You Call Me By A New Name

Betty and I are members of The Village Church in Highland Village, Texas. One of the songs we sing there is entitled "Restoration." It was written by David Brymer. Our worship leader, Michael Bleecker, introduced the song to us a short time ago. It is one of the most moving songs we have heard in a long time. I referred to the song in an earlier post because of the impact that it has had on my life - particularly the words used in the title of this post. Because of the struggle that I have gone through concerning my salvation, this song has come to have a very special meaning. It may seem small to some, but to me, being able to sing those words and know deep within that they are true in my life is very significant. When you reach the point of wondering if your salvation is for real or was just something you had created and then have God bring you to the realization that it was real because He had done it, well, a song like that can be very moving. For me to say after years of struggle, "You call me by a new name" was to experience something very liberating. I could affirm that what God said and did in my life as a nine year old boy was true. I could praise Him for erasing the pain of many spiritually troubling years caused by not understanding that my salvation belonged to Him. The song has meaning because it expresses an amazing breakthrough and transformation in a person's life - including mine. It affirms, in a moving way, the truth that God does indeed bring restoration. He does make all things new - not just in our initial salvation but along the way when, for whatever reason, the joy and assurance of that salvation gets stomped into the ground. I still have more to say about why I came to faith in Jesus Christ; but I wanted to take a brief rest in the journey and read these words,

"You bring restoration, You bring restoration, You bring restoration, to my soul. You've taken my pain and You call me by a new name. You've taken my shame and in its place, you give me joy. You take my mourning, turn it into dancing. You take my weeping, turn it into laughing. You take my mourning, turn it into dancing. You take my sadness, turn it into joy. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, You make all things new, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, You make all things new, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, You make all things new, all things new. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, You make all things new."

and hear them sung.