Two Plus Two

This song, a wedding gift for my best friend and her groom, is inspired by their first meeting years ago at a nationwide high school math contest. It is also a tribute to how God has led their lives together. As for the bad arithmetic in the song...I take the blame. Congratulations, Abi and Fitz!

Verse 1:
I planned my life with fierce precision,
Counted every day,
Calculated each decision,
Charted every way.
Yet with you came a revelation
To these plans I owned,
With you came a new equation
I had never known...

Chorus:
Where two minds plus two hearts
Is equal to one,
How greater and higher
Was what the Lord had done.
For I could, I could never
Calculate your love
When two plus two is one.

Verse 2:
I dreamed my dreams through each occasion,
Formed each fantasy,
Gathered all the information
As to what I'll be.
Yet with you came a revelation
To these dreams I owned,
With you came a new equation
I had never known...

The Blossom

Those who know me well know that I have a special love for weddings. As a result, I often write wedding songs for no reason. This particular song celebrates the wonder of love founded upon a beautiful friendship. It is my dream to be not just my future husband's lover and helper and homemaker...but also his playmate, his comrade, his friend.

I waited long for something
The world said I would find,
I waited for enchantment,
By love that'd make me blind,
Yet as I learned to trust Him,
I tenderly uncovered
How in His perfect timing
I'd joyously discover...

That the blossom bloomed from friendship
Blooms the brightest of them all,
And the love that led from laughter
Laughs through every tear and fall;
Arm in arm, towards, tomorrow,
Guided by His hand alone,
Timeless love, through joy or sorrow,
Will be ours till years unknown.

Someday

My mom was married at 21. Ever since I was a kid, I thought that I'd be getting married by now. But God had other plans. If I had tried to get married at this age, I wouldn't have gone away to college...and life would just be completely different. God is faithful, good, wise, and true. I post these lyrics, one of my most favorite compositions, on my 21st birthday...knowing that God will continue to guide my heart as another decade of my life unfolds.

This song is somewhat based on author Joshua Harris' last chapter (titled "Someday I'll Have a Love Story to Tell") in his book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. I have personally experienced the amazing impact of godly love stories of people in my life, and I want to be able to do the same one day as well. Someday, someday, Lord willing...I will tell, together with the love of my life, a miraculous story of purity, patience, hope, and faith rewarded.

Verse 1:
I hold my heart within my hand
With dear anxiety,
For I know I won't understand
What His plans are for me;
I'd rather live the way that I
Now think would make me free,
Yet knowing that if I comply,
He knows what's best for me.

I store my dreams within my heart
As I remember you,
For though we may be far apart,
His love can see us through;
And though impatience drives me on,
I know that in His time,
The One who calls us both His own
Will write our tale sublime.

Chorus:
Someday we will tell His loving grace
To a generation who is seeking for His face;
Someday we will tell His wondrous love
In a perfect match made from what dreams are fashioned of...
Someday...

Verse 2:
And many younger souls will see
How in His perfect plans,
He's brought me to you, you to me,
By wondrous circumstance;
And when they see how He has done
His miracle on us,
Then they can find the strength to run
Their race with hope and trust.

So when my heart forgets and fails
To trust His time and grace,
I think of how His will prevails
O'er any human ways;
And I remember how one day
We'll have our tale to tell,
So in our hearts and lives, I pray,
May we portray it well.

Chorus:
Someday we will tell His loving grace
To a generation who is seeking for His face;
Someday we will tell His wondrous love
In a perfect match made from what dreams are fashioned of...
Someday...someday...
Someday.

Kept For Me

I wrote these lyrics as a personalized wedding gift to my musician friends Mark and Jocelyn. Even though their whole love story won't fit here, I can bear witness of how their lives testify to God's amazing sovereignty in keeping both of them unattached for many years until they met each other and fell magically in love...to be each other's first and last in a world of broken hearts. And whenever I fear that God would let me miss out on what's best, I remember their story, and I find comfort in knowing that God would keep me and my groom for each other, according to His perfect plans.

Verse 1:
There were times I felt there was no one
Who'd know me as I am;
There were times I thought I'd settle for
Whatever was at hand,
Yet somehow God would have me wait
In search for something more,
For in His perfect, sovereign plan,
The best was still in store...

Chorus 1:
And through the years, He's guided me
To where I stand today,
Breathless at what my eyes see,
And robbed of words to say.
And through the years, there was no one,
For looking back, I see
That He was keeping me for you,
And keeping you for me.

Verse 2:
There were times I felt there was no one
Who'd love me as I am,
There were times I thought I'd never find
Someone to understand.
Yet somehow God would lead me through
An unexpected door
That opened to a world of love
I'd never known before...

Chorus 2:
And through the years, He's molded me
To who I am today,
Breathless at what my eyes see,
And robbed of words to say.
And I thank God there was no one,
For looking back, I see
That He was keeping me for you,
And keeping you for me.

Bridge:
The first to see inside of me,
The first to hear "I love you,"
The first to sing within my soul,
Are you...

Coda:
And looking back upon the years,
I sing with ecstasy...
That He's been keeping me for you,
And keeping you for me.

And here is the video that they made out of the song =)

Wedding Blessing

As pastor's daughter, I witness many weddings every year. And as the people pray with the musical Lord's Prayer at the end of every ceremony, I can't help but wonder if there is an alternative. If I should whisper a blessing for two friends in holy union...what would I utter? The result was this composition. Combined with my mother's beautiful melody and layered chords, this piece brings with it many good wishes in Christ.

May each dawn that you greet, be a witness of His grace
May He meet every need that comes your way;
May His love and His peace, be your comfort in each place
And His hope rest you through each dreary day.

May His heart be the heart, that will seal two hearts as one,
Through each smile and each trial, just as when it first begun;
May each day of your lives, be a heavenly embrace,
May He stay in your home as in this place.

May His love be your love,
May His hope be your strength,
This we pray…
Amen.

Tale of Love

I think I've been attending one too many weddings recently. These two months, my mom and I observed how there are very few good Christian wedding songs. The songs we hear are often not Christian, not good, or extremely over-sung. So, being a bookworm, I wrote this wedding song...for indeed, how wonderful the things in store when God writes your love story.

Bride:
I turned the pages of my book,
The one I called romance,
And prayed that God would bring Prince Charming
Under dreamy circumstances

But as I read the book I held,
I realized that He
Refused to give me what I wanted
But someone more than dreams could be
He wrote the book with loving hands
And He led you to me.

Groom:
I turned the pages of my book,
The one I called my life,
And prayed that God would make a gorgeous
Girl that I would win to be my wife.

But as I read the book I held,
I realized that He
Refused to give me what I wanted
But someone more than dreams could be
He wrote the book with loving hands
And He led you to me.

Together:
And so the Lord wrote down this story,
One new book combined from two,
One new heart formed from two others,
One new song, one spirit true.

And may the Author of this story,
He who joined two books in one
Bless us as He writes each chapter
Till this tale of love is done.
Till this tale of love is done.