I want to be one of them...

Music has such a powerful affect on me. It reaches my soul. This is one of those songs that I can hardly get through without crying because it grips my heart. It's so full of passion and it says what my heart can't articulate. I cannot explain the effect it has on me. Sara Groves is such a brilliant singer/songwriter. I heart her. :)

I love it. Love. It. So without further ado,

When the Saints by Sara Groves
Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I cannot let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
it often overwhelms me
but when I think of all who've gone before and lived the faithful life
their courage compells me
And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sister standing by the dying man's side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them

The longer I'm alive, I seem to be getting a little less foggy on what my heart beats for - what really drives me. I never had dreams for my future as a child. There's never been this one thing that I've always wanted to do or be. But when I sing the line about kicking down the brothel door to rescue the young girl huddled on the floor, I have such a lump in my throat. I think if I could choose to do anything that mattered, it would be to be that person. To rescue girls like her, and to help their hearts to heal from that.

I think that God uses music to speak to my heart, and maybe that's what He's doing with this song... maybe this is the start of something. I hope so.