Rise
Song 10 on album After Six Days
Rise follows I am Just a Woman. Wherever I find myself landing in the dust, whether from the fall or whatever the circumstances, He can and will lift me up. This finishes the album but also brings me back to the first song, Living Stones. We can Rise, He will lift us up and set us back on the rock in the living temple of God.
When I wrote Rise, I had been reading Mark 14. I had been in Mark 14 for all of March so far, and when I sat down to spent time with God over the word on March 24 (2005), I wrote down two lines “Am I being tempted now? Tempted to believe and hope in something else?” and a paragraph later I wrote “we're so tired and weary, Lord, and I don't know what happened," and then the rest of the song follows in verse. To this day I do not remember what I was tired and weary from -coming to the end of the Siberian winter, maybe? the winters are beautiful but long and draining. Maybe an intense season of busyness? I don't remember. Probably a lot of things together. What I do remember are other specific times that were hard and I played and sang this song and it spoke to me and lifted me up.
When I wrote “am I being tempted now to believe and hope in something else” - what was I referring to? Anything but what I find in Mark 14 and 15, what was done for me, for us, and Who did it. The rest of the song references specifically Isaiah 40:29-31, Matt. 14:28-31, John 8:1-11, Mark 2:1-12, while Mark 14 and 15 are the backdrop.
Rise Lyrics
Am I being tempted now?
To believe and hope in something else?
We're so tired and weary, Lord
And I don't know what happened
We were going along just fine it seemed
When suddenly we landed in the dust
And here we are spent and empty
Can't seem to lift ourselves up
Oh, Father, Oh Father
Oh, Man who bore our sorrows
You paid for all our tomorrows
Wrapped them all up in that one yesterday
And we may not feel too great right now
But You're calling us on, anyhow
Out of the ashes and the dust
The Phoenix rises.
Is it possible for us to rise up from here?
Is it possible for us to fly once more?
And maybe we weren't quite soaring yet
But, at least, we were in the air
I know You said You'd renew our strength
But I can't find the hope to walk and not faint
I hear Your voice but just can't
see my way back up into Your arms
Oh, Father, Oh Father
Oh, Man who bore our sorrows
You paid for all our tomorrows
Wrapped them all up in that One Yesterday
And we may not feel too great right now
But You're calling us on, anyhow
Out of the ashes and the dust
the Phoenix rises…
maybe we can rise, too
And Peter looking in Your eyes crossed the water on his feet
And even when He fell, You pulled him up
Woman standing before You looked around
She looked around and her accusers were gone
And the paralyzed man, at the Lord's command,
Got up, took his mat and went home
Why am I still lying here?
Afraid to believe that I could really move?
Oh Father, Oh Father,
Oh, man, who bore our sorrows
You paid for all our tomorrows
You wrapped them all up in that One Yesterday
And we may not feel too great right now
But You're calling us on, anyhow
Out of the ashes and the dust
The Phoenix rises
We can rise, too
We can rise, too
New Release April 26
After Six Days - full length album
Other Full Length Albums
The Calling of a Priest 2011