**Verse 1** I wasn't born a warrior, I didn't walk a righteous road, I carried anger like a weapon, And I carried every load. I thought that I was strong enough To fight the world alone, Until the day my strength was taken And I couldn't stand on my own. Then came the stroke that changed my life, And nothing stayed the same. My body became a battlefield, And weakness learned my name. Then came the spinal cord rupture, Then the CSF leak came, Nine months laid up and wondering What was left of me to claim. **[Chorus]** **Choose me, Lord, If You can use a man like me. I've been broken by the battle, I've been brought down to my knees. I've known what it means to lose The strength I thought I had, But You were there inside the darkness When everything went bad.** **Make me a knight of the King. Let me carry what You give. I've been through the fire, Lord, And I still want to live. I don't want a crown of glory. I don't need the world to know my name. I just want to stand beside You When the darkness comes again.** **Verse 2** Nine months is a long time When you're waiting for your life, When every ordinary morning Feels like another fight. I couldn't simply rise and go The way I did before. The things I took for granted Became battles of their own. And somewhere in those months I had to face the man I'd been. There was nowhere left to run to, Nowhere left to hide within. The sickness took my certainty, The suffering took my pride, But somewhere underneath the wreckage I found You by my side. **Verse 3** There's something people cannot see When they look into my eyes: The words are still inside my head, The thoughts are still alive. I know what I want to tell them. I know exactly what I mean. I can build the whole sentence Inside my mind so clearly. But somewhere between the thought And the sound that should come out, The road becomes a broken bridge And the words get tangled up. It's not that I have nothing to say. It's not that my mind is gone. **I have the words inside me— I just can't always get them out.** And sometimes people hear the silence And think there's nothing there. They don't know how loud it gets Inside a mind that can't speak it clear. I'm trying to explain the person That's still alive behind these eyes, Trying to turn a thousand thoughts Into a handful of spoken lines. **[Pre-Chorus]** So if I stumble through a sentence, If I can't find the words I need, Don't mistake the struggle speaking For a failure to believe. **[Chorus]** **Choose me, Lord, If You can use a man like me. I've been broken by the battle, I've been brought down to my knees. I've known the fear of weakness, I've known the weight of pain, But I would walk through fire again If it brought me to Your name.** **Make me a knight of the King. Let me carry what You give. I've got scars beneath this armor, But I still want to live. I don't need to be invincible. I don't need to never fall. I only need to know that You are Lord above it all.** **Bridge** And through every broken chapter, There was someone standing near. When I couldn't carry myself, She was there beside me here. She saw the sickness, saw the struggle, Saw the man beneath the scars. And when I couldn't see tomorrow, She still believed there could be ours. So if I ever say I'm sorry For the life that sickness changed, Know that none of this was chosen, And my love for you remains. I don't know what tomorrow brings us. I don't know how long I've got. But if God gives me more mornings— **I want to spend them with you.** **[Final Chorus]** **Choose me, Lord, Not because I'm strong enough. Choose me because I've learned That Your strength is more than mine. Take the stroke. Take the rupture. Take the years I spent in pain. Take the CSF leak, Take the weakness, Take the things I cannot change.** **Make me a knight of the King. Let my testimony be my sword. Let the life that nearly broke me Become a witness to my Lord. And though my voice may fail me, Though the words may come out slow, There is still a man inside me That I desperately want You to know.** **I have not lost my thoughts. I have not lost my faith. I have not lost the person You created me to be.** **I am still here.** **[Outro]** The stroke couldn't take my faith. The spinal rupture couldn't take my hope. The CSF leak couldn't take my purpose. Nine months couldn't convince me that my story was finished. And though I sometimes struggle to make my thoughts become my voice, **You already know every word before I speak it.** So, Lord— **If You can use this life, use it.** If You can use these scars, **use them.** If You can use this broken voice, **let it speak.** And if You still have a purpose for me— **I'm ready.** Your knight. Your servant. Your witness. **Until the King returns.**
