If you thought you saw this post earlier- you did! But I was having technical difficulties and have revamped what you previously saw…
To me a true worship song is one that draws my heart to see Jesus. Everything else fades away when my heart fixes on the person Jesus is. Well I found a new song that does just that for me— Selah is one of my favorite groups but somehow I heard this for the first time yesterday. I wanted you to be able to hear it so I’ve put together a slideshow of some nature pics we took on our vacation. The pics really have no significance to the song they are just reminders of the beauty that our “Sweet Jesus” creates and allows us to live in. Notice though in the very last pic, in the right hand corner there are three crosses. We didn’t know they were there until we got our pics developed AFTER our trip—neat-o!!
“No not that, not me, not this!!!”, squealed the lump of clay. “I want to be amazing and have people oooo and awww at the grandeur of my beauty and stature. I simply refuse to just be some old ugly terra-cotta!! I’m expecting paint, glaze, maybe a few jewels– You know the WORKS!! Listen here Potter, if you want to have any business with this here lump you better push and squeeze on your little spinning wheel thing to MY direct specifications!!”
—— can you imagine the audacity of that concept, what’s being created telling the Creator how to do it?? Yes, very audacious but I know I do it.
The whole clay vs. potter concept is such a rich reminder that life is a constant process of molding and shaping. I do not have the privilege of choosing my molding of trial or blessing.
My coffee was starting to wear off. I moved to grab another Red Bull from my stash hiding in the closet. Yikes!! I’d been up all night!!! Boyle’s law, Extreme value Theorm, homogeneous differential equations, and more caluclus terms were crowding my brain. Hyperbeloid of one sheet was the same thing to me as the hyperbeloid of ten sheets let alone the whole bed for that matter!! The test was tomorrow at 8:00 and there’s was no way I was going to pass. I’d studied and crammed until I was floating in Theorum’s but it wasn’t going to happen. Failure was headed my way with a BIG smile on it’s face.
soooooooooo ummm- no I’m actually not taking a test tomorrow. And I’m so bad at calculus that I don’t even know what those terms up above mean. I googled calculus terms to find them- hee! hee!! But I have faced some tests before that life has thrown my way and as they loomed I knew no matter how hard I tried failure was eminent. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday was a big day!! I’ll spare you the list. However, despite the non-stop of it all when bed time came around my mind was still reeling. I just couldn’t shut it off. Soooooooooo instead of fighting it, I got up and made myself comfortable in the Living Room. Everything was clean since we had the party. Dim Lights, soft music, no toys strewn across the floor, and completely by myself– VERY nice. The surroundings made me feel like I was back in college. Loved it!
Okay so I’ve been thinking on the names of God I posted yesterday. Steven and I were talking about it and he reminded me of something I learned years ago. It may be old news to you, but I had forgotten to be reading like this so I didn’t think it was a bad idea to post it.
Have you ever noticed that in Scripture the word “Lord” is written two different ways? You will find it like this “LORD”- all caps- and “Lord”- lower case letters-. Go ahead- check it out!
The first one is the proper name of God- it is the English word for Yaweh. The second one is actually the noun for Master or teacher.
So it’s like this- as Stephanie L. Smithson is to me, LORD is to God. It’s His name above all names. In other words it’s the name on His “birth certificate” (that is if He had one and hadn’t existed forever with no beginning or end=).
The second one is as girl is to me, Lord is to God. It’s what He is. He is the master and teacher but it’s not his personal name.
The excerpt below is the first three verses of Psalm 100 – try reading it knowing that it is God’s personal name that is used. See if it makes a difference to you.
1 Make a joyful shout to the LORD (yawheh) , all you lands!
2 Serve the LORD (yahweh) with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD (Yawheh –not mu hammed, Buddha, Joseph Smith ect.), He is God;
I LOVE that– I’m on a first name basis with Yaweh in every passage that “LORD” is used. Very humbling! What a great reason to lift my hands in worship!
We had a powerful service today at church. The choir special was a song called “Lord You’re Holy.” Pretty much it’s the names of God put to music- people were standing before we ever made it to the middle of the song!!! I can reflect upon so many different seasons of my life and remember different names of God that I called on. Each and every one of us is in a different season and wonder which name might mean the most to you right now. (The writing at the side of the page is the Hebrew lettering for Yaweh.)
Life is filled with so many blessings like funny children and sunshiny days. We serve a very gracious God that desires to show us good things and does so on a daily basis.
But as so many of you know life isn’t always a happy journey. There are often times of incredible suffering. Sadly, I’ve learned from personal experience, I can easily inflict some seasons of suffering upon myself . It’s not that our Father forsakes us but He allows us to endure these times so that we may experience Him in ways that we could have never understood before. I read these verses just last week, “Am I only a God nearby?” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?, Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:23-24
Someone very dear to me is in this very intimate place. It’s a fragile place, a place of returning and rest. A place of getting to know God in such a tender way but also a place very new and unknown. She shared with me an excerpt that ministered to her encouragement. It’s something Beth Moore wrote after making an exodus herself from a time of bondage away from God. It’s a bit long but I thought it was worth taking the time to type. Maybe the Lord wanted me to write it just for one of you. Here it is… Read the rest of this entry »
As you read my blog– I hope you will see I live a very ordinary life, filled with ordinary struggles, on a very ordinary plane just like everybody else. But I do want you to know there is something very extra ordinary about me and it is that God’s love has transformed my life and given me hope for a future! He is what sees through my selfish and sinful heart and loves me as His child. I found this beautiful clip that shows in an earthly way what Jesus has done for me…
I hope you know Him. He wants to know you – he sacrificed his Son so you could have eternal life. if you ever wanted to talk about Him– I’d be so humbled to do that with you!
Yesterday Steven had the privilege of leading a group of teens on a storm clean up mission for the widows in our church.
He came home “smitten.” One of the widows he assured me I would fall in love with too because of her spunk. Her story reminded me a little bit of the movie the Notebook minus the Alzheimer’s. She shared that her love story began years ago, but she and her husband didn’t really begin to “live” until he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when she was 60 years old. Upon receiving the grave diagnosis, they immediately scheduled a trip to Hawai “yah” (she has a bit of a southern drawl). They promised to themselves to go every year until they couldn’t go any more. She and her love went 23 years straight!!! That’s right she’s 83 and it will be the FIRST year she hasn’t gone to Hawaii in a LONG time!- so much for the death warning… Reflecting with a grin she confessed her husband wouldn’t let her take surfin’ lessons like she wanted!
Her husband passed away this year. However, she’s left with albums filled with memories of past suntans and luaus with her sweet heart. She’s still so in love with her one and only!! PRECIOUS!- As she was finishing her stories she remarked, “I don’t know if I’ll go to Hawai”yah” again but I’m sure hoping Heaven’s pretty close! =)
I think I could learn alot from her outlook– we’re hoping to make a trip to visit this marvelous lady soon.
I have found over time that when God has spoken to the very core of my soul that generally He reaches out and touches someone else through the work He started in me. This passage of scripture and segment of this book I’ve been reading did just that. I’ll spare you the details of why this met me at such an intricate spot in my heart. I’m just gonna trust that I’m supposed to share.
I’ve italicized the parts that touched me the most deeply…
” ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19′
Unfortunately sometimes our past makes it tough to focus on the present.Are there memories of disappointment, disobedience, betrayal, or regret distracting you from the new thing God wishes to do in your life? If so jot them down…
Now imagine a dry barren wasteland being transformed by fresh streams of water. Imagine your life being irrigated by God’s overflowing love and grace. Don’t move too quickly over this image. Close you eyes for a moment if it helps, and imagine grace and mercy washing, flowing, splashing over parched, dried-up memories. What might spring forth from a life so refreshed? That’s the mystery and wonder of your present.
Imagine you and God are standing together, looking over a field, a place that once was a desert, but now is sprinkled with greenery and growth. Maybe that growth is still in its earliest stages. The point is it’s alive with new hope. “
God is so Vast and yet He is faithful to meet me in my most intimate needs with new hope and promises of new works. Praise be to Him!!
OK so here’s the book info that I highly recommend. The title is Enjoy the Silence by Duffy and Maggie Robbins. I met Maggie at a recent conference we attended. I can vouch that her sincerity and transparency are the real deal!! You can find the book on www.zondervan.com . It says its written for youth but I’ve only found one sentence that has referenced a youth group. So either I’m just really immature or its just THAT good! I highly recommend it!
