the Story behind “remember your strength” My husband is the most inspiring person I’ve ever known. As a Captain in the Army he has served a tour in Iraq and gone through some of the most extreme training the military has to offer. He is familiar with pain, familiar with the long dark hours of the night, and familiar with endurance. He lives in honor and sacrificial serving. He is the very meaning to me of strength, courage, humility, and power. He is also a poet, and on the day of our wedding he presented me with a brown leather journal that he had kept and had begun writing in out in the deserts of Iraq before he even knew me. He wrote about his anticipation for meeting me, his bride, and about spending the rest of our lives together. About a month and a half into our marriage, he was headed out for 3 months of training. It was going to be long, cold, and difficult for him. As we finished up dinner on our last night together for a while, he handed me the journal open to the latest page. Written there was the most beautiful description of his heart to embrace the dark, to push through the pain, to take in the cold and to confront the fear for me. The next day after a teary drive home by myself, I sat down with my guitar and while I was playing, his lines were coming to my mind. And I began my song with the call to his heart to “remember your strength.” This song comes from my heart for him, knowing what he is capable of and what he can do. Calling his courage to rise, his strength to endure, his power to succeed. And when all else fails, I assure him as I wait safe and sound back home, “I’ll remember your strength.” On the Eve of Deepest Night – A Warrior to His Love In darkness fear will grow alive And gently lure bold hearts to fail, And icy cold will pierce and seep, Till even marrow taste despair, And every part of pain pursue, To crush and crack and twist and tear. My Heart, into the dark I plunge To drive out fear and claim the night, And wrapped in that great cloak of God Embrace the dark to bring you light. The piercing cold I match with heat From my own heart that for thee burns And deep inhale the breath of God, Embrace the cold to keep you warm. My Love, with pain I’m not estranged, For pain is life confirmed. I last, Endured within the grace of God, Embrace the pain to bring you peace.

the Story behind “remember your strength”

My husband is the most inspiring person I’ve ever known. As a Captain in the Army he has served a tour in Iraq and gone through some of the most extreme training the military has to offer. He is familiar with pain, familiar with the long dark hours of the night, and familiar with endurance. He lives in honor and sacrificial serving. He is the very meaning to me of strength, courage, humility, and power. He is also a poet, and on the day of our wedding he presented me with a brown leather journal that he had kept and had begun writing in out in the deserts of Iraq before he even knew me. He wrote about his anticipation for meeting me, his bride, and about spending the rest of our lives together.

About a month and a half into our marriage, he was headed out for 3 months of training. It was going to be long, cold, and difficult for him. As we finished up dinner on our last night together for a while, he handed me the journal open to the latest page. Written there was the most beautiful description of his heart to embrace the dark, to push through the pain, to take in the cold and to confront the fear for me.

The next day after a teary drive home by myself, I sat down with my guitar and while I was playing, his lines were coming to my mind. And I began my song with the call to his heart to “remember your strength.” This song comes from my heart for him, knowing what he is capable of and what he can do. Calling his courage to rise, his strength to endure, his power to succeed. And when all else fails, I assure him as I wait safe and sound back home, “I’ll remember your strength.”

On the Eve of Deepest Night – A Warrior to His Love

In darkness fear will grow alive

And gently lure bold hearts to fail,

And icy cold will pierce and seep,

Till even marrow taste despair,

And every part of pain pursue,

To crush and crack and twist and tear.

My Heart, into the dark I plunge

To drive out fear and claim the night,

And wrapped in that great cloak of God

Embrace the dark to bring you light.

The piercing cold I match with heat

From my own heart that for thee burns

And deep inhale the breath of God,

Embrace the cold to keep you warm.

My Love, with pain I’m not estranged,

For pain is life confirmed. I last,

Endured within the grace of God,

Embrace the pain to bring you peace.