Silver linings

Finding the silver linings

Shortly after diagnosis, Marty and Jean began writing about their journey. Enjoy this excerpt that will appear in their soon to be published book.
Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it's more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don't you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining
 
I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do

It doesn't matter what you've heard
Impossible is not a word
It's just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody's scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It'll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You don't have a chance
(That's what faith can do)
When the world says you can't
It'll tell you that you can!

I've seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn't ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I've seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That's what faith can do
That's what faith can do!

Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Scott Krippayne / Scott Davis
What Faith Can Do lyrics © Life Of Rhyme Music Publishing, Pirk Music, Word Music, Llc

These words are the lyrics for the song What Faith Can Do by Kutless. They are more than words or lyrics. This is how I approach life, now.
 
It is very ironic that I placed this song in a playlist that I keep in my car and also downloaded onto my wife's iPod just short of a year before my diagnosis with Parkinson's disease. I thought it was a good song and at the time I was really getting into the lyrics about broken hearts becoming brand new. You see my wife and I were given a chance by God to fall in love, again. We had both left a failed marriage, we had both prayed about meeting someone special, and we often wondered why God put us two together when we were separated by over five hundred miles.
 
I think part of the reason why I had added this song in our playlist was that my wife had just been given the great news that a mass that was discovered on her brain just three short months previous had completely disappeared. We knew God's hand was in it. We knew that because we had faith. But now our faith has been brought to face an even bigger test.
 
I have seen everything that is mentioned in the song. We will all fall at some time in our daily life and fail to hit the mark. Whether it's a failed marriage or an attempt to reach a new goal that was unsuccessful, we find within us a strength that we did not know existed. We rise up from the ashes just like the Phoenix.
 
We know what others feel like because we've been there, too, and we have taken that old adage, ‘what does not kill you will only make you stronger,” and built upon the wisdom's from our miscues to rise up and be successful.

But now we're at a crossroads. One can choose to give up or accept that this is their lot in life, but when I wake up in the morning the sun hasn't gone away, the clouds are still there, and the mountains haven't gotten any smaller. It is true. You gotta face the clouds to find the silver lining and I have so many silver linings in my cloud. I have my wife, my family and friends, my colleagues, my students, and most importantly, I have God.
 
I have been asked to take that step out on the water. I have not asked God, “Why me?”, but I thank him for letting me say, “Why Not Me!” In the days ahead, I will continue to believe and be thankful for how God has blessed me. I know there'll be good days and there will be bad ones, I know there will be times when I just want to give up because I am human after all. But I'll never stop praying for that miracle because prayers do get answered.