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By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
~psalm 42:8
The time: 3:25 am. I hear a cry from his bedroom. "Mommy, Come quick!" I rush to room to see him sitting on his bed. No tears. He's quite excited, actually. "Mommy, my song is on. Turn it up." Kristian Stanfill's "One Thing Remains" has begun on the radio and Gabriel is singing the all too familiar to our family (and our visitors, not to mention our poor neighbors) lyrics.
Your love never fails,
never gives up,
never runs out on me.
After retrieving him a drink of water while he listens to his song (sigh), I turned to pick something up from the floor. When I turned back to him, he was drinking his water, eyes closed, hand raised to heaven, and moving in rhythm to the song. I was reminded once again of the prayer I prayed for him so many times over the last almost 4 years: God, I give him back to you, to use as you choose. He is yours. If there is anything I can do to encourage him in his love for music and you, please help me to be sensitive.
Truth be told, I was awake anyway, just minutes before I heard him yell for me. I had already decided to get up to pray, after laying in bed for a minute, realizing prayer for others would be a better use of my time than runaway thoughts. So thankful for God's grace in turning my heart to Him, through Gabriel's cry, through his love for this song.
Father, those you love are hurting. May they know you are in their midst. May you remind them you are a mighty one who will save. May you rejoice over them with gladness and quiet them with your love. May you exult over them with loud singing.
The Lord you God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you with his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
~Zephaniah 3:17
