29 March 2012

That which shapes us

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
-The Nicene Creed

These words, said by so many, throughout the centuries....... still they ring true.
Today, as Palm Sunday approaches and we remember the joy of Hosanna- remember what we believe. What shapes every aspect of our lives.

Love:)

R

25 March 2012

On letting go



It was a good chance.

But it will not be the only one.

And I truly wanted to go.

But not this time.

To go to Alaska;
to serve God,
and the people I love.

I wanted it.
I've prayed
thought
wrestled.
Months, now.

But I also gave it all to Him months ago.
His to do what He wished.

I've let go of the chance.
I don't know why we didn't have peace about it.
Maybe I'll never know.
Maybe I'll know later.
Regardless, it's not mine.
It never was.

I am sad.

But after the tears,
there is peace.
And that is what I need.


20 March 2012

Don't hate Raul

Today, I would like your permission to tell a short story.


It was a war.
He had been captured, and he sat alone in his cell. He didn't know how long he would be there, or indeed if he would ever leave.
He didn't know what the next day would bring.
So he waited.
At some point that night, he heard a knocking sound.
He moved closer to the wall.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He listened. Was there a pattern?
He scooted closer to the wall.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
In Morse code, the prisoners all around him were relaying the same message.
Don't hate Raul. Don't hate Raul.
Who, you may ask, was Raul?
Raul was the Cuban torture specialist who had been brought into the country to work on the American prisoners.
What the men around him  were so desperate for him to know was that yes, Raul would torture him. But it was only physical pain. It would end eventually. It would not be the torture that would kill him.
No, instead hatred for the man bringing him pain, creeping like a cancer through him, would be what would kill him in the end.
Don't hate Raul. Don't hate Raul.

He never did.
He survived the war. 

Thanks to  Jon Acuff for this true story. His website's great, as long as you can laugh at yourself.

Love:)

R

17 March 2012

You are enough

You know those moments where you can practically feel the breath of God?
Where He moves and you bow and it doesn't seem like even enough to be flat on your face?
Where even the hem of His robe is too great to glance towards?

 He comes, touches your face.
"Rise, beautiful daughter."

And I shake my head.
Because I know just how far I've fallen.
I feel so inadequate.
I'm not good enough.

But I think I'm wrong.
And I slowly get up.
It's the King of Kings talking, after all.

It's so easy to be insecure.
Women have felt insecure since the dawn of time.
Eve felt it.
She didn't think she was created good enough.
She felt she needed to be more.

Oh, how often I feel I need to be more.

But I am created.
This is how I am made.
This is how God made me.
I am washed in His blood.
Covered by His grace.
A daughter He died for.
I am a daughter of the King of Kings.
Of God.
And I love my Father.
So I stand,
feel His embrace.
Hear Him speak.

It's the best part of my day.
Even the silence is beautiful beyond words.

Why do I turn away?
To be completely honest,
I don't know.

But He is patient.
He's not done.
Slowly my self-image improves.
It helps to be valued by a King.
Which we all are.

Oh my friends.
Remember this.
You are loved.
You are enough.

Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life. 

Isaiah 43:4ESV


Or, in The Message,
But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, 
   the One who got you started, Israel:
"Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. 
   I've called your name. You're mine.
When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. 
   When you're in rough waters, you will not go down.
When you're between a rock and a hard place, 
   it won't be a dead end—
Because I am God, your personal God, 
   The Holy of Israel, your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you: 
   all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!
That's how much you mean to me! 
   That's how much I love you!
I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, 
   trade the creation just for you. 

Isaiah 43 :1-4


For you.


Love:) 


R










The Beautiful Letdown -Switchfoot

It was a beautiful let down
When I crashed and burned
When I found myself alone unknown and hurt
It was a beautiful let down
The day I knew
That all the riches this world had to offer me
Would never do

In a world full of bitter pain and bitter doubt
I was trying so hard to fit in, fit in,
Until I found out
I don't belong here
I don't belong here
I will carry a cross and a song where I don't belong
But I don't belong

It was a beautiful let down 
When you found me here
Yeah for once in a rare blue moon I see everything clear
I'll be a beautiful let down
That's what I'll forever be
And though it may cost my soul
I'll sing for free
We're still chasin our tails and the rising sun
And our dark water planet's
Still spinning in a race
Where no one wins and no one's one

I don't belong here
I don't belong here
I'm gonna set sight and set sail for the kingdom come
I will carry a cross and a song where I don't belong
But i don't belong
I don't belong here
I don't belong here
Kingdom come
Your kingdom come

Won't you let me down yeah
Let my foolish pride
Forever let me down


Easy living, not much like your name
Easy dying, you look just about the same
Won't you please take me off your list
Easy living please come on and let me down

We are a beautiful let down, 
Painfully uncool,
The church of the dropouts
The losers, the sinners, the failures and the fools
Oh what a beautiful let down
Are we salt in the wound

Let us sing one true tune

I don't belong here
I don't belong here
I don't belong here
Feels like I don't belong here
Let me down
Let me down
Feels like I'm let down
Let me down.
Cuz I don't belong here
Please
Won't you let me down.

12 March 2012

Don't give up

Give me everything You are
Give me one more chance to be near You

Cause everything inside me looks like
Everything I hate
You are the hope I have for change
You are the only chance I'll take........
.......And I'm on fire
When You're near me
I'm on fire
When You speak
I'm on fire
Burning at these mysteries... these mysteries... these mysteries
Ah you're the mystery
You're the mystery


(From On Fire by Switchfoot)

I love that. Give me one more chance.......You are the only hope I have for change. And it's true. Alone, I'd be lost. 
That He will give us a chance, again, and again.
Because we fall.
And we mess up.
And we do what we hate.

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.(Romans 7:19)

It can be such a struggle. We want the change, are reaching for it; but nothing happens.
The change, it comes in Him.

It's so hard when we mess up, even as we're so on fire. Sin has such a hold on us,
and we know it.

I'll say something, and know the instant the words leave my mouth it was the wrong thing.
Why do I do that?

I'll look at someone and think something really judgemental.
Why do I do that?

So many things.
But change comes,
slowly,
barely perceptibly sometimes,
but still.
It comes.

And grace works,
and He prunes and trims,
slowly,
 it comes.

My friends-
Don't give up on yourselves.
It's easy to do.
I know.


God doesn't give up on you.

Don't self-sabotage Grace offered freely-

To you.
Sinner.
Washed clean.
Because of love.

Love:)

R





Who am I?

Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a squire from his country-house.
Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As though it were mine to command.
Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equably, smilingly, proudly,
Like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were
compressing my throat,
Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
Tossing in expectation of great events,
Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

11 March 2012

Why Not?

So full tonight.
Of Him
and why aren't we more full of grace, and just look.








All these beautiful people.
Who don't know grace and acceptance.
Love.

Why not?


Love:)

R

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

06 March 2012

Today and Always

" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

God grant that you know these words to be true today and always.  He's got good plans. Even when we don't think so.

Love:)

R

05 March 2012

So be it

There are all these obstacles in the way, and I see them and tremble.
How?
Can I really do it?
Do you really want me too?
The voice their concerns, their doubts.
It's too far, too long, I'm too young.
Am I the only one hearing this?
But this I know.

This is what I'm made for.

I'm not here to be in my own little world.
I'm not here to be comfortable, complacent, happy, even.
I'm here to step off the edge.
To be filled up, poured out, broken.
All for Love.
For a call.
For a command that I cannot play Jonah too.
I can't bury it.
I don't want to stand before the Master and have to give exactly what He gave me back.
I'm here to live with God, to bring Him glory even if it brings me to my knees.

Yes.
I hear.
This is what I'm made for.
So be it.

Love:)

R

04 March 2012

With Me -Sum 41

I don't want this moment to ever end,
Where everything's nothing without you.
I'd wait here forever just to, to see you smile,
'Cause it's true, I am nothing without you.

Through it all, I've made my mistakes.
I stumble and fall, but I mean these words.
I want you to know,
With everything I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know,
As I bleed my heart out to show,
And I won't let go.

Thoughts read, unspoken, forever in vow,
And pieces of memories fall to the ground.
I know what I didn't have, so I won't let this go,
'Cause it's true, I am nothing without you.
All the streets, where I walked alone,
With nowhere to go, have come to an end.

I want you to know,
With everything I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know,
As I bleed my heart out to show,
And I won't let go.

In front of your eyes, it falls from the skies,
When you don't know what you're looking to find.
In front of your eyes, it falls from the skies,
When you just never know what you will find.

I don't want this moment to ever end,
Where everything's nothing without you.
I want you to know,
With everything I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know,
As I bleed my heart out to show,
And I won't let go.

I want you to know,
With everything I won't let this go.
These words are my heart and soul.
I'll hold on to this moment, you know,
As I bleed my heart out to show,
And I won't let go.

01 March 2012

Everything - Lifehouse

Find me here,
And speak to me.
I want to feel you,
I need to hear you.
You are the light,
That's leading me,
To the place,
Where I find peace again.

You are the strength,
That keeps me walking.
You are the hope,
That keeps me trusting.
You are the light,
To my soul.
You are my purpose,
You're everything.

How can I stand here with you,
And not be moved by you?

Would you tell me,
How could it be,
Any better than this?

You calm the storms,
And you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands,
You won't let me fall.
You steal my heart,
And you take my breath away.
Would you take me in,
Take me deeper now.

And how can I stand here with you,
And not be moved by you?
Would you tell me,
How could it be,
Any better than this?...
Cause you're all I want,
You're all I need,
You're everything, everything.....

And how can I stand here with you,
And not be moved by you
Would you tell me,
How could it be,
Any better than this?...

Would you tell me,
How could it be,
Any better than this...

Yes. Amen and Amen.

Love:)

R