“The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.”
Psalm 146:8
Quite a few years ago now, I was a young Christian who had only recently come to faith. Though I was convinced that God had ‘made me new’, I had also come with quite a lot of baggage that needed sorting out. I was going through a really challenging time and in desperation and pain I called out to God, asking Him to help me. Almost straight away I opened my mouth and started to sing out a song. At that time I was writing songs almost on a daily basis so I instinctively started to record the ideas on some kind of (now ancient) device. To my surprise, the words seemed to be a song from God to me:
That weight on your shoulders so heavy to bear
In times of trouble know I’m here
Lifting your burdens, give them to Me
And I will comfort you
I know you’re hurting, lean on me
There isn’t one thing I can’t see
Open your heart and let Me fill it with peace
And I will comfort you
Lately, we have been making a lot of YouTube videos of our songs. The reason we started doing that was because of this song. We’re in the midst of a global pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people have succumbed to it, and communities have been, or still are, in lockdown. People have lost their jobs, domestic violence cases have dramatically increased, as have issues of mental health. People are under pressure. Circumstances will vary from country to country, or city to city, but we are all in need of peace and comfort.
So, even though this song was recorded some years ago, we made this video in case it would be a help to anyone. It’s very simple, a single piece of footage taken by our friend Matthew Irving @mirvphotography and is a journey from the dark of night to the dawn of a new day.
Some years ago, I actually received a letter from someone saying that they had been considering taking their own life, and then they listened to this song and decided not to. It’s hard to express how humbling it is to receive a letter like that or how grateful it makes me.
Because of that, we put this song out there again, praying that God will use it wherever it might be needed, and that anyone who needs to hear its message might ‘accidentally’ come across it. Psalm 146 says that ‘the Lord lifts up those who are weighed down’. I know from my own experience that this is true. He is the ‘God of all comfort’ and, if you call out to Him, He will comfort you.
© Kate Simmonds 2020
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