America, Oh Sweet America

America. Oh, sweet America. This song has to be one of my favorites. Ray Charles truly perfects this song. And almost every time I hear it, I get goosebumps and tear up. But now it hits me in a way so deep, that makes me fall to my knees and pray. Oh America, America. My friends. My family. We need to remember these words. We need not ever forget how far WE HAVE COME. YES! We need to keep moving forward. YES! We know people in our past made mistakes. And YES! Things will always, always, need work! I confess to you, I will ALWAYS need work. But America, our sweet, America. God done shed his grace on thee. He said he would, and we knew he would, so we must believe!!!

"Oh beautiful, for heroes proved,

In liberating strife,

Who MORE THAN SELF, Their country loved,

And mercy MORE than life, America, OH America, may God thy gold refine, Till all success be NOBLENESS And every gain DIVINED." Our country is hurting. I have been hurting. I see friends and family attacking each other. I see beliefs being dropped kicked and thrown in the trash. I see fear. I too have felt fear. As I look at our world and think, is this it? Is this how it's all going to end? My heart just falls into pieces. I see so much hate, nasty and ugliness coming out of us. We mock each other. We Meme each other. Our hypocrisy is at an all time high. Where. Is. The. Love?! What are we doing to our sweet gift of America? We are letting the evil of this world trick us into hate. We are letting sin overcome our hearts and turning on each other. We believe that we are helping each other by turning our backs on one another. Division is not unity.

We are better than this. Every. Single. One. Of. Us!

God crowned thy good, with a brotherhood, from sea to shining sea. There has been a brokenness lurking that we missed, but in it's time it has been revealed. Now, we must heal! We must move forward. We must humble ourselves so that we CAN SEE, HEAR AND FEEL one anothers pain and move on! He calls us to live free. Not for ourselves. But for each other. For our fellow brother. In Love.

Oh Dear Lord, I pray to you on this day. May you please, again, show us your mercy. Lead us to your grace. Reveal to us ALL the love we have in our hearts for each other, even those who we feel are hurting us. Dear Lord, please, I'm on my knees, begging for your guidance in tears. You set us apart to love, to serve, to give, to be free. You gave us the power to walk through the wilderness so that in it we realize without you, we are nothing. We don't want to let you down. Oh Lord. Our sweet America needs you. We need you. I need you. Heal our land. Heal our hearts.

Heal us Lord.

Amen