The words of this spontaneous song are an outflow from a silent retreat I recently completed. The retreat’s purpose was to rest and simply be, listening and letting the Lord finish His sentences. To come and linger is a theme for me this year. As a mom of sweet littles, it can be challenging for me to make space to sit and be still. But my family needs me calibrated to Love every day. It’s in these moments when I wait with God that I find what is most important for the day. I receive daily bread that satisfies not only myself; it can be broken, blessed, and multiplied to feed the 5,000 I encounter throughout the day. At my retreat, I was reminded of the Bible stories where the sun stood still. I felt the Father say, “I will still the sun for you. I will make space. I am time. Just come and be.” The Lord paused the sun during Joshua’s battle. Perhaps rest is even more valuable than I realized—worth fighting for. And worth the sun being stilled, whether literally or figuratively. In an earlier journal entry, I wrote a note from Jesus, the Faithful and True, “If you will wait with me, I will multiply your time. If you will wait with me, I will take care of the rest. I have carved a space in the rock for you. Come nestle here. Come sacrifice your schedule here. To-do’s will bow to ‘I love you’s.’ Your home needs you calibrated to me every day. Say yes, and I will make a way!” So this song is a conversation. An invitation and our reply. “Will you come and linger?” Yes, I love to linger with You.

// Improvised Lyrics:

Come and linger

come and linger

come and linger with Me

Yeah, come and linger

yeah, come and linger

yeah, come and linger with Me

I will still the sun

I will make space for you and Me

Oh, just come and linger

It's where I want to be

Yeah, I will still the sun

I'll make space to be

Oh, come and linger

Yeah, sit alone with Me

Yeah, just come and linger

Yeah, come and linger

Oh, come and linger with Me

I will still the sun

I will make space to be

Oh, yeah, I'll just come and linger

Sit close to Me

Yeah, I will still the sun

I'll move mountains just to be

Oh, yeah, just come and linger

face to face with Me”

Yeah, Jesus, we come to linger

We come and linger

we come and linger with You

My Bridegroom, I come and linger

I come and linger

I come and linger with You

I'll rest in Your tempo

My schedule's at Your feet

My to-do list at Your feet

And I will come and linger

‘Cause my heart desires to meet

Yes, so we come to linger

we come to linger

we come to linger with You

Lord, we come and linger

we come and linger

we come and linger with You

I will wait here for Your voice

If You want to speak

Oh, but I am so content

Just to wait here and be

And I rest here in Your choice

I desire to hear Your voice

but in silence we can be

face to face, You and me

Oh, we love to linger

we love to linger

we love to linger with You

God says that, "I love to linger

I love to linger

I love to linger with you

Oh, I'll stop time for you

I'll still the sun just for you

Oh, ‘cause we war with rest

Oh, yeah yeah

Yes, I'll stop the sun for you,

I'll move it back ten steps for you

I'll redeem the time just for you

Yeah, just come and linger

Yeah, cause I love to linger

I love to linger

I love to linger with you"

//Recording courtesy of Dimensions Center and Kevin McCroskey—Thank you!