Grace Like Rain
16 Sep 2008 1 Comment
I am one of the few people that you will find that enjoys a rainy day. Some people love thunderstorms, but few just enjoy a steady rain. I like to go out and sit on our balcony when it rains and just watch as it falls, sometimes randomly hitting leaves on the way down. This morning as I was watching the rain, the line of “Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me” from the song by Todd Agnew came to mind. Amazing grace. Just think about it.
Embracing Accusation
26 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
The father of lies
Coming to steal
Kill and destroy
All my hopes of being good enough
I hear him saying cursed are the ones
Who can’t abide
He’s right
Alleluia he’s right!The devil is preaching
The song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation
Embracing accusation
Could the father of lies
Be telling the truth
Of God to me tonight?
If the penalty of sin is death
Then death is mine
I hear him saying cursed are the ones
Who can’t abide
He’s right
Alleluia he’s right!
Oh the devil’s singing over me
An age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently
He’s forgotten the refrain
Jesus saves!
This is the Shane and Shane song that I mentioned I would write about in my other blog. I had planned on giving this whole schpill about how this song affects me, but I don’t want to do that. I just want for these words to resonate in people’s hearts. That’s all 
You Are My Favorite Part Of Me…
10 Sep 2007 Leave a Comment
in Heart Issues, Sing...Sing a Song
Tonight I saw Shane and Shane, Bebo Norman, and Monk and Neagle. It was amazing (I feel like I use that word a lot…I need to find a new one). Here are just a few thoughts and/or highlights:
- Trent Monk’s voice reminds me of John Mayer (that’s hott).
- Michael Neagle looks like CG (at least from far away). Poor guy. Ha. Joking.
- I admire Bebo (yeah, we’re on a first name basis) so much. After listening to him openly share his life with us, I feel in love with how he can be so vulnerable with complete strangers. I know that his openness is definitely being blessed by God to change many lifes. I guess that I truly admire him because being open is something that I am really seeking to become to those around me.
- Bebo also brought up this great quote from a friend. He discussed how he had told his friend about how injustices like hunger, homelessness, human trafficking, etc. often caused him to doubt and ask ”where is God?”. His friend who has worked internationally doing many hard tasks (like counting dead bodies from the Rwanda genocide) then stated that “he has learned not to ask where is God, but where are God’s people?”. That should hit hard. It really got me thinking about what I am doing to “help the least of these”.
- Bebo Norman’s voice kinda reminds me of Phil Collins and I really wanted him to sing the theme song from Tarzan.
- Shane and Shane sung this song which has had me in tears since hearing it. My next blog will be about it.
- Favorite lyric from all of the songs sung: “You (Christ) are my favorite part of me” in the song Holiday by Shane and Shane.
- I bought the new Shane and Shane CD!
- I am really growing to adore going to concerts that turn out to be more like a worship service. I like enjoying the entertainer’s music, but I love being able to concentrate on the purpose of the song (who the song is for and who the song is about) and not the ones singing it.
Make It Beautiful
31 Aug 2007 Leave a Comment
A couple of weeks ago Stephanie and I went to see this new artist named Daniel Kirkley. He reminds me a lot of Josh Groban, which I don’t usually like. The difference is that this guy doesn’t sound like his nose is being held shut and there is something lodged in his throat. He has beautiful lyrics as well. One song that has touched my heart from the moment I heard it and has helped me through rough times is a song called “Make It Beautiful”.
Life is so uncertain in a blink of an eye/There are those we let go without goodbye/so much is hard to understand/what’s the purpose what’s the plan/but God you’re in control/I believe it heart and soul/so with confidence and with faith I pray.
Come and make it beautiful/let it all be useable/I still believe in miracles and that you can use everything/so Father please use even this/Make it beautiful.
These lyrics have given me comfort and hope in the following things:
- The month of August has become a hard month for me emotionally due to my dad’s death on the 21st of August. Even though it is something that is extremely hard for me to deal with, I have seen God’s work in bringing my family together.
- My younger sister’s pregnancy. I have already seen many ways that God is using what seems so horrible, inconvienent, and unplanned to bring people closer to Him and one another.
- The fact that my sister’s boyfriend is remaining a part of her life (and therefore our family’s lives). At first I despised the little sucker. He got in trouble with the law and was put in a detention center. I was kind of happy that we might not see him again. Then he gets placed in a foster home. Out of all the freakin’ ones in Asheville, where does he get sent? To my cousin’s on my dad’s side. So, he now has even more contact w/ my sister. Christ obviously has a reason for keeping him united with my family and I have currently been praying about trying to get to know him better.
I know that I am not the only one who wonders how anything good can come out of certain situations. As I sit here, I am thinking of a handful of situations that I have heard people talk about this week where they feel hopeless and like things are out of control. The truth is things are out of our control, but God is in control. He can use any situation to grow us in knowledge, allow us to become more Christlike, to allow us to be loved on by Him, etc. Although things may be really ugly in the moment, they don’t usually stay that way.
Lord, thank you for transforming things,events, people, etc. that aren’t so lovely into beauty.
Jumper
17 Jul 2007 1 Comment
I love how God can use something as random as a 1990′s song to speak to my heart. I was having a dance party (mainly by myself because my sister Cecily just sat there and stared at me) in my living room. “Jumper” by Third Eye Blind comes on the radio. I’m still dancing until the song goes into the chorus the second time. At that time the words of the song really hit me.
I wish you would step back
From that ledge my friend
You could cut ties with all the lies
That you’ve been living in
And if you do not want to see me again
I would understand, I would understand
The angry boy a bit too insane
Icing over a secret pain
You know you don’t belong
You’re the first to fight
You’re way too loud
You’re the flash of light on a burial shroud
I know something’s wrong
Well everyone I know has got a reason
To say put the past away
Chorus
Well he’s on the table and he’s gone to code
And I do not think anyone knows
What they’re doing here
And your friends have left you
You’ve been dismissed
I never thought it would come to this
And I, I want you to know
Everyone’s got to face down the demons
Maybe today
You could put the past away
Chorus
They remind me of my plea to a lot of people that are dear to me. I love the part that says “you could cut ties with all the lies that you been living in” because I know that Satan is feeding these people lies about their worth and telling them they can’t change. I also started thinking about the fact that the singer says that if his friend doesn’t want to see him or talk to him again he will understand, but the singer still tells the friend that their is another way.
So, the song kept repeating itself in my head. Then I started thinking about my mom. I was reminded of how horribly she was living not so long ago. Then I started thinking about how much my mother has changed. She has straightened up her act a lot. She is really striving to change herself for the better. I think about how many times my prayers probably sounded a lot like the lyrics above as I begged God to help her change. The song also brought to my attention that I haven’t encouraged my mom in her accomplishments lately. I realized that she knew all about her faults because they were always brought up. She is probably wondering if anyone is noticing the good she is doing now due to lack of praise. I am so proud of the changes that are occuring in my mom’s life and I am trying my hardest from now on to make sure that she knows how I feel about her accomplishments.
Thank you God for the little reminders that you have touched my heart with through this song. Allow me to speak boldly to those who need to know you. Help me to encourage those who are changing. Help me to always remember where the source of the change comes and to praise you for caring enough to make it happen.
