Always

I always love this song.

If You Want Me To

There are times for me when a song is just so much better than all the words I could put here. This is one of those times.
But this song...
Just listen.
and pray.
and walk, one step at a time.

Yes

Just, yes, is all i can say to this song.

These Are Written So You May Believe

{UPDATE: thanks to a friend, i realized that the video somehow was deleted as i was inserting the lyrics! Now the video is there :) }

This song caught my attention one morning on the radio. I looked them up and saw this beautiful animation to go with their song. The group is a husband/wife duo called The Lockwood's.

Here is what they say about this song on their site: In April 2013, we had the privilege of sharing our music with Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. We wanted to gift them with a song written especially for them, and so we trusted God for the inspiration that was needed. God ended up giving us “These are Written” after many hours of pressing in to not only the gospel accounts of what Jesus has done, but also pressing into how those stories help us understand what He is doing in our lives in this present moment. We want this song to be a great comfort especially to believers who are suffering, and we know that as they behold this Jesus who suffered and died willingly in their place, they will indeed be comforted.

“These are Written” by Patrick and Molly Lockwood

Lyrics:

Jesus calmed the waters on the Sea of Galilee

And today He spoke peace to the fears in me

Jesus turned water at a wedding into wine

Just today He turned my worry into peace of mind

Jesus broke bread with the whores and thieves

He bent down to wash His friend Peter’s feet

When I felt so dirty, so beyond love’s reach

He called out to say that He was not ashamed of me

These are written so may believe

And that by believing you may have life in His name

Jesus healed a man who spent his whole life lame

Well He cleansed my past; I’ve got a brand new name

He told a woman at a well all she’d ever done

Yea He knows me better than anyone

Where guilt ran deep, where shame flowed wide

Jesus opened all the parts of me I tried to hide

He gave me water to drink that won’t run dry

He died my death and gave me life

These are written so you may believe

And that by believing you may have life in His name

Jesus, Immanuel, Savior, Messiah, Son of man, Son of God, Holy and Anointed One, Good Shepherd, Great High Priest, Servant King, Prince of Peace, Bread of Life, Living Water, He is the Way, the Truth, the Life, Light of the World, Beginning and the End, Lily of the Valley, My Truest Friend, Mighty Lion, Humble Lamb, Risen Lord, The Great “I AM”

These are written so you may believe

And that by believing you may have life in His name

Morning may bring a brand new pain

With suffering I’m afraid to face

Confronted by things I cannot change

I’ll remember how Jesus calmed the crashing waves!

I’ll remember how Jesus healed a woman who had bled twelve years

He showed mercy to the thief who confessed through tears

He blessed the widow at the temple for the penny she gave

Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave!

And He suffered and died on a Roman tree

But He laid His life down willingly

In three days He rose as He had said

And now in Christ, death is dead

These are written so you may believe

This Good Day

Today, I got in the van to go to the library with the kids, and turned on the disc that was in. It was Fernando Ortega (a favorite around here). I went to his song "This Good Day" and it was just perfect. Rain clouds come. Cold winds blow. But i know Who is in charge of it all... my heavenly Father.

okay... here is a cool side note: This video here is from his dvd "Live in St. Paul". Guess who is in the audience? Yep... Brian and I :). We own the dvd, and have spotted ourselves in it. I was about a week out from my due date with our 3rd child at the concert! 

Fernando Ortega - This Good Day Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

Morning sun, morning glories
Pouring down the hill
Through my window
I can feel the ocean breeze

Noisy sparrows fill the oak trees
Swallows can't stay still
And in the glad commotion
Lord, You speak to me

If rain clouds come
Or the cold winds blow
You're the one who goes before me
And in my heart I know

That this good day, it is a gift from You
The world is turning in its place
Because You made it to
I lift my voice to sing a song of praise
On this good day

I will walk to woodman's cove
The fishing boats are leaving
Seagulls follow just above the water

I will wait until the sunset
Brings them home again
Rigging lines and anchors in the harbor

If rain clouds come
Or the cold winds blow
You're the one who goes before me
And in my heart I know

This good day, it is a gift from You
The world is turning in its place
Because You made it to
I lift my voice to sing a song of praise
On this good day

If rain clouds come
Or the cold winds blow
You're the one who goes before me
And in my heart I know

This good day, it is a gift from You
The world is turning in its place
Because You made it to
This good day, it is a gift from You
The world is turning in its place
Because You made it to
I lift my voice to sing a song of praise
On this good day

Songwriters
ORTEGA, JUAN F./SCHREINER, JOHN ANDREW

Need This

Counting it ALL Joy

James 1:2-4 (NASB) states this:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

I have been working on memorizing this, and practicing it. Author and speaker Elizabeth George wrote a book titled Finding God's Path Through Your Trials. In the first number of chapters, she goes through the verses in James bit by bit. It has been very challenging to read. For instance, when she was simply talking about how we are to count it all joy (deliberate, act of the will, NOT based on feelings of the moment) when we encounter trials, i wanted to throw the book across the room! I thought, "Has this woman ever known trouble, trial, pain?" To my embarrassment, that was my thought. I know that she has endured heartache, trial, trouble and pain. That is why she can write the book! She has lived it, and has learned to be a woman of God with staying power in the midst of challenging circumstances.


Over the past year and a half i have had my fair share of trials. My Dad passed away in January of 2013. Family relationships changed dramatically after that, bringing much heartache. Weekly, i have fairly intense trials to deal with. One person even asked me, "When is it going to stop? Do you even see an end to it all?" I choose to not discuss my circumstances much anymore, unless things grow more intense and i need help. God has shown Himself faithful in every trial, every pain, every time i feel alone.

Enter James 1:2-4.

Little did i know just how much i would need the sound teaching of those verses! The past week brought about a very difficult trial and testing. When it was over, i was able to ask God to help me see how to count it joy. I needed His help to do it, because i just couldn't see it. Then i remembered that He is teaching me. He is training me. He is producing perseverance and endurance in me, so that the next time a trial comes my way, i can stand stronger in Him.  I need staying power. I need His Spirit to continue to show me how to please Him in how i handle the trials that come my way.

One thing i think we get hung up on is the word "joy". It doesn't mean that we are laughing or pretending to be happy when our hearts are breaking. There is pain in joy. There is pain in hope. Yet, we hope. Yet, we have joy... joy that is a deep peace and delight in knowing that God is working ALL things for the good of those who love Him:

Romans 8:28-30: And we know that [a]God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom Heforeknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

And if the end result, if the reason that i am tested, is simply to bring Him glory, okay. If the end result is that i am more conformed to the image of Christ, okay. He IS worthy of all the praise and all the glory, no matter what the situation is.

The other morning i woke up and this song came on... timing? PERFECT! Nothing is wasted in the hands of our loving Redeemer!

May you be blessed by our great God as you press on in the face of various trials, counting it all joy, and remembering that NOTHING is wasted.

Alleluia

I literally had this song on repeat today as i was cleaning out some stuff in our parlor. My cd player is probably gonna burn out!




Go to his website for the lyrics.

Song of Encouragement

Love this song by Sara Groves!
I am so thankful for the community of Believers that have encouraged me during a very difficult year.

Called Home

We were able to see Over the Rhine when they came to Minneapolis in September. It was an EXCELLENT concert!
This is one of my favorite songs on their new LP, Meet Me at the Edge of the World. The title is "Called Home" and it has just grown on me. i love the idea of leaving the edges wild, if you have ever read any of Linford's newletters about their place, Nowhere Farm.

here are the lyrics:

Just shy of Breakin’ Down
There’s a bend in the road that I have found
Called home

Take a left at loneliness
There’s a place to find forgiveness
Called home

With clouds adrift across the sky
Like heaven’s laundry hung to dry
You slowly feel it all will be revealed

Where evening shadows come to fall
On the awful and the beautiful
Every wound you feel that needs to heal

And silence yearns to hear herself
Some long lost memory rings a bell
Called home

Old pre-Civil War brick house
Standin’ tall and straight somehow
Called home

Mailbox full of weariness
And a word of hard won happiness
Called home

Leave behind your Sunday best
You know we couldn’t care a less
Out here we’ve learned to leave the edges wild

And stories they get passed around
And laughter – it gets handed down
Read it in the lines around a smile

Our bodies’ motion comes to rest
When we are at last
Called home

from Penal Suffering to Loving Sovereignty

When our church held their Thanksgiving Eve service, i was asked to give a testimony about how I had learned that God didn't just love me because He had to, but that He actually liked me. This past year has been truly one of the most difficult years i have had. This saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of my Dad's death. This is not an anniversary i wanted to have, nor do i celebrate it, though through some tears i am remembering the good things about who he was. Through this year, i have learned more about God, the gospel, and myself than i could have without walking through the suffering and pain.

I share my testimony here....it should take about 7-10 minutes to read :)

From Penal Suffering to Loving Sovereignty ~ Thanksgiving Eve, 2013

(the following paragraph are all song titles that have ministered God's truth to me through the last number of months) 

Though You Slay Me and Move in Mysterious Ways, I will Turn My Eyes Upon Jesus, and cry out, "Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer". Because You Walked in Lonely Places, I can now Lift Up My Sorrows, knowing that You Did That For Me. Amazing Grace sets me on A Firm Foundation, knowing that Jesus exchanged His Robes for Mine. In Christ Alone can I truly say "It Is Well With My Soul!" Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Praise the Lord, for GREAT things He IS doing!!

Sara Groves simply, yet profoundly states “I believe in a peace that flows deeper than pain, 

That broken find healing in love; Pain is no measure of His faithfulness, He withholds no good thing from us.”

I could not say that with confidence a few months ago. I grew up overhearing it said about me that i was loved, because i had to be, but that i was not liked. I had wrongly assumed that God felt the same way.  I believed that God loved me out of obligation, because He promised to since i had called on the name of Christ. Yet it was a begrudging love; A love that was just waiting for me to mess up so that He could punish me. I falsely believed that He only tolerated me; that the sufferings and trials i faced in life were punishments for my sin, because Christ’s death simply wasn’t enough. I still had to pay.

But God…!

Over the past months, God has faithfully revealed to me my sinful thinking. Through reading His precious Word, the preaching of His Word, godly counsel, and other books, God has lovingly shown me the Truth through His Holy Spirit.

And what is that Truth? It is that He, God, likes me. He doesn’t love me because He has to, He actually delights in me.. 

 “The Lord your God is in your midst,A victorious warrior.He will exult over you with joy,He will be quiet in His love,He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Zephaniah 3:17

His Word says in Ephesians 1:3-7 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before ^[d]Him. In love^5 [e]He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the ^[f]kind intention of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

I have learned that God is a loving Sovereign; that the trials and sufferings I face are given to me by a loving Father who is working all things to my good, in order to conform me to the image of His glorious Son. Believe me when I say that the last verse I wanted to hear after my Dad died and all the trials since, was Romans 8:28. But one day, someone pointed out to me that verse 29 follows! Here it is…Here is WHY God causes ALL things (yes, even that really painful situation) to work for the good of the called:  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.

I can now truly believe and embrace the truths that Joseph Alliene penned so very long ago:

From the curse of the cross I will deliver you (Psalm 119:71). Afflictions shall prove a wholesome cup to you; your Lord has drunk the venom into His won body, and what remains for you is but a healthful potion which I promise shall work for your good (Romans 8:28). Be not afraid to drink, nor desire that the cup should pass from you. I bless the cup before I give it to you (Job 5:17). Drink all of it and be thankful; you shall find My blessing a the bottom of the cup to sweeten the sharpest afflictions to you (James 1:12; Psalm 94:12). I will stand by you in all conditions, and be a fast Friend to you in every change (Isaiah 43:2). In the wilderness I will speak comfortably to you, and in the fire and water I will be with you (Hosea 2:14). I will be a strength to the poor and a strength to the needy in his distress; a refuge from the storm, and  a shadow from the heat, when the blast of terrible ones is as a storm against the wall (Isaiah 25:4). Your sufferings shall not be a cup of wrath, but a grace cup; not a curse, but a cure; not a cup of trembling, but a cup of blessing to you (Hebrews 12:6-8). They shall not hurt you, but heal you (Psalm 119:67). My blessing shall attend you in every condition (Genesis 26:3).  from The Precious Promises of the Gospel, pg. 10  (note: this book was written from the perspective of God speaking the Gospel truth to His people. It is full of Scripture. It is taking the promises and truths of the Word and writing them out as though God were saying them personally to you. It is not to be read AS Scripture, but as a more devotional reading, with study of the Scriptures mentioned). 

In summary, Colossians 3:3 states For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. I will just read a part from my journal that I think best expresses how this verse helped me see the love of God:

I have begun to wrestle with being IN Christ. I read Romans 8 again yesterday. Read Col. 3:1-2. prayed. As I started working on the thought that God loves me because he is obligated to because I have followed Christ, but he doesn't like me very much, it started to penetrate.. that I am IN Christ.It hit me. I have to die. die to so many of my fleshly desires. And that all the stuff in Romans 8 is true that He will raise me up to life in Christ. then I realized that Col. 3 is true! I am hidden with Christ, in God. God see's all the goodness of Christ when He looks at me. I am hidden IN Christ, and hidden WITH Christ. So, God looks at Christ, and He doesn't tolerate Christ. He loves Him. He enjoys Him. Christ is His Son. And I am hidden within that.  I am choosing to not despise this small step, to walk on in faith. To press in. To BELIEVE this truth, regardless of feelings; to RECKON IT SO.

A few quotes and I am done. One email I received simply stated this: Jeanette the Lord likes you a lot. I just wept when I read that. And another said this: Your story is being woven together by a Master Artisan Whose ways are so mysterious and often painful, yet so glorious and beautiful!

John Piper has snippets of a sermon piped into a song by Shane & Shane called Though You Slay Me: this song was significant in this journey. He says that our pain is not meaningless. It has a purpose, whether it was cancer, or criticism, sickness or slander… it is producing and eternal weight of glory. We may never see the purpose here, but we can know that we are loved more than we ever deserve, we are liked and delighted in by our loving Sovereign, and He IS WORKING ALL THINGS FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO ARE THE CALLED!

2 Corinthians 4:8-9,  we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;…therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Paul Tripp says this: “So God’s grace isn’t always comfortable, because He isn’t primarily working on our comfort; He’s working on our character. With violent grace He will crush us because He loves us, and is committed to our restoration, deliverance, and refinement. And THAT is something worth celebrating.”

I close with a hymn by the Getty’s. May this be the prayer of all of our hearts:

Jesus, Draw me ever nearer

As I labor through the storm

You have called me to this passage

And I'll follow, though I'm worn

May this journey bring a blessing

May I rise on wings of faith

And at the end of my hearts testing

With Your likeness let me wake

Jesus, guide me through the tempest

Keep my spirit stayed and sure

When the midnight meets the morning

Let me love You even more

May this journey bring a blessing

May I rise on wings of faith

And at the end of my hearts testing

With Your likeness let me wake

Let the treasures of the trial

Form within me as I go

And at the end of this long passage

Let me leave them at your throne

May this journey bring a blessing

May I rise on wings of faith

And at the end of my hearts testing

With Your likeness let me wake

A Song-ett

{hoping you got that little play on words up there in the title! Instead of Sonnett, a Song-ett. i know.. pretty weak.}

As I was listening to some songs on my ipod, i realized that i was starting to make sentences of some of the song titles. I grabbed a piece of paper and pen, and this is what i ended up with! So, this is made up mostly of song titles, and it is a great summary of what the Lord has been doing in my life. 

Though You Slay Me and Move in Mysterious Ways, I will Turn My Eyes Upon Jesus, and cry out, "Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer". Because You Walked in Lonely Places, I can now Lift Up My Sorrows, knowing that You Did That For Me. Amazing Grace sets me on A Firm Foundation, knowing that Jesus exchanged His Robes for Mine. In Christ Alone can I truly say "It Is Well With My Soul!" Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Praise the Lord, for GREAT things He IS doing!!

Here are links to the songs if you want to listen to them :):
Though You Slay Me 
God Moves in a Mysterious Way
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer
You Walked in Lonely Places  (M. Card talks about this song here)
Lift Up Your Sorrows
You Did That For Me
Amazing Grace
How Firm a Foundation
His Robes for Mine
In Christ Alone
It Is Well With My Soul
And Can It Be (Amazing Love)
Doxology 

we will understand....just not yet

This song brings me to my knees. the honesty. the beauty. the searching. the Truth. Farther along, we WILL know all about it. Am i willing, are you willing, to sit in the in between.

let the flood wash me of my doubts, fears, sins, burdens!

"His is the Kingdom, we're the guests... O Lord, Come soon!"



"Farther Along" - Josh Garrels from Josh Garrels on Vimeo.

Farther along we'll know all about itFarther along we'll understand whyCheer up my brothers, live in the sunshineWe'll understand this, all by and by

Tempted and tried, I wondered whyThe good man died, the bad man thrivesAnd Jesus cries because he loves em' bothWe're all cast-aways in need of ropesHangin' on by the last threads of our hopeIn a house of mirrors full of smokeConfusing illusions I've seen

Where did I go wrong, I sang alongTo every chorus of the songThat the devil wrote like a piper at the gatesLeading mice and men down to their fatesBut some will courageously escapeThe seductive voice with a heart of faithWhile walkin' that line back home

So much more to life than we've been toldIt's full of beauty that will unfoldAnd shine like you struck gold my wayward sonThat deadweight burden weighs a tonGo down into the river and let it runAnd wash away all the things you've doneForgiveness, alright

Chorus

Still I get hard pressed on every sideBetween the rock and a compromiseLike the truth and pack of lies fightin' for my soulAnd I've got no place left goCause I got changed by what I've been shownMore glory than the world has knownKeeps me ramblin' on

Skipping like a calf loosed from its stallI'm free to love once and for allAnd even when I fall I'll get back upFor the joy that overflows my cupHeaven filled me with more than enoughBroke down my levee and my bluffLet the flood wash me

And one day when the sky rolls back on usSome rejoice and the others fussCause every knee must bow and tongue confessThat the Son of God is forever blessedHis is the kingdom, we're the guestsSo put your voice up to the testSing Lord, come soon

Chorus(lyrics to Farther Along, emphasis mine)

Calling Out

This is about all i can say today...

Jesus, Draw me ever nearer
As I labor through the storm
You have called me to this passage
And I'll follow, though I'm worn

May this journey bring a blessing
May I rise on wings of faith
And at the end of my hearts testing
With Your likeness let me wake

Jesus, guide me through the tempest
Keep my spirit stayed and sure
When the midnight meets the morning
Let me love You even more

May this journey bring a blessing
May I rise on wings of faith
And at the end of my hearts testing
With Your likeness let me wake


Let the treasures of the trial
Form within me as I go
And at the end of this long passage
Let me leave them at your throne

May this journey bring a blessing
May I rise on wings of faith
And at the end of my hearts testing
With Your likeness let me wake

by Keith & Kirsten Getty

an observation

My husband and I were discussing some music last night. I have been exposed to a singer/songwriter named Josh Garrels. {Um... REALLY like his music!} As we were talking about one song, my sweet hubby noticed something about me.
he looks over at me with a smirk on his snerk, and lovingly says, "You don't passively listen to music."
I had to chuckle. yeah. NO! i hadn't thought of it that way before, but it is absolutely true. I can hear stuff, and it seems like it becomes a part of me. I get wrapped up in the song.  I am sensitive to the tone of voice it is sung in. i can hear the intesity behind the voice. i can feel it. deep inside, i feel the music. and yes, i am one of those ones who will play a song that i am totally "getting" over and over and over.

i don't know.

it moves me. intensely. Even the instrumentals. It speaks.

that being said, i have to take care with what i am listening to!

And that is why the new (to me) sound and voice of Josh Garrels is so refreshing. He is a Believer; a Christ-one. And he is creative. He sings with his soul. it is a breath of fresh air in the cookie-cutter "christian" music scene. He aches over the broken things in this world. He soars with the beauty that is to be found in true, real relationships. He sings the Word of God in a way that is captivating (Revelator).

so, yeah. i don't passively listen to music. i intensely listen. it is part of what makes me, me. As i listen, i learn things; about God, myself, the Bible, and others.

Forgiven.

I heard this today and was just so grateful for the forgiveness that has been extended to me in Christ.

Without Jesus

Without Jesus

Just three chords and a melody

Won't leave you a living legacy

Without Jesus

Just four songs and a parable

Might leave you something terrible

Just five bucks in an offering

Won't buy you some prosperity

Just a sixth sense of morality

Won't get you out of your depravity

Without Jesus, oh, without Jesus

You could memorize

Become a Mennonite

You could speak in tongues

And raise the dead to life

You could build a big church

Call it ministry

Teach 'em all they need to know to run a family

You could sell it all

Be burned at the stake

But what in the world have you to ever gain

Without Jesus, oh, without Jesus

If all I ever get out of laying my life down

Is thorns in the shape of a crown

On the brow of a man from Nazareth

And if all I get is what Jesus did,

And said, and put within my heart

Then I get it all

I have it all

Oh, I have it all

Everything is mine

Oh, I have it all

I have it all

Just three chords and a melody

Won't leave you a living legacy

Without Jesus

Kindred Hearts & Ties that Bind

I am so very thankful for all the kindred hearts at our church. God has abundantly blessed us there, with beautiful relationships that are centered on His Gospel. Thank you, Grace Community Bible Church, for being real and for being so focused on Christ.


 

Worlds Apart

For almost 20 years this has been a favorite song of mine (as well as the prayer of my heart). I absolutely love this version of it...
Listen. pray. release. rest in Christ.

It is NOT Meaningless

This song was brought to my attention by 2 people today. It is beautiful. It is called "Though You Slay Me" by Shane & Shane. I searched and found a blog post explaining it. It is amazing. As i listened to this song, the tears started streaming down my cheeks as Piper's preaching was included.

A message i needed to be reminded of.

A message we all need to be reminded of. 

Take a moment to read the article (a VERY quick read) and then listen to the song. 

Your suffering, or affliction, or sorrow is NOT meaningless. It IS producing an eternal weight of glory. 

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.  ~2 Corinthians 4.16-18

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/a-song-for-the-suffering-with-john-piper

May His grace abound toward you.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this after you read/hear it :) Leave a comment and we will have a conversation...