Sondra Corbett Wood was really still just a youngster. All of 20 years old, and
she was brimming with passion. It was a drive that some – even she, herself -
might say wore off with time. The song “I Worship You, Almighty God” that she
wrote reminds one of a love song, a longing for relationship that promises to
be unique, special. To find one’s true love is the goal of the naïve, innocent young
adult – and probably many older adults, too! And, though its expression might
make the jaded person scoff, who among us doesn’t recall wistfully that high
school or college yearbook, with the special message scrawled on the inside
cover from someone who made the heart burn?
This is the way Sondra describes her feelings in 1983. He,
God, was close. And, the words of the song’s chorus flowed naturally that day
next to a piano in a school music room in Dallas, Texas. She was praying for
the success of a worship service that she and others in Living Praise, a music
group, would be guiding the next day. So, it seems that indeed God did inhabit
the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3; KJV) that day. She says the chorus’
message, so simple yet deep, is its power. Just to focus on Him, and nothing
else, sing right to God -- not about
Him, but to Him. Later, after she’d
left the Christ of the Nations Institute in Dallas, where the song was created,
and graduated from college, Sondra walked away from her faith. For two years,
it seems that she was like the cynical adult who grows weary of the old love
ballad. But, she eventually reconnected with her faith in Kentucky, and over
time rediscovered His grace and forgiveness. She remembered the call of her 20-year-old’s
praise message. Remember that heady, young adult’s first love?
If it feels uneasy or unnatural to act like a giddy kid, Amen!
Love toward God feels like nothing else, and so it’s OK to think of it like
that first time passion. The challenge, as Sondra Corbett Wood’s life
underscores, is to preserve that relationship with God like the first days of
love’s fervor. Is that realistic? Talk to even a few marriage partners, and the
answer sounds like ‘NO’. I go through valleys, and then climb the mountain
again – at least part way up it – but it’s basically a pendulum here on Earth.
Sondra’s song reminds me that there will be a time, not too far off, when the
praise I sing will share the same space with Him. Love will need no explanation
there. I’ll just feel, exult, revel, and drink in Him. Start thinking like a young
lover again.
The source for Sondra Corbett
Wood’s “I Worship You, Almighty God” song story is the book “Our God Reigns:
The Stories behind Your Favorite Praise and Worship Songs”, by Phil Christensen
and Shari MacDonald, Kregel Publications, 2000.
An update on her true age at
the time was provided by the composer in one of this blog entry’s comments. Thank
you Sondra!
