Even if...
Rob Tervet, of Christ Community Church, Attleborough, UK, has recently recorded an album of his worship songs, some of which you may know from wider RM family events. He told us the story of how the title song came about…
Last summer our family holiday was cut short and our daughter was rushed into hospital on the Isle of Wight. She was later diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. It was a crazy time for our family with seemingly endless hospital stays, and many moments of shock and numbness. Our daughter had a successful liver transplant and now over a year later is doing much better and has finished her cancer treatment. At the beginning of all this, I sat at my piano and wrote a song called ‘Even if’.
We often talk about God’s love for us being unconditional: no matter what we do or say he will never stop loving us. But scripture also talks in a number of places about our love for God being unconditional. Three passages stand out to me:
Daniel 3:17-18 – If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.
Habakkuk 3:17-18 – ‘Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.
Job 13:15 ‘Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him’.
Right at the beginning of all this, one of the important decisions I wanted to make upfront was that whatever happened I was going to keep praising and loving God. And that brought a real sense of release and stability, not to be pinning all our hopes on an outcome but putting our hope in God, and putting God at the centre.
We were in faith and expectation for a complete healing but I also felt I wanted to say ‘no matter what, I know enough to keep praising God’. We can spend a lot of time in our lives asking ‘What if…?’ questions which lead to worry and anxiety – but I’ve found saying ‘Even if…’ brings peace.
This song became the title track for an album of worship songs that I have written over recent years for Christ Community Church. It is available to buy now on CD or as downloadable mp3 files.