Whatever Years Remain

Scripture

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
—Psalm 90:12

We do not know how many years remain. That truth can frighten us—or it can awaken us.

Moses did not ask God merely to give him more days. He asked God to teach him how to live the days he was given. A wise life is not measured by recognition, possessions, or always being proved right. It is measured by faithfulness.

Have we loved the people God placed beside us? Have we given them our time, not merely our advicWe cannot recover yesterday, but today is still in our hands. If God has given us another morning, then He still has work for us to do: someone to love, something to make right, truth to follow, wisdom to share, or a seed to plant—even if someone else receives the harvest.

Whatever years remain, let us not spend them protecting our pride or building our reputation. Let us spend them loving more deeply, serving more freely, and walking more closely with Jesus. At the end, we do not need the world to say we were great. It is enough to hear our Lord say, “Well done.”

Prayer

Father, thank You for the days You have given me. Teach me to number them wisely. Help me love deeply, listen humbly, forgive freely, and make right what I have made wrong. Keep my heart open to Your truth and my feet faithful to Your leading. May the life of Jesus be seen in me, and may whatever years remain be spent for Your glory. Amen.

Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
Hey old man, you know some things now,
You’ve walked some roads before.
You’ve chased some things that didn’t last,
And missed what mattered more.
You’ve held too tight to being right,
And learned what pride can cost.
You’ve found that sometimes finding truth
Means knowing you were lost.
And if tomorrow comes again,
And God gives you one more day,
Remember what you promised Him
When you finally found your way.
[Chorus]
Whatever years remain,
I’m gonna spend them well.
I’m gonna love a little deeper,
Give a little more myself.
I’m gonna seek the truth,
And follow where it leads.
I’m gonna walk each day with Jesus,
Let His life be seen in mine.
I don’t need my name remembered,
I don’t need fortune, I don’t need fame.
I just want to hear, You were faithful,
When I’ve spent
Whatever years remain.
[Verse 2]
Hey old man, keep listening,
There’s more you need to learn.
Don’t let your wisdom harden
Till there’s nowhere left to turn.
Not every hill is worth the fight,
Not every word needs said.
Sometimes love means standing firm,
Sometimes bowing down your head.
Love the ones God gave to you,
Don’t wait another day.
Give your time before advice,
And mean the words you say.
When you’re wrong, then call it wrong.
When you hurt someone, make it right.
Hold your ground when truth demands,
But hold the ones you love more tight.
[Chorus]
Whatever years remain,
I’m gonna spend them well.
I’m gonna love a little deeper,
Give a little more myself.
I’m gonna seek the truth,
And follow where it leads.
I’m gonna walk each day with Jesus,
Let His life be seen in mine.
I don’t need my name remembered,
I don’t need fortune, I don’t need fame.
I just want to hear, You were faithful,
When I’ve spent
Whatever years remain.
[Bridge]
Build something that will outlive you.
Teach somebody what you know.
Help a weary brother stand up.
Plant some seeds you’ll never grow.
Give away the things you’ve learned,
Leave some light along the way.
Keep your heart and mind wide open.
Keep the fire burning every day.
If you wander—
Come home.
If you stumble—
Get up.
If that old swamp calls your name again,
Remember why you left.
[Final Chorus]
Whatever years remain,
Lord, let me spend them well.
Let me love a little deeper,
Give a little more myself.
Let me seek Your truth,
And follow where You lead.
Let me walk each day with Jesus,
Let His life be seen in mine.
I don’t need my name remembered,
I don’t need fortune, I don’t need fame.
Just let the ones I love know I loved them,
And let my life point past my name.
And when I reach that final day,
I don’t need to hear I was great.
If I loved, and served, and followed You,
Then, Lord, that’s enough for me.
And if I hear—
Well done…
That’s enough.
That’s all I need.
For whatever years remain.
[Outro]
Hey old man…
If tomorrow comes,
You’ve still got work to do.
Whatever years remain.

Copyright © 2026 by Skyler Thomas

The Prodigal

Scripture: “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” — Luke 15:20

I remember my Heavenly Father’s table growing up — bread enough for every day, and the kind of security that doesn’t come from money in the bank but from knowing you are loved. I never dreamed I’d walk away. But somewhere along the way in my adulthood I decided the world held something greater, just past the hills I’d always known. So I took the gifts He had placed within me and left His house to spend them on myself. That’s the part that still humbles me: I walked out the door carrying His blessings.

The far country never announces itself. The coins and the laughter simply faded, promises turned into dust, and every road that whispered freedom carried me farther from everyone who trusted me. My pig pen was a swamp — different years, different failures, some of them disguised as success. Then came one quiet, broken morning, standing in the muck and the shame, when I whispered the only honest prayer I had left: “Father, where are You? Would You still call my name?”

I came back with a broken story, hoping He would let me stay. I had already heard the verdict of people I had wounded and disappointed, and I expected Heaven to agree with them. But mercy met me at the gateway. There was no list of my failures, no reminder of where I had been — only arms that wrapped around me, and a voice calling me His child again.

That’s when I finally understood the parable. It was never really about a rebellious son; it’s about a Father. Jesus spends almost no time in the far country — He slows the story down when the father sees a figure on the horizon. That’s where God wants our eyes: not on the muck, not on the shame, but on the Father who has been watching that road every single day. Every scar becomes a story. Every tear becomes a prayer. Every step that turns toward Heaven finds Him already running.

I was never just the wanderer. I was always still His child. The road I thought had lost me led me home to the Father’s love — a love I have never understood. But then, grace was never meant to be understood. Only received.

Prayer

Father, thank You for watching the road — for seeing me while I was still a long way off, and running. I came back with a broken story, and You gave me back my name. Forgive the years I spent Your gifts far from Your house, and keep me close to Your table now. Teach me to watch the road the way You do, so that when another prodigal appears on the horizon, I run too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Lyrics

Verse 1
I remember my Father’s table,
Bread enough for every day.
Morning light through open windows,
Never dreamed I’d walk away.
Thought the world held something greater,
Past the hills I’d always known.
Took the gifts He’d placed within me…
And I left my Father’s home.

Chorus
Still You watched the road before me,
Even while I lost my way.
When I had no strength to reach You,
Love was with me anyway.
I was never just forgotten,
Never farther than Your eyes.
All the miles between us vanished…
When You called me, “Child, arise.”

Verse 2
Soon the coins and laughter faded,
Promises turned into dust.
Every road that whispered freedom
Led me farther from Your trust.
Then one quiet, broken morning,
Standing in the muck and shame,
I whispered, “Father, where are you…
Will you call my name”

Bridge
I came back with a broken story,
Hoping You would let me stay.
But mercy met me at the gateway…
Your grace was waiting for me now.
No long list of all my failures,
No reminder where I’d been.
Only arms that wrapped around me…
Calling me Your child again.

Verse 3
Now I know the Father’s watching
Every distant, winding road.
Looking past the dust of rebels,
Long before they make it home.
Every scar becomes a story,
Every tear becomes a prayer.
Every step that turns toward Heaven
Finds the Father waiting there.

Final Chorus
Still You’re watching every highway,
Every heart that’s wandered far.
Lighting every lonely midnight
Like an everlasting star.
No one falls beyond Your mercy,
No one runs beyond Your grace.
Every prodigal can come home…
Love is waiting in that place.

Outro
I was never just the wand’rer.
I was always still Your child.
And the road I thought had lost me…
Led me to the Father’s love.

The Father’s love.

Still the Father’s love.

Copyright © 2026 by Skyler Thomas

Come Now, My Love

Scripture

“My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come…'”
Song of Songs 2:10–12

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8


There are days when I look back over my life and wonder how God could possibly love someone like me.

I don’t see a spiritual giant.

I see a broken man.

I see someone who has stumbled more times than he can count. A man who has ignored God’s voice, defended his pride, chosen comfort over obedience, and broken His commandments in thought, in word, and in deed.

If my life were presented as evidence in a courtroom, I would have no defense.

And yet…

When I open the Scriptures, I don’t hear condemnation as the final word. I hear an invitation.

“Come now, My love.”

Those words almost seem misplaced.

Surely God is speaking to someone other than me.

Someone whose life isn’t marked by so many failures.

Someone who hasn’t wandered so far.

But that isn’t the Gospel.

The Gospel is that Jesus always moved toward the broken.

He ate with sinners.

He touched lepers.

He defended the ashamed.

He restored failures.

He forgave those who nailed Him to the cross.

He did not wait for people to become worthy before loving them. He loved them into transformation.

Brennan Manning wrote in The Furious Longing of God that many of us spend our lives believing in God while quietly doubting that He delights in us. We accept that God is loving, but struggle to believe that His love is personal enough to include me, with all of my shame and failure.

I understand that struggle.

I know what it feels like to believe the facts of the Gospel while secretly wondering if they apply to me.

But the cross answers that question forever.

Jesus knew every chapter of my story before I lived a single page.

He knew every failure I would carry.

Every hidden motive.

Every selfish choice.

Every season of wandering.

And He still stretched out His hands.

The invitation was never based on my goodness.

It has always rested on His.

So perhaps when Jesus says,

“Come now, My love…”

He isn’t ignoring my past.

He is declaring that my past no longer has the final word.

Winter has passed.

Not because I finally became good enough.

But because Christ entered my winter, bore my sin, and walked out of the grave so I could walk into His spring.

One day I will stand before Him, and I believe my greatest surprise won’t be how much I loved Him.

It will be discovering how much He loved me all along.


Prayer

Father,

There are still places in my heart that struggle to believe Your love is truly for me. I know my failures. I remember my regrets. I carry memories that remind me how often I have fallen short of Your holiness.

Yet You continue to call me, “Beloved.”

Thank You for loving me before I ever thought to love You. Thank You for pursuing me when I wandered, for carrying me when I was too weak to walk, and for never giving up on me even when I doubted You—or doubted Your love for me.

Help me to stop measuring Your love by my performance. Teach me to measure it by the cross.

When shame tells me to hide, remind me of Your invitation.

When guilt tells me to run, remind me that You ran to meet the prodigal.

When fear tells me I am unworthy, remind me that Jesus was worthy in my place.

May I spend the rest of my life learning what it truly means to be loved by You—not a love I earned, but a love You freely gave.

And when I finally hear Your voice face to face, may my first response simply be,

“I’m home.”

In the name of Jesus,

Amen.

Lyrics

Verse 1
I’ve been walking through
The memories again,
Looking at the places
Where I should’ve turned back then.
I see the pride.
I see the shame.
The words I can’t take back.
The times I knew the better road…
And still I chose another path.
If anyone knows
The truth about me,
It’s You.
So when I hear You calling,
I can hardly believe
You’re calling me.

Chorus
Come now, My love.
Come just as you are.
The winter is over.
You don’t have to hide.
Lift up your face.
Let Me hear your voice.
I’ve been waiting here,
Long before you heard Mine.
Come now, My love.
Come home.

Verse 2
I spent so many years
Trying hard to earn
Something You were giving
Long before my turn.
I wore my shame
Like it was my name.
I carried every scar.
Never dreaming grace
Could ever reach this far.
But You saw every failure,
Every secret,
Every sin.
And somehow
You stayed here.

Chorus
Come now, My love.
Come just as you are.
The flowers are waking.
The morning has come.
Lift up your face.
Let Me hear your voice.
I’ve never stopped
Calling your name.
Come now, My love.
Come home.

Bridge
I don’t understand it.
I never will.
The Holy One
Reached for these broken hands.
You knew every chapter
Before my story was told.
Still…
You opened Your arms.
Still…
You called me beloved.
Still…
You whispered my name.
Come now…
My love.

Final Chorus
Come now, My love.
The winter is gone.
The old has surrendered.
A new day has dawned.
Lift up your face.
There’s nothing to prove.
You were loved before
You ever knew love.
Come now, My love.
Come home.

Outro
When I stand before You,
It won’t be because
I finally became worthy.
It will be because
Your mercy never stopped
Coming after me.
My story
Was never about
How tightly I held on to You.
It was always about
How faithfully
You held on to me.
Come now, My love.
I’m coming home.

Copyright © 2026 by Skyler Thomas

My Story, Your Story, His Story

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” — Ephesians 2:10

One of the greatest discoveries I’ve made is that life isn’t primarily about finding answers.

For years I prayed, “Lord, show me Your will. Show me the path. Show me what You want me to do.” I thought if I prayed long enough, read enough Scripture, and listened carefully enough, one day God would hand me a map.

Instead, He kept putting people in front of me.

A friend who needed encouragement. Someone who needed forgiveness. A stranger who needed kindness. A challenge I never would have chosen.

Looking back, I wonder if I was asking the wrong question.

Maybe the purpose of life isn’t found in discovering God’s plan as much as responding faithfully to the opportunities He places in front of us.

Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning) wrote that life asks every person a question. As I read those words, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus. He rarely answered questions directly. Instead, He asked them.

“Who do you say I am?”

“Do you love Me?”

“What do you want Me to do for you?”

Maybe that’s how God has always worked.

Every circumstance quietly asks, “Who will you become?”

That’s where My Story begins.

But it never ends there.

Because the next question is always about Your Story.

Who has God placed in front of me today? Whose burden can I help carry? Whose tears can I help wipe away? Whose story intersects mine for this moment?

Then, almost without noticing, both stories become part of something infinitely larger.

His Story.

The story God has been unfolding since the beginning.  It’s not simply bound and finished in the Scripture.

Maybe that’s why Paul could write that all things work together for good—not because all things are good, but because the Author is still writing.

The chapter may be painful.

But the story isn’t over.

Prayer

Father, help me stop demanding the whole map. Give me the courage to be faithful with today’s step. Let my story become a blessing in someone else’s story, and may both find their place in Your Story. Amen.

My Story, Your Story, His Story

Verse 1

I thought faith would spare the hard days,
Keep my feet on easy ground.
But the road has crossed through valleys
Where hope was hard to find.
Some prayers were answered slowly,
Some dreams never came to be.
Still somewhere in the silence,
He was changing me.

Pre-Chorus

I can’t choose every chapter,
I can’t stop every storm.
But I can choose the heart I carry
Until the morning comes.

Chorus

My story…
Written through the joy and pain.
Your story…
Crosses mine and we’re both changed.
His Story…
Has been holding every page.
Nothing’s wasted, nothing’s lost
When love becomes the way.
My story…
Your story…
His Story.

Verse 2

Sometimes strength is simply staying
When the night won’t let you sleep.
Sometimes hope is just believing
There’s a harvest you can’t see.
Love is found in ordinary moments,
A hand to hold, a burden shared.
Meaning grows where mercy meets us,
Right in the middle of our prayers.

Bridge

When I cannot change my story,
I can change the way I live.
I can answer fear with courage.
I can answer hate with grace.
I can answer loss with kindness.
I can answer doubt with faith.
Every choice becomes a sentence
That no sorrow can erase.

Final Chorus

My story…
Never written just for me.
Your story…
Part of who I’m meant to be.
His Story…
Has been calling us by name.
Every scar and every victory
Finding purpose just the same.

Outro

My story…
Your story…
They were never meant to stand alone.
Every road… every scar…
Every joy… every tear…
Somehow they all lead home.

His Story…
Has been writing us all along.

Copyright © 2026 by Skyler Thomas

Unshaken Name

Devotional:

“For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…” — Ephesians 1:4

There’s something hard for us to grasp about a God who is not bound by time.

We live inside it. We measure everything by it. Days, years, seasons, milestones. We think in terms of what has happened and what might happen next. But God doesn’t move that way. He is not reacting. He is not catching up. He is not waiting to see how things turn out.

Before there was a “before”… He chose.

Before there was breath in your lungs… He knew your name.

Before anything in your life was built—or broken—your identity was already established in Him.

That means something important.

It means that what you are walking through right now—whether it feels steady or uncertain, successful or falling apart—was never meant to define you.

We spend so much of our lives trying to build a name. Through work. Through reputation. Through what we accomplish or what we avoid. And when those things shift—and they always do—it can feel like we’re losing ourselves.

But maybe what’s actually happening is something else.

Maybe what’s being shaken was never you to begin with.

God is not forming your identity based on your performance. He’s not watching your life unfold and then deciding who you are. That decision was already made—in Christ—before the foundation of the world.

And what He writes… He doesn’t erase.

Your job may change. Your circumstances may shift. Things you thought were stable may not hold. But none of those things have the authority to rename you.

Because your identity doesn’t come from what you do.

It comes from who He is.

And faith, in its simplest form, is just agreeing with that. Not striving to become someone new—but waking up to who you’ve been in Him all along.

So today, whatever feels uncertain… whatever feels like it’s slipping…

Let it.

Because what is truly you—what God has spoken, what He has written, what He has sealed—was never built on those things.

And it never will be.

You are His.

And that has already been decided.

Prayer

Father,

You are outside of time, and yet You see me right here in this moment.
Before I ever lived a day, You knew my name. You chose me. You claimed me.

Help me to believe that more deeply.

When I start to define myself by what I do, what I’ve lost, or what others think—
remind me who I am in You.
When things around me feel unstable, keep me anchored in what cannot be shaken.

Teach me to live from my identity, not for it.
To rest in what You have already spoken, instead of striving to prove something You’ve already decided.

And when I forget… bring me back again.

Thank You that my name is written,
that it is held by You,
and that nothing in this life can take that away.

I am Yours.

Amen.

Song Lyrics:
Verse 1
You are a God who sees all time
Not bound within these days of mine
Before I ever drew a breath
You knew my name, You knew my steps
I’ve worn the names this life can give
By what I’ve done, the way I’ve lived
But they all fade, they lose their claim
They never held me like Your name

Verse 2
There are days it all feels thin
Like who I am just caves within
When what I built won’t stand its ground
And nothing steady can be found
But underneath the shifting sand
There is a truth I know will stand
It holds me up when I give way
It speaks the words I cannot shake

Chorus
I am Yours, and that won’t change
My name is written in Your grace
Not in the rise, not in the fall
Not in the weight of it at all
Through the fire, through the pain
Through the loss I can’t explain
What is shaken isn’t me
Just what was never built on Thee

Verse 3
You wrote my name before the start
Not on a page, but in Your heart
And sealed it not with what I do
But with the blood that speaks for me
And faith is just my way to stand
On what you always had clearly planned
Not earning it, not holding on
But trusting what was true all along

Bridge
You see the end before the frame
And still You call me by my name
Not who I was, not what I fear
But who I am when You are near
All the names I wore before
Don’t fit me like they did before
They fall away, they lose their claim
Standing in the light of your holy name

Bridge (Build)
Written before time began
Sealed by the blood of the Lamb
I believe, so I will stand
In the grace that holds my name

Final Chorus
I am Yours, and that won’t change
Even here in doubt and pain
When I don’t see, when I don’t know
Still I am who You have called
Not by sight, not by proof
But by the steady weight of truth
What is hidden now in faith
Will be clear when I see Your face

Outro
My name is written
Not by me
And nothing here
Can take it from me
I am Yours
You are mine
For all eternity
For all time

Copyright © 2026 by Skyler Thomas