I need to be reminded of who I was
When I took that first step out the door
All I said now follows me around
I'm reminded I'm not like that anymore
I uprooted and miles behind me
Are the faces and the home I love
You've brought to my attention
I'm slowly changing and becoming what I wanted to stop
Isn't that just like a finite mind
Setting out with such righteous indignation
But now I'm at Your feet
Could You look at me with some imagination
The bush before me, I slip my sandals off
I only stopped to look
In the depths of the sea, in the midst of a great storm
I run, I run from You
So remind me why You woke me up
And why You wake me every morn
The staff in my hand
Held in by Your love
Just stay close, stay close
Because I know my own mind
I set out with righteous indignation
But when I'm at Your feet
Please look at me with some imagination
'I remember playing this for the first time in (Sparrow's vice president of A&R) Brad O'Donnell's living room a year ago. I had been out on the road promoting the first record and wanted to start thinking about the next one before time ran out (I'm an excellent procrastinator). I felt so nomadic after close to a year of traveling. 'Journey' had become a much deeper, richer reality in my life. I had seen things in the world and in myself, both good and bad, that I never noticed before. I was struggling daily with pride and insecurity, homesickness and loneliness... the burden of picking up your cross and following Jesus. And as a result, it produced a new hunger for redemption in me. I had this piece of music for months that I really liked... the frustrating thing was, I couldn't get anywhere on the lyric. One afternoon I was in my room and decided to take a stab at the unfinished music again. And in a matter of minutes, the story that I had been longing to tell was somehow scribbled down on the pages of my journal. It's so amazing to know now that was only the beginning; throughout the entire writing process God provided over and over in the most mysterious and unpredictable ways. And from that one, simple song came the rest. What I decided to call "Imagination" was finished, and it then seemed like God had begun to flesh out the vision for the rest of the project. The road between the first record and the second lead me through wildernesses of fear and doubt, climbing up mountains of questions and uncertainty, and to the edge of the most overwhelming freedom.
"Remind me why you woke me up/And why you wake me every morn/The staff in my hand/Held in by your love/Just stay close, stay close..."
God's unearthly grace and immeasurable love for us has lead to this point... it's been the heartbeat of this whole record. My desire is that it would be a story of hope-one that paints a brutally and beautifully honest picture of what it really is to live by faith.' - Bethany Dillon
