A gourd sprang up to shelter me,
 And shade me in my grief.

 That a refuge we need
 Is quite certain indeed

As over me the world once reigned,
And lust and pride their hold maintained,

I wish you the best that my Saviour can give.
I wish you the happiest life you can live.

Today I watched the bubbles,
 That floated through the sky.

And shall a worm complain to God
If he should feel the chastening rod?

Dead in Christ and ris’n again;
This the plan of God for men.

By choice I’m desperately wild,
Of disobedience a child.

Faith is for failures and all who are weak.
The strong have no need of the help that I seek.

In Christ I have sweet liberty.
From condemnation I am free,

Although sorrow and pain grip my heart,
And the hope of my life falls apart,

Sometimes the things I see or hear
     Wake feelings deep inside,

Life’s changing scenes make their appeal
 To my poor, fickle frame,

An old, broken vessel that no one can use
Is just such an instrument God says He’ll choose.

After I have listened
                          to gossip for an hour,

Forsaken of God was his well-beloved Son,
Condemned for my sin was the only pure One.

The wound is sore and open wide,
Revealing wrenching pain inside.

To live out your life in delusion,
      And hide from the truth and the facts;

When all is black, there’s still a light
That makes the deepest valley bright;

I ask you, my God, for a blessing,
 Though just what your blessing may mean

I can safely rely
     On a Friend who would die

This time when I pray I know just what I want,
And nothing You say could my confidence daunt,

If I could be a martyr,
 I’d sooner die indeed

It doesn’t matter what may come my way;
It doesn’t matter what the neighbors say;

Keep me, Lord, by your side; my own ways I resign,
And I want to abide as a branch in the vine.