(If you have not yet, click the play button. I think you should read and listen at the same time.)
This song is one we sing often during worship services at our church.. It is a favorite of mine.
"Savior, You can move the mountains!
My God is mighty to save,
He is mighty to save!"
Those lyrics contained words I clung to as we waited to bring Joshua home.
Eventually all the mountains were moved. Joshua came home.
Church was hard for Joshua at first. However, the music drew him in. He adored (and adores) watching the musicians play. We started sitting in the front of the church so he could see "Tommy" playing the guitar more clearly.
Then one Sunday I heard a toddler voice in my ear singing along. He was singing along with the chorus, "Mighty to save! He is mighty to save!"
Soon after that Joshua found his singing voice. He sang all the time. He sang loudly. He sang with great passion and enthusiasm. He sang with joy. He sang while he played. He sang while he jumped on the trampoline. He sang while we drove.
The words were always the same, "Ah me too way!"
I could not figure out what he was singing about. I asked and he would just repeat his words. I would say what does "ah me too way" mean? He would tell me it meant, "ah me too way."
I decided it must be Amharic. I asked Ageze to translate. He just shrugged.
I emailed a friend whose daughter had helped to translate Joshua's words other times. She replied, "My daughter says Gebeyehu is a baby. He made it up."
Joshua continued to sing "AH ME TOO WAY!"
His words seemed so powerful. Many times they seemingly came from his soul. I was determined to figure out what they meant to him.
One Sunday after church he was singing "ah me too way" once again. I asked him how he knew that song. He responded, "Tommy do that."
I sang him every worship song I could think of but none were "ah me too way." It was driving me crazy. I totally wanted to know my son's heartsong.
Finally, after months of trying, I figured it out.
"Ah me too way!" is Joshua's toddler/new English speaker's translation of "Mighty to Save!" The cry of my son's heart is the heart of his (and all of our) story.
Savior, You have and will continue to moved the mountains. You are mighty to save. Thank you Jesus, you are mighty to save. Amen
