When I was young and careless and blessed with daily good,
\nHe told me that he loved me, and I told him that he should!
\nDissatisfied with daily gifts, I daily did implore,
\nIf you really cared for me, you\u2019d ought to give me more!
\nThen he loved me. Yes, he loved me! I can see it now.
\nIn spite of my ungrateful heart, he loved me anyhow.
\nIn spite of all, he loved me.<\/p>\n
How rash was I and thoughtless, and filled with foolish pride!
\nI despised his kindness, all discretion cast aside,
\nSo I gathered up his tender gifts – his limits I would leave –
\nI took my journey far away; so what if he should grieve!
\nThen he loved me. Yes, he loved me! I can see it now.
\nIn spite of my so foolish choice he loved me anyhow.
\nIn spite of all, he loved me.<\/p>\n
I lived with sheer abandon, as one who had no shame.
\nI yielded to unchecked desires and played the devil\u2019s game.
\nMy plenty I soon wasted all, my fickle friends all fled.
\nMy folly came to mock me then; I had not a crust of bread!
\nThen he loved me. Yes, he loved me! I can see it now.
\nIn spite of how far down I came, he loved me anyhow!
\nIn spite of all, he loved me.<\/p>\n
I thought then of my father, and the good I\u2019d had before.
\nI thought of all his servants, who had bread enough, and more.
\nAnd I thought of how I\u2019d wandered, and I\u2019d soiled my father\u2019s name
\nAnd I longed to be restored to him in spite of all my shame.
\nThen he loved me. Yes, he loved me! I can see it now.
\nIn spite of my depravity he loved me anyhow.
\nIn spite of all, he loved me!<\/p>\n
I arose and took my journey back toward father and toward home.
\nI will tell him, \u201cI have sinned and I\u2019m not fit to be your son.\u201d
\nBut before I came, he saw me, and as I came, he ran,
\nAnd he embraced and kissed me, and rejoiced, \u201cMy son is come!\u201d
\nAnd he loved me! Yes, he loved me! I can see it now!
\nIn spite of my unworthiness, he loved me anyhow!
\nIn spite of all, he loved me!<\/p>\n
Then I looked up to heaven, and I looked up to God,
\nAnd I looked up to see the One Who watched the way I\u2019d trod\u2026
\nAnd I looked up into the eyes that saw all I had done \u2013
\nThe One Who bore the blame for me, to welcome me back home
\nFor He loves me! Yes, He loves me, I can see it now!
\nIn spite of my rebellious ways, He loves me anyhow.
\nIn spite of all, He loves me!<\/p>\n
– Penned by Steven Lamb<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I was young and careless and blessed with daily good, He told me that he loved me, and I told him that he should! Dissatisfied with daily gifts, I daily did implore, If you really cared for me, you\u2019d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-songpoem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1254"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1263,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1254\/revisions\/1263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gospelriver.com\/sharingchrist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}