The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching
Day 17 – Monday after Lent 3 – Undivided Heart
To Read:
From the Scriptures:
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come
and bow down before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
(Psalm 86v8-13)
From Vicky Beeching:
Undivided Heart
Brokenness has brought me to my knees
Face to face with all that’s dark in me
I can barely see You through my shame
Jesus come and wash me white again
Flood me with Your healing light
Help me choose what’s true and right
Give me an undivided heart
I want to love You with every part
Give me an undivided soul
I want to be Yours alone Yours alone
At the cross I find Your open arms
Reminding me there’s grace for all I’ve done
With Your blood You wipe away my past
Taking on Yourself my sin and scars
By Your power help me change
Break off every single chain
Chorus
You make all things new
So take my ashes and make them something beautiful
Do what only You can do
Take my ashes and make them something beautiful
Chorus
Yours alone. Yours and Yours alone
To Listen: ‘Undivided Heart’ by Vicky Beeching
To Reflect:
Today I am tempted to simply say:
Listen to Vicky’s Song ‘Undivided Heart’.
Read Vicky’s book ‘Undivided’.
Imitate Vicky’s devotion to the God who calls her to wholeness.
Offer God your own brokenness.
..and finally
Reach for a Kleenex, or perhaps two.
In her biography, without giving away too many spoilers, Vicky tells us that she wrote this song when she was in a place of darkness. Told her whole life that who she was, even though having given her whole being to our Beloved, was not acceptable to God, she came to a moment of brokenness. Wonderfully, a few years later this place of darkness, and this song, became a place of deep healing and wholeness.
Growing up in a church that demanded a human (and so broken) picture of humanity instead of God’s picture of us, she struggled to offer God all who she was and so, instead of finding joy she found brokenness and shame.
This song is for all of us. It calls us to burn away the dross that distracts and hinders us from being close to our Beloved. We need to know that the arms stretched open on the cross embrace not only the world but also every bit of who we are;
Sinful bits.
Broken bits.
Well-meant but misplaced bits.
Pretty and clever bits of which may be too proud.
Ugly and shame-filled bits which we hope no one else can see.
Bits that just don’t fit together with the other bits.
And offering them to the One Who Loves us Best sing through our tears;
You make all things new
So take my ashes and make them something beautiful.
Do what only You can do
Take my ashes and make them something beautiful.
(I told you several sheets of Kleenex were needed with this song…)
And then, joy of joys we discover, along with Vicky, that sometimes what we thought was broken was beautiful all along. And this has been so since our beloved breathed the Breath of Life into us. Phoenix-like our Beloved takes what we think doesn’t fit – be it because of our sinfulness or the judgement and prejudice of others – and indeed makes the slum of our souls into Something Beautiful for God….[1]
To Pray:
Lord, teach us to work with love,
knowing that work is love made visible.
Teach us to weave the cloth with threads drawn from our heart,
even as if you our beloved were to wear that cloth.
To build a house with affection,
even as if you were to dwell in that house.
To sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if you were to eat the fruit.
To charge all things we fashion with a breath of our own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about us and watching.
(Kahlil Gibran – The Prophet: adapted)
To Do:
Sometimes the faith in which we grow can be more about restriction than the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8v20-21). Amy Carmichael describes it thus;
‘When I was small I used to think that, if I wanted very much to do a thing, that thing was probably wrong. And if I didn’t want to do it, it was probably right. That is not quite fair to God, for His commandments are not grievous, not heavy and burdensome (1 John 5.3).
Reflect on your faith journey and ask if you have any devotions or behaviours or dogmas that are binding and restricting and fulfilling.
Question yourself as to whether the time has come to say to them, ‘thank you’ but ‘goodbye’…
oooOOOooo
If you would like to find out more about Vicky and her work here is a link to her Wikipedia entry. For a fuller picture her autobiography ‘Undivided’ is highly recommended
Please Note: These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com on Bluesky as @suffolkvicar.bsky.social, and on my public Facebook page Suffolk Vicar – Rev Andrew Dotchin.
If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to revdotchin@gmail.com
If you have enjoyed reading them please make a donation to The Clergy Support Trust who provide generous grants to help clergy.
Acknowledgements:
These Reflections, ‘The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beaching’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2026 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that their source is acknowledged.
All of the music on the video clips are from YouTube and are © Vicky Beeching.
If you enjoy listening to her songs please consider buying her recordings. A full discography and other information about Vicky can be found on her website vickybeeching.com.
Scripture quotations are from The New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Prayers are from A Diary of Prayer compiled by Elizabeth Goudge and are copyright © 1966 The Estate of Elizabeth Goudge.
[1] For a review of the eponymous book cleck here: https://zaakistan.com/dir/index.php/2015/08/14/book-review-something-beautiful-for-god-malcolm-muggeridge/
Suffolk Vicar 