I'm trying my best to live by Christ's example, life will be so much smoother." I mean, I'm in with the big guy now, he loves me, I must have some special protection from life's woes now. Uh, no.

There is evil in the world and we get just as much of it tossed at us as anyone else does. There are a few key differences, though, in my experience. One is that living by God's laws, you get in less bad situations of your own making. After I became a believer in my early 30's, and I really for the first time studied the Bible, I saw that the guidance from the Bible really contains a lot of common sense and great ideas. This should not be a surprise, as God loves us and wants us to have happy lives. Also, He created humans, so following His "Owner's Manual" for human life is a good idea. Another difference is that when stuff does happen, we have a loving Father God to turn to for wisdom, through His written word, and to rest in, through prayer and the knowledge that no matter what, God is in control.

I love this song because it deals with this and also with the anger that accompanies this feeling of being betrayed by God. It is so human though to feel let down and angry at God when crap happens and we just don't understand why. I think we all at some point have just been boiling mad at God about why He didn't give Zack a miracle or even why Zack had to get cancer at all. I mean, how stupid. He was an average teen, so that means he was a pain in the ass as well as a complete laugh to be around. Depended which day you caught him. He was no saint, but he wasn't a murderer, terrorist, or any other kind of villian and he did have faith in Christ and tried to live a good life. Why him? Sitting here now and thinking about the injustice of it all, it still makes me mad. But this is key: I am mad, but I haven't given up on God. So many others were angry at God and so stopped talking to him (praying) and stopped listening to Him (reading his word, listening to that still, small voice). If this is you, hang in there, keep your heart open to God and if you have turned your back, just turn around - He's always there with his arms outstretched, wanting relationship with you. It's never too late to turn around.

The line about waiting one hour for our Savior comes from the passage in Matthew (Chap.26: 36-40) where Jesus goes off to pray the night before his crucifixion and asks Peter and 2 sons from Zebedee to wait and pray for him. When he comes back, they're asleep. He asks, "Could you men not watch with me for one hour?" To me the song uses that verse to ask us can we not just trust that God has a plan, even though it makes no sense to us. Can we continue to trust God and be patient for an explanation, one that may not ever come until we are standing before Him in heaven?