I want to be one of them

Following are the lyrics to "When the Saints" by Sara Groves. You may have been familiar with the song for some time, but it has only recently found its way to me, and cut my heart to shreds...

Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I cannot let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
but your word has compelled me
when I think of all who've gone before me
and lived the faithful life
their courage compels me

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought
I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaoh's court
I hear his call of freedom for the people of the Lord
And when the saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
Yeah when the saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
I see the young missionary and the end of the spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear
I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the leper's side
I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door
I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the saints go marching in
I want to be one of them...