Lincoln Brewster - OxygenSample

Just Hang On

Devotional for the song "Sinking Ships"

I've heard people dismiss the phrase "just hang in there" as nothing more than a greeting card sentiment. That's fair. Maybe there are times when that's true. But I believe in the deepest meaning of that phrase.

About the time this project began, my wife discovered she had a rare form of cancer. It was really a miracle the doctors found it in the first place, but they did, and it shook our world. As you might imagine, I wanted to step away from the project, shelve it for another day and focus entirely on my wife. But as I prayed about it, I truly felt God wanted me to carry on, taking one step at a time, learning an entirely new level of trust. I felt Him saying, "Just hang in there."

During the writing and recording process, my wife had two surgeries. I was singing upbeat anthems while our world seemed to be going under, like a ship in a storm-tossed sea. But that message continued to beat – "Just hang in there." And with the prayers of faithful family and friends, we did. We hung in there.

My wife is now cancer free – hallelujah! But we didn't know that would be the outcome as we battled those seas. We simply had to trust, to have faith that God wouldn't let us drown. It was scary, no doubt about it. But it was also peaceful. The fact of the matter was my wife had cancer. But the truth of the matter was that God was in control, not just of a piece here and there, but in control of all of it.

As a worship leader, I am called to sing songs of truth over people, even when my own life looks dark and gloomy. Even when, and maybe most importantly when, I need that same truth sung over me. I'll never again dismiss the phrase "just hang in there." It was not just any voice speaking that to us during that season of our lives. It was the voice of Love, the voice that conquered sin and death and the dark, the voice that knows our every weakness, including how cancer wreaks havoc on both body and mind and spirit. But as wave after wave of trouble hit us, there was a foundation to our trust, a solid rock stronger than the storms of this life.