In A Little While ....

I was 18, and Amy Grant was the princess of Christian Music. I loved her music. I could sing with it and the words spoke volumes to me. There were always a couple of songs that meant a lot to me. A couple, I've never forgotten and think about frequently ... Fat Baby, El Shaddai to name a couple.

But one ... I'd let my mind forget. Or time took over. Not sure which. It was a song that I would play over and over and over again. The tape wore out because, of this song. I'd play it, hit rewind, play it again ...all while driving mindlessly around the city singing it at the top of my lungs.

It really wasn't a top of your lungs kind of song, but it was a top of my lungs song. I have a few of those now. Usually Matt Redman songs. They keep me grounded ...they remind me that God is in my life ...and that he has ME under control even when I don't think He does.

It was a hard song ... it was about a letter from The Father ... I was so freshly grieving the loss of my step father. I wanted it to be a letter from Daddy ...but I learned ...through singing it over and over again ... God is my Father. His Word is a letter to me ...and when I hurt ..that is where I need to go.

A pattern developed in my life ... because the way I was raised, because of the teaching I had ...and in large part because this song reminded me to. The pattern of when I just can't take any more ... to open the Letter from God. To go to His Word ...to find the Words he's speaking to me. I learned that it was temporary pain, and God's Word was eternal. I learned that God loved me no matter how bad my day and my purpose was to live for God.

I didn't set out to learn those things. I think it'd been much harder to learn if I'd known that was what I was working for. But, as so many other times in my life ...God used a song to touch my deepest pain, fear and hurt and to teach me to lean on him.

Many songs have come and gone to replace the song. I hadn't even thought of it years. I doubt I've even heard it since my husband and I got married 19 years ago! We take off in the car tonight ..and our Christian Radio Station KXOJ is having their 30th Anniversary. They're playing a lot of hits ...old and new. They played a song by Petra from the 80's and it was such a thrill to hear. Then suddenly the piano/guitar started ... I felt myself lighten as I about yelled "I remember this one!"

The words started ..and I started to sing along as if it hadn't even been a day since I'd heard it. Then ...the tears started to fall. The years that have passed in between that life line and now ...and how much I learned from it ...and how true it's become. How often the promise in the song has proven true for me. In A Little While ... We're just here to learn to love Him



Got a ticket coming home,
Wish the officer had known
What a day today has been.
Then I stumbled through the door,
Dropping junk mail on the floor.
When will this day end?

But then your letter caught my eye,
Brought the hope in me to life,
cause you know me very well,
And I bet you wrote me
Just to tell me,

In a little while,
Well be with the father;
Cant you see him smile? (ooooooh....)
In a little while,
Well be home forever,
In a while....
Were just here to learn to love him;
Well be home in just a little while.

Boy, that letter hit the spot--
Made me think of all Ive got,
And all that waits for me.
Guess Ive known it all day long;
Wonder where my thoughts went wrong.
When will my heart believe?
Waking half way through the night,
Reaching toward the lamp for light,
Picking up the word I find;
Heres another letter
To remind me.

In a little while,
Well be with the father;
Cant you see him smile? (ooooooh....)
In a little while,
Well be home forever,
In a while....
Were just here to learn to love him;
Well be home in just a little while.

Days like these are just a test of our will.
Will we walk or will we fall?
Well, I can almost see the top of the hill,
And I believe its worth it all.

In a little while,
Well be with the father;
Cant you see him smile? (ooooooh....)
In a little while,
Well be home forever,
In a while....
Were just here to learn to love him;
Well be home in just a little while.