10,000 Reasons

November 18, 2014. An exciting time in my life. 3 days before, my team had won our first state championship, Thanksgiving was only a little over a week away, Christmas was quickly approaching, and life was good. All of those things came to a halt around 3 am when my mom woke me up and informed me that we had to get to the hospital because my sweet Aunt Marsha was not expected to make it through the day.

I got in the car and I remember feeling numb. What emotions was I supposed to be feeling? What was I going to see when I got to the hospital? How different would life be at the end of the day? So many questions, but not a single answer. I plugged in my headphones and shuffled my worship playlist on my phone. I will never forget the first song that played on my phone. 10,000 Reasons. 

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.

Those lyrics were different then than they had ever been before. This time I actually was not sure what the lied before me. I was not sure if I would want to be singing when the evening came. But even still I could say, Bless the Lord oh my soul. 

When we arrived at the hospital, we walked in the room to find my family members all very solemn, a very rare sight for the Lowe family. We spent the day standing around my aunt's bed with worship music playing. Together we sang song after song, and even as we were watching her condition worsen, there was a peace that filled the room, and truly we were singing when the evening came.


And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come, still my soul will sing Your praise unending, 10,000 years and then forever more.

Shortly before my aunt lost consciousness, one of my family members was sitting beside her and noticed that she seemed to be whispering. When she moved closer to hear what she was saying, she realized she was trying to sing. "His Grace is Enough" was slowly coming from her lips. On this earth, she was a worshipper, but I can only imagine what it must have been like to enter into Heaven with a song of praise that will never end for all eternity. Truly His grace is enough for us.

That day, 10,000 Reasons became so real to me because I realized that even at the end of our darkest days, we can still find joy and hope in singing praises to our Creator. And even when our strength is literally failing and time has come to only minutes, God is still worthy to be worshipped, and He is still good.

Heaven is so real, and eternity is so much closer than we could ever imagine. While we await that day, I pray that we would be worshippers on this earth that never cease to bring praise to the One who is worthy, even if it is with our final breath.

But it is we who will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!-Psalm 115:18

-Amy