Songs

Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Please Forgive Me

Every heart that I've betrayed is mine to answer for
I've been cowardly to not say Who You are
I've been calloused and uncaring when there's nothing in it for me
Please forgive me, Lord
Please forgive me, Lord

……

Yes, I love you, child, completely--
Don't let doubt deceive your heart
I forever spelled it out upon the cross
There I poured My wrath upon the sin that kept us far apart
Yet I also bore that wrath--I paid the cost

For I cannot make you love Me, no I cannot make you trust
But I knock and wait, until you open wide
To receive forgiveness, mercy, life, and rise up from the dust
Be at peace, My child
Be at peace, My child

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Walk Another Mile

When arrested, don't despair—
Make the guards wonder and stare
Fill the prisons with your prayers:
Walk another mile

And when the guns pound at the door,
Boots and blood upon the floor
Sing and pray, love even more: 
Walk another mile

CHORUS:
The eyes of God are watching;
The hand of God restores
He knows the miles you have been walking;
He will strengthen you to walk one more

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

He Weaves Into Glory

I can't do this alone
I need you to come near
Sit with me today
There's nothing to say
Just don't disappear

It's a long, hard road
That the Lord walks with us
It's a miracle true
After all we've been through
He can teach us to trust

CHORUS:
In a cold, dark world
That's broken by sin
Any hint of hope
Is like a candle within
We are not alone;
Christ whispers our story:
The threads of our pain,
Tattered and frayed,
He weaves into glory

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Brand New Day

Out of chaos comes creation; out of cynicism, hope
A living, breathing, testifying army comes from a pile of bones
A bunch of clay becomes a human; out of he, a she
He turns the mourning into dancing,
As morning follows eve, morning follows eve

Chorus:
And He has reassured me, time and time again,
I cannot chase Him elsewhere, or scare off His right hand
And when I’m feeling dirty, and push everyone away,
He calms and cleans my spirit, and creates a brand new day

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Wash Me Awake

I carefully open my backpack of sin
And tilt back my head to pour sea water in
I know this will kill me, but what can I do?
I go blind in the desert just looking for You

Chorus:
If the rain comes (I know it will fall)
It will fill me (for Your grace, after all)
Is the power to wash me awake, making old things new;
With the power to wash me awake, You make all things new

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Psalm Settings, Personal Song Brian West Psalm Settings, Personal Song Brian West

Every Morning

My eyelids rise again,
Like the Lord on Easter Sunday,
But a stony silence weighs upon my heart.
The sunrise coming in
Through the window of a new day
Fails to find the valley of my dark.

Sometimes when I wake up I am
Not so sure that I want to be
Dragged into this world of pain again.
I wish that I could just roll over,
Turn my back on consequences
Of a world that’s soaking in its sin . . . its sin.

Chorus:
But even in the valley, You lead me to the pasture,
A stream running with laughter.
For You are here beside me,
To humble and to guide me,
And suddenly my eyes can see:
I will awake in my Daddy’s house
Every morning . . . every morning.

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Living Water (A Widower’s Song)

How I miss the color of her smile
The living light she'd pour into my day
A breathing of the air again, a whisper to my trusted friend,
A gathering of life upon her face

Chorus:
I want to say this to the children:
Life is harder than you ever thought it would be
But in the darkness of the pain,
Standing on the edge of hell,
What is true may still be hidden,
Like a book high on a shelf
Persevere in love, my sons and daughters,
Do not leave the well
You will find the living water
When you serve someone besides yourself

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Cold

Waking up is the hardest part 
The sound of alarm is the lead of my heart
The silence seduces me back towards sleep;
Desire to have you alive comes, so selfishly

I never thought much before
About the value of your support
The knowledge that you would hold me until I cried
I cannot call up these tears
Though I'm surrounded by so many fears
The missing of your laughter leaves me cold, so cold

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Sure Of

I have been given a gift; I have been given a promise
The more I pour my heart out, the more it will heal.
Jesus is all that I need; He hasn't left me with nothing--
But if these songs ever came between Him and me,
I would walk away; I would walk away.

I have examined my priorities to discover one good thing,
The thing that I must will, just to be pure.
It doesn't matter what good songs I sing, if I choose not to obey
The words my blessed Master has given to me.
It's the love I must be sure of, the love I must be sure of.

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Hour of Drowning

And I am drifting down the stream in- to a waterfall, and I am trapped beneath the froth Swimming for the surface, and reaching for the sides, and I am so afraid that both are out of reach, and I am so afraid that both are out of reach, and I am so afraid of drowning Chorus: This is my fear, this is my cry-- Who will save me in my hour of drowning? I cannot hear, I cannot see-- Darkness and gravity are all around me Lord, hear my cry...

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

You Let Me Hide

All that really matters is what You think
My life has been given--it's not my own
If I feel the vacuum, the emptiness is mine, I guess
It's not because You don't exist, but because of this:
I believe that I can live without You
Without You

CHORUS
You are in the habit of giving me
What I ask for when I don't want to admit it
Independence is a fiction
That I run to when I think that it's convenient
Sometimes when I hide, You come and seek me
But sometimes when I hide, You let me hide.

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Never Meant

All that I thought that I wanted
Was to love someone
And to be loved in return
Now I find I am haunted
By the images
Of how I gave my heart… away

I am holding a razor blade,
Double-edged, within my fist
As the sharpness sinks into my skin,
My arm begins to twitch
Oh, the pain is almost unbearable,
But something's keeping me
From the self-control I must have to let go,
To set me free

Can you feel my pain?
Do you know my sorrow,
What I've given, why I feel so hollow?
Love was never meant to be like this. (x2)

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Source of the Wind

Can you live with the mystery?
Can you explain all that's inside of me?
Is it foolish to base your living belief
Only on what we can measure to be?

I have been to the ending of my understanding,
Where myst'ry begins
If I limit my living to what I can master,
I close myself in
I'm turning my back on the Source of the Wind

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

Tapestry of Days

Good morning, God.  I'm glad to see You've lifted up the sun again.
It's a long, long time since the clouds rolled by and refreshed me with Your rain (reign).
Good day, my Friend--I'm looking for the ways that You've displayed Your grace,
Weaving, thread by thread, from beginning to the end, in this tapestry of days.

And I love You, so I sing it loud, for a lot of folks to hear
And I need You, 'cause alone I'm feasting only on my fear

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Personal Song Brian West Personal Song Brian West

How Fragile My Faith

(chorus)
How fragile my faith
How precarious my prayers
How daring my doubt
Following my footsteps
Just a breath in front of God

Twenty-seven years ago
I made a promise to the sky
Shaking my small fist at Him
I never needed so to cry
"You have never left me,
Never let me get away,
But I have never wanted You
To hold me, 'til today."

CHORUS

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