Have you ever felt the weight of the world on your shoulders? I sure have. 

Cindy and I were hit hard by Covid in November of 2021. It started with Cindy first. We had pre-determined our “Covid plan” just in case. We were going to mask, glove up and stay in separate parts of the house. Well…that only lasted about two minutes when Covid actually hit us.  

Cindy got a pretty severe case and there was absolutely no way I was going to leave her in another part of the house. Fever, racking cough and body aches were overwhelming for her. I decided to get through it with her and set alarms throughout the night to check for fever and monitor her oxygen levels.  

One evening, she was in her chair next to me covered up under 6 blankets and still having mad chills. I had never seen her this sick before. I couldn’t take my eyes off her and 40 years of marriage went through my mind. Forty glorious, sometimes very difficult, years. We’ve been through so much together.  

I struggled with taking her to the hospital knowing I would not be able to be with her. We knew of a few people praying for us but decided to go ahead and send a prayer request to our Friendship Church family through the website. Within a few hours of sending that prayer request, she started to improve. Sensing the power of prayer and experiencing the love and kindness of friends lifted us in an amazing way and we were able to press on. 

Not surprisingly, I came down with Covid a week later, but it didn’t seem as bad as Cindy had it. Within 6 days, though, I got much worse and Cindy improved enough to take care of me. We were pathetic but prayerful, grateful, humble and hopeful. And here we are today, not by our own strength, but through the grace and strength of Jesus. Praise God!!  

As you might guess, I express a lot of emotion through music. As I cried out to God for help during this time, the words of a new song began to flow. It’s called, “Have You Ever Felt”. Here’s a portion of it…  

Have you ever felt the weight of the world on your shoulders  

Have you ever felt the days just seem to get colder  

The night times seem longer, and you don’t feel any stronger  

There’s only one way out  

I know where my help comes from  

I know who puts breath in these lungs  

I know the One who calls me by name  

Who breaks all my chains and meets me in my pain  

I know You, I know You  

I pray this song will remind you of God’s seen and unseen presence in your life and that you’ll realize where your help comes from in a fresh, new way.  

Cindy and I are utterly grateful to be healthy again and want to say “thank you” to our praying church family! We humbly acknowledge that the situation could have turned out differently; that all those prayers might not have been answered exactly like we wanted. We all know praying people who have lost loved ones. We hope this song will help them trust deeply in God’s love and goodness in the midst of that pain.