The members of Contemporary Christian alt-rock band Sanctus Real have much to be thankful for. Their fifth studio album, Pieces of a Real Heart (Sparrow), yielded the #1 Christian CHR hit Forgiven, and, if the early reactions to new single Lead Me are any indication, the band may have another hit in its hands. This anthemic power ballad scores the fourth-highest increase this week at Soft AC/Inspo, in the process becoming the most added new song ever for the band this week as it entered the top 20 of the overall Billboard Christian radio national audience chart.
Written by Sanctus Real’s lead vocalist Matt Hammitt from his and his wife Sarah’s experience with the latter’s difficult pregnancy, Lead Me is a personal confessional prayer of faith in a God Who allows challenging things to happen and empowers man to trust in Him, not themselves. The Hammitts’ third child and first boy, Bowen Matthew, is roughly 27 weeks old in vitro and has been diagnosed with a serious heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart (HLHS). “Knowing Bowen is sick has brought me face to face with the sobering reality that none of us are promised tomorrow and has pulled that nagging ache, the one to make every moment count, straight to the surface of my daily life,” Hammitt says in this interview with Christianity today. (He and Sarah keep fans and loved ones updated on Bowen’s condition at BowensHeart.com). “I think the challenge for me in the song, and hopefully for other men as well,” he continues, “is every time I hear it, every time I sing it, I ask myself, ‘what kind of man am I?’ Not yesterday, not tomorrow, what kind of man am I today? Have I invested in my family emotionally,spiritually the way that God has called me to reach out to them and to lead them.”
LEAD ME Lyrics
Sanctus Real
I look around and see my wonderful life
Almost perfect from the outside
In picture frames I see my beautiful wife
Always smiling
But on the inside, I can hear her saying
Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can’t
Don’t leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?
Show me you’re willing to fight
That I’m still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone
I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
They’re just children from the outside
I’m working hard, I tell myself they’ll be fine
They’re in independent
But on the inside, I can hear them saying
Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can’t
Don’t leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, but what about us?
Show me you’re willing to fight
That I’m still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone
So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I’m called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won’t You lead me?
To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can’t
Don’t want to leave them hungry for love,
Chasing things that I could give up
I’ll show them I’m willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone
Father, lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone
