There has never been a Greater Love

Have you figured out I really like Brandon Heath right now??

Here is "No Not One" by none other than Heath himself.

Chorus:
"There has never been a greater love
Than your son
No. Not one
And there’ll never be a name above
No, Not one
With his life you have forgiven us
Hope has come
Hope has come
And there will never be a greater love
No, Not one"

Relief

The swirling colors
Melt into one
Is it black or is it gray?
One may say,
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Take what you get
And make it shine.
How do you bring energy
To that which is dull?
How do you bring light
To that which is dark?
How?
Inner pain which tears cannot relieve
They come as if the well never dries.
Masked and hidden,
The day never sees what lies beneath.
Grasping, reaching, seeking
For any relief,
Found in all the wrong places.
The Truth remains,
Deliverance remains,
Soul satisfaction remains,
In the Son of the Most High.

To Bring My Soul to You

"Let Me Sing" by Todd Fields

I Love The Word

Romans 12:9-21

^"9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord. ²⁰On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Amen.

Give Me Your Eyes

I find my new job is challenging me in many different ways. For one, I have realized I don't work well with just anyone. For some reason, a co-worker and me just seem to butt heads everyday. It really just came to a climax yesterday and boiled over inside of me to the point of driving home in tears. I truly want to follow Christ's example in this situation. I want to show this co-worker love and respect, even if he drives me up the wall and is rude and disrespectful to me. I pray that I can keep my patience with him and bring in my boss' authority when appropriate. I also just pray for him. One of my friends reminded me that we are called to pray for and love our enemies and those that persecute us. I wouldn't say he is my enemy, but he is definitely someone I do not get along with. So, we'll see how this goes.

My job has also opened my eyes to so many things. I have been working with the homeless and a clientele population that is so much different than what I'm use to interacting with on a daily basis. I knew going into this job that it would be challenging to see what some people live like and the depravity in their lives. After being at my job for only a month, my heart has already been tugged on numerous times by my client's situations. There are times when I am just watching a client's life fall apart before my eyes or I am listening to them tell me about their latest crisis and my heart just breaks on the inside.

It's only Tuesday and my week has been torn to pieces simply by these two aspects of my job. I am finding myself listening to Christian music on the radio and CDs more and more to keep my mind focused on what is important. I can only do so much to make right with my co-worker. It is my job to continue to pray for him and seek out ways to respect him and love him so that I am showing the light of Christ. And with my clients, I can't directly pray with them because we are a federally funded, interfaith non-profit - but I can pray for them in my own time. I can only do so much. God is the ultimate Healer. Even in my own life, I have seen how God is slowly mending my heart. It's a far way off, but I know He will make it complete one day.

Currently listening to: "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LrJTpfK0JI

Chorus Lyrics:
"Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see"

I Thirst for you, Lord

I read this passage in The Secret of Christian Living last night and it really challenged me to try and live my life this way.

"We must know why God puts us in the world today. May I speak frankly of hunger and thirst after righteousness in sinners and saints. As we go out to serve we must be able to create in men a thirsty heart. In us there should be such an intangible refreshing power and supply that people who meet us cannot help but seek after God. When people are in touch with us, a kind of thirst after God should be produced in them by us. If, though, they see and communicate with us often and yet we fail to create in them a longing for God, this will be our failure. Or if we pray, read the Bible, serve, and preach the gospel and yet we are unable to make people thirsty after God, this too must be considered to be our failure."

I don't think the responsibility lies wholly on us to "convert" someone. I mean, truly, conversion and salvation are completely between God and that individual. The most we can do is live our lives in a way that points them in the right direction and creates that sense of thirstiness of curiousity in them. We must plant the seed, and the Lord will do the rest. This passage just really challenged me to reflect on my life to see if I am living in a way that causes other people to seek after God. I long to live my life like that, so that is a challenge I take upon myself for the future, and I challenge you to do the same.

Glory to God Forever!

The song that has been in my heart all week is the new single,
"Glory to God" by Fee.

"Take my life and let it be
All for You and for Your Glory,
Take my life and let it be Yours!"

"The Sun will Change the Way I Feel"

Driving home from work today, the radio was completely off and I just stared out the window to the bright, setting sun. There is something about the sun and the moon that instill such a sense of peace in me. Often, it is the moon, but today the Lord used the sun. I am so overwhelmed with life and emotions right now and I feel like I'm struggling to get from morning to morning. I hate getting so caught up in my own life sometimes that God has to send me little signs to remind me "Hey, I got this under control...please just rest in Me." But oh man, do I thank Him for those signs, because without them, I would be a mess. The sign tonight was the sunset. It was gorgeous. It was like the bright rays were holding God's presence and were penetrating straight through the window into my heart. I have had this heaviness on my chest 24/7 recently. I'm sure its the built-up anxiety, fears, emotions of my life, but it honestly is too much for me to handle on my own. Sometimes I try to make it through the day and carry it all on my own, but then I crash and burn...seriously crash and burn by the end of the night. But days like today, God sent me that beautiful sunset to remind me that He is there to help me carry my burdens. He is my support, my foundation, my helper, my comforter, my everything! That simple, yet miraculous beauty was able to transform my broken heart to one that has found a little more peace and rest. Thank you, Lord, for the signs.

Currently listening to: "The Sun Will Rise" by Brendan James



"The sun will rise, the sun will save me.
The sun will change me, change the way I feel.

The day will make this hard of fortune,
From the fruit of a hundred orchards,
From the water river's break.

The sun will rise, the sun will save me from the night.
The sun will change me, change the way I feel.
I've had enough of the hard and harder,
Times are tough,
I've drifted farther, farther from myself.

I won't dwell, baby, on my failures.
It won't help, baby, it won't bring changes.
I won't run, baby, when all I want is to run.
I won't forget the morning sure to come.

The sun will rise, the sun will save me from the night.
The sun will change me, change the way I feel.
The love I want, the love I need is sure to come,
Is sure to lead me, lead me home again.

The light is low, the night is burning.
My head is still, but my mind is turning, turning round again.
If only I could make it through this lonely night,
If I can do this, if I can drift away.

Then the sun will rise, the sun will save me from the night,
The sun will change me, change the way I feel.

It Comes.

Arise! awoken in a daze.
Rewinding the night's vision.
Deciphering reality from fantasy.
Worn, tired, restless.
Grasping the new day.
A chance to live anew.
An ember of hope penetrates my mind.
Step by step pressing on.
Only a few breaths in -
found lost in the chaos.
Unaware, unprepared.
It comes everyday.
No matter what. It comes.
Trials and darkness.
Clouded vision, corrupted truth.
Brokenness and buried love.
Temptations and fears.
Our nature ensures its arrival.
Over and over again it comes.
But the LIGHT appears.
At first a glimmer, then blinding.
Is this reality? It's so beyond.
Fullness, a complete whole.
Indescribable peace and love.
It comes everyday.
No matter what. It comes.
Clouded vision stripped clear.
Awareness of love.
Experience infinity within the finite.
It wraps and holds tightly.
Carrying on til the stars rise.
So true and so real.
'Rest in Me' echoes loudly.
'Rest in Me.'

Break Free

I am SO excited about my new church, Water's Edge! I love the worship, the messages, the people...and this is only after being there for three weeks. The new sermon series that the pastor is on right now is called "Break Free." I love how God sends you messages exactly when you need them and you feel like you are the only person in the audience that the pastor is speaking to. I felt like that this morning again. The sermon was on breaking free from the submission to worry. We all worry. Well, I will speak for myself. I know I worry about anything and everything. Recently, I have just been worrying and fearing about the future of certain relationships in my life. I have old friends coming back into my life, new friends coming into my life, and many of my best friends going off and getting married! So I often spend a lot of my time thinking about how those relationships are going to change in the future. Am I going to see my newly married friends at all? Am I going to be able to balance all of my current friendships even though many of them are becoming long distance? Always so many questions running through my mind. There are so many occasions where I ask God for the answers and he just whispers back to me, "Be calm my child, I have all the answers, you only need to trust me." Man, if it was only that easy. haha. Well, the three steps that the pastor gave to breaking free from worry are this:

(1) I will think like God says to think
- don't ask "what if?" but replace that thought with "I can do all things through Christ"
- 2 Cor. 10:5 "...we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"
- Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
(2) I will do what God says to do
- freedom is always connected to obedience
(3) I will trust God with everything else
- worry is the antithesis to trust and faith
- worry diminishes the power and greatness of God

So that's another goal I am going to focus on now and in the future. Worry less, trust more!

Song that goes great with the sermon theme..."Break Free" by Hillsong United.