Songs of hope in a time of loss

There has been some awful loss for people in my area this year. It's the kind of loss that you read and you almost can't breathe because you just cannot imagine how a parent feels losing a child (and sometimes multiple children) or how a husband feels losing his wife in labor and now has a newborn. Or a husband losing a wife and has 7 children to take care of on his own. These are all real situations that have happened.

Most of the situations happened to Christian families who know God. I'm so thankful that they know Jesus and have His hope to sustain them. It still doesn't make the loss any less difficult. I have had songs really speaking to me lately. They are songs that pertain to loss  and knowing that only God can fill those spots of loss in our lives.

We have never been promised an easy time here on earth. God loves us and does want good for us, but we live in a lost and broken world and bad things happen everyday. Our hope is in eternity. 

Our joy is from knowing that this painful place will lead to a place no suffering.

I hope these three songs touch you in some way today.

"Keep Making Me"

Make me broken

So I can be healed

'Cause I'm so calloused

And now I can't feel

I want to run to You

With heart wide open

Make me broken

Make me empty

So I can be filled

'Cause I'm still holding

Onto my will

And I'm completed

When you are with me

Make me empty

'Til You are my one desire

'Til You are my one true love

'Til You are my breath, my everything

Lord, please keep making me

Make me lonely

So I can be Yours

'Til I want no one

More than You, Lord

'Cause in the darkness

I know You will hold me

Make me lonely

'Til You are my one desire

'Til You are my one true love

'Til You are my breath, my everything

Lord, please keep making,

I know You'll keep making

Lord, please keep making me

"Fall Apart"

Why in the world did I think I could

Only get to know You when my life was good?

When everything just falls in place

The easiest thing is to give You praise

Now it all seems upside down

'Cause my whole world is caving in

But I feel You now more than I did then

How can I come to the end of me

And somehow still have all I need?

God, I want to know You more

Maybe this is how it starts

I find You when I fall apart

Blessed are the ones who understand

We got nothing to bring but empty hands, yeah

Nothing to hide and nothing to prove, yeah

Our heartbreak brings us back to You, oh

And it all seems upside down

'Cause my whole world is caving in

But I feel You now more than I did then

How can I come to the end of me

And somehow still have all I need?

God, I want to know You more

Maybe this is how it starts

I find You when I fall apart, yeah

I don't know how long this will last

I'm praying for the pain to pass

But maybe this is the best thing

That has ever happened to me

My whole world is caving in

But I feel You now more than I did then

How can I come to the end of me

And somehow still have all I need?

God, I want to know You more

Maybe this is how it starts

I find You when

You will find me when

I fall apart

"Held"

Two months is too little, they let him go

They had no sudden healing

To think that providence

Would take a child from his mother

While she prays, is appalling

Who told us we'd be rescued

What has changed and

Why should we be saved from nightmares

We're asking why this happens to us

Who have died to live, its unfair

This is what it means to be held

How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive

This is what it is to be loved and to know

That the promise was when everything fell

We'd be held

This hand is bitterness

We want to taste it and

Let the hatred numb our sorrows

The wise hand opens slowly

To lilies of the valley and tomorrow

This is what it means to be held

How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive

This is what it is to be loved and to know

That the promise was when everything fell

We'd be held

If hope if born of suffering

If this is only the beginning

Can we not wait for one hour

Watching for our Savior

This is what it means to be held

How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life

And you survive

This is what it is to be loved and to know

That the promise was when everything fell

We'd be held

Truths

My heart has learned several truths over the last few months and I wanted to share them here.

• What it means to be a Christian- I just finished up the Follow Me Bible study. This study was the best one I've ever done. It makes you question your faith and learn if you are truly following Christ. Most of us say that we are Christians, but if we are not living our faith, are we really? Shouldn't it radically change our heart and life? I believe it should.

• Entitlement- This has been bothering me a lot lately. It seems that so many people these days, younger and older generations, believe that everything should go perfectly or how they think it should go. I took this quote from our school Facebook page awhile ago and it pretty much sums up how I feel about entitlement in general:  

"It seems that all parents here are perfect and lead perfect lives and therefore give them the right to do nothing but complain about a slightly less than perfect world. I can only hope that these parents are not spreading this same constant negativity to their kids at home. If you want to wrap your kids in a bubble, then start home schooling them. Just like the last several times, I've heard of zero accidents caused by school being back in session. You all need to go up North for a few weeks. They wouldn't have thought twice about having school with these exact same conditions. And yes, even where I lived up north, we ran limited bus routes at times, had a few buses not start and even a few slip and slide. But guess what...everyone lived. It's called life. My parents always taught me life isn't perfect but sometimes we have to suck it up. This is why our kids are growing up with a sense of entitlement. We live in a world of complainers." 

This was basically about the fact that there was still ice on sidewalks and parking lots. The roads were pretty good by then. Life is not perfect and we should not teach our kids that it should be.

• We don't have to be perfect or this or that to be qualified to share faith- I have read and heard several people saying this lately. It is so refreshing because sometimes we feel that we aren't "qualified" to share, but if you are a Christian, it is what Christ commanded us to do. 

• I've had tons of conviction about spending time with God- this one has been weighing on me a LOT. At the women's conference I attended, we heard from Debbie Stuart who had also spoken at our church recently. She spoke both times about spending 20 minutes with God everyday for the rest of your life. She said there are no excuses and it is something we desperately need to do. We need to find somehow, someway to spend that time with God.

• fear- I struggle with some fears and anxiety. I have been praying so much about this lately because I really don't want to live life in a constant state of fear.

• Life and death go together and we cling so much to this earth, but it's not all about us. Our society focuses so much on "me." We have a hard time seeing the bigger picture. We were created to glorify God and one day join God in heaven. As I get older and am faced more and more with death, I realize how brief our time is here. We literally should be storing up treasures in heaven, but how many of us are truly doing that? I believe that God WILL give us opportunities to share, all we have to do is look for them and ask God to show them to us. A quote from the Follow me study says that we should, sew the threads of the gospel into our lives whenever we get the opportunity. 

• Our lives should be spent spreading the knowledge of Christ, whether that means shipwrecks for us or not. Acts 27:25 “So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me.” Debbie Stuart talked about this in the closing session of the women's conference. Basically, she stated that our shipwrecks may seem devastating to us and we wonder why God would have these things happen. All along, God has a plan and we cannot see the ending but He can. God told Paul to go to Rome, but then he ended up shipwrecking. But during the entire journey, Paul shared about Christ. He encouraged everyone on the ship, he healed people on Malta and pointed them to Christ, and by the time he arrived in Rome, the word had spread about his journey. He was shown favor and not taken to prison and had more opportunities to share his faith. "Paul stayed in his home guarded by a soldier for 2 years and whoever came to him to hear him preach about Jesus he welcomed into his home. Every time someone came to him he freely taught him/her the Good News. The Holy Spirit enabled Paul to use whatever situation he was in to point others to Jesus." http://ministry-to-children.com/paul-arrives-in-rome-lesson/ 

How awesome how God used that shipwreck to reach so many souls! Whenever we go through "shipwrecks," be faithful and trust God and His plan!

• Our to-do list will never be complete. This has become completely clear to me! I keep a running to-do list now, knowing that it will always have something on it. I used to get so worked up trying to complete everything on the list so that it was DONE! There is such freedom in not feeling pressure to have it all done now!

A stirring

I wrote this last night after a hard day and wasn't sure if I would post it or not-

Today did not rank as one of my best days. 
There were physical/hormonal issues that contributed to my state of being today. 
I was grumpy, impatient, and irritated at most things. 
I wish I were better at being a person who does not wear their emotions on their sleeve. 
I wish I had more patience. I wish I didn't snap or yell. 
I just read news of someone who passed away and was really pretty young-51. 
It snapped me back to reality. 
I just see how quick life passes, and how quick things can change. 
I pray for God to help me LIVE and be His servant and not someone focused on me or my own shortcomings. 
I pray for God to help me to LOVE and to give GRACE and MERCY to others. 
I know I need grace and mercy everyday, so I need to be doling it out too. 
I want to be a blessing and not a burden.

This morning I read this post of Kelly's.

After that, I saw this post from Jenn.

And then I saw this post from Ann Voskamp.

I've also read posts by two other bloggers in the past 2 weeks, one of which had a recent huge transformation by God, and the other is just so honest and real about who she is as a  person and as a Christian.

I've felt a stir in my soul for several years.  I know that things are supernaturally happening. What they are, I have no idea.  God is preparing people for whatever it may be though.  I feel that certainty in my bones.

I want to be prepared.  I always question whether I am prepared and what am I doing that is God's will.  

I need to stop questioning so much and just seek Him.  

I think we try to figure things out too much.  I just don't think most of it is ours to figure out.  Am I on my own with thinking that?

I also think that we get bogged down thinking about so many bad things happening and we don't always focus on the good and what God is doing.

Will this be a revival of Christianity, true Christianity?  Not the Christianity that the world sees or  how they view Christianity, but the real thing.

Don't you wish everyone could experience the true-ness of it and not what they see displayed in media?
"But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect," 
1 Peter 3:15

I feel like I am rambling, but I felt like I needed to share all of this.  

Let's pray together and for each other.  

I feel like something we need to be prepared and to support each other, especially as women.  

We are the ones raising this next generation and I think they will be doing great, big things.

A song for my heart

We sang the song below in church Sunday morning. Some of the words pierced my heart.  I've emphasized them in the lyrics below.

I'm a Christian, but there are times that I feel so distant from God.  It hurts writing those words, but it is true.  

After we sang this song, our preacher began the sermon.  He spoke about how our nature IS to want to sin, that we will always be struggling with it.

I think, sometimes we forget that as Christians, we are still sinners.  

There have been things in my life that I have held on to that have kept me from being close to God.  I see this now.  Whether it was a plan of satan or just my sinful nature, I've let it continue on.

It's my duty everyday to strive to be blameless.  

I know I won't always make it, but I need to be striving the best that I can.

**If you have a few minutes, listen to the video of this song that I have under the lyrics. I really think it will bless you.**

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed up- on it
Mount of Thy re- deeming love

I was lost in utter darkness 'til You came and rescued me
I was bound by all my sin when Your love came and set me free
Now my soul can sing a new song, now my heart has found a home
Now Your grace is always with me
And I'll never be a- lone

Come, Thou Fount, come, Thou King; Come, Thou precious Prince of Peace
Hear Your bride, to You we sing, come, Thou Fount of our bless- ing
Come, Thou Fount, come, Thou King; Come, Thou precious Prince of Peace
Hear Your bride, to You we sing, come, Thou Fount of our bless- ing

O, to grace, how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts a- bove

Come, Thou Fount, come, Thou King; Come, Thou precious Prince of Peace
Hear Your bride, to You we sing, come, Thou Fount of our bless- ing
Come, Thou Fount, come, Thou King; Come, Thou precious Prince of Peace
Hear Your bride, to You we sing, come, Thou Fount of our bless- ing

The Christianity Crisis

Although this is not a political post, I will mention politics.

This is a subject that has been grieving my heart for the last couple of years.
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It seems these days that there is a Christianity crisis.  

You may be wondering what that crisis is.

I can only explain what I believe the crisis to be.

First of all, the place where I have seen the issue abounding is social media.  People are VERY open about what they think/believe when they are behind their computer.

What has grieved my heart so much is how some people who are Christians have acted/expressed themselves.

I will set the stage and say that I live in a state that is pretty Republican these days.

The first point of this crisis is how some Christians, who are mainly Republicans, express their political belief.  It seems very evident from the posts I have read this election season, that if you are Christian, then you need to be Republican (according to them).  As well as the fact that if you are not for them, then you are against them and everything that they believe.

I don't express my own personal political beliefs to very many people.  I will say that I am a Christian and I vote, but I cannot put faith in one man or one party no matter which man or party that may be.  I also will not begrudge people who feel differently than me about issues.

The second point of this crisis is how Christians are being perceived.  I noticed this immediately after the election results came in.  Pure ugliness began to flow.  I saw post after post of such ugliness.  

But, then, I also saw post after post of people saying how unbelievable those posts were, and how they had lost respect for certain people and how terrible these posts were portraying these Christian people.

This brings me to the major crisis for Christianity.  I know that we believe Christ and the Bible and how we live our lives will reflect that.  I don't know where we should draw the line at expressing/imposing our beliefs.

I believe as Christians, we may turning more people away from Christ with all of the ranting and raving that is going on.  Who would see the love of Christ and His saving grace in all the ugliness that has just transpired?

Sure, you may be utterly disappointed in how the election turned out.  But is that truly what our job here is about?  

SO many people in our country do not know the Lord and that will not change based on who is in office.  It WILL change if those who do not know Him can see Him in us.