Your Love is a Song by Switchfoot

Yeah

I hear you breathing in
Another day begins
The stars are falling out
My dreams are fading now, fading out

I've been keeping my eyes wide open
I've been keeping my eyes wide open

Your love is a symphony
All around me
Running through me
Your love is a melody
Underneath me
Running to me

Oh, your love is a song

The dawn is fire bright
Against the city lights
The clouds are glowing now
The moon is blacking out, is blacking out

So I've been keeping my mind wide open
I've been keeping my mind wide open, yeah

Your love is a symphony
All around me
Running through me
Your love is a melody
Underneath me
Running to me

Oh, your love is a song
Your love is a song
Oh, your love is a song
Your love is strong

With my eyes wide open
I've got my eyes wide open
I've been keeping my hopes unbroken, yeah

Your love is a symphony
All around me
Running through me
Your love is a melody
Underneath me
Running to me

Your love is a song
Yeah, yeah
Your love is my remedy
Oh your love is a song





Your love is the most beautiful song I've ever heard, O Lord.

Love:)
R

You

Hey, Friend. I know you're hurting......please, how can I help you?  I care about you. It isn't your burden, my dear. We've talked about this. Back then....in those dreary gray days, when we didn't know how it all was going to turn out.  Give it to Him. Please, don't go at this alone. You are precious and honored by your Abba God. You are so good at putting up walls...and I fear I am not good enough at breaking them down. What can I do for you?  I'm more than willing. Even if you just need to talk. Are you willing to trust me?  I'm praying for clarity, and peace for the both of us. Peace for you, and that you would know how loved you are. What else can I ask our great and mighty God to do for you?

Much Love:)
R

This is Church

Church was today. My church doesn't have a building. We meet in a building downtown, and in an elementary school lunchroom just down the road from my house.  Today, though, we met at the high school auditorium (the only auditorium in town) in one service. There were probably around three to four hundred people there. I don't know. I'm not a very good judge of amounts of people. What I do know, however, is that we met together as a body of believers to worship Christ.

  My friends, church is not where you meet. Church isn't about dressing up. Church is not simply going somewhere, listing to some music and the man up front, seeing your friends, and then going home. That isn't church. That is an empty, meaningless ritual. That is a reason people leave. It's boring. It's hollow. But it is not church, friend.
  Church is the fellowship of meeting together with others to worship. It is a sense of community as you come before God. It is the breaking of bread and the pouring of wine as you share communion.  "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.......This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." (from Luke 22)
 It is eucharisto- the act of giving thanks. It is giving thanks as one body, one fellowship, even as we walk this shadowy road. Even when our world threatens to fall.
 It is the people of the body of Christ meeting together to hear God. To be encouraged. To be challenged in their walk. To learn together.
 This is church.
  Is that how you treat it?
 Especially as a younger person, sometimes it seems that church is boring. That it isn't,almost, worth it. I think this is a trap we fall into,sometimes. Of believing that it has become too old-fashioned, too high-powered, too whatever. What do you think it is? I personally shy away from mega church type things. How can they love God? They're just trying to get rich. It's too impersonal. Maybe. Maybe not.But it's not mine to judge. I hate it when people are judgemental. But here I am, doing it.  We forget, often, that its still okay, even if it's not something we often do. Gd never said you can't have a drummer, or you have to have a liturgy. He did say "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." (Matthew 18:20) 
 It's about an honest gathering of people to seek the face and will of God together. If that's what it is, than it is good.
 I want to challenge you today. For the next few months, as you go to church, don't say "Darn, it's time for church. I wish I didn't have to go."
  Go to meet God. Go to worship together. Go to learn, to listen. To apply. Don't let what is said be of no consequence. Don't go, listen, and leave. Don't spend the rest of you're week like nothing ever happened. Go from that place a different person. Let the love of your Savior show in your daily life through the week. You are being watched. People want to know if there's something different about you. Let there be.  Go to work, to school, and remember that communion with God, and with others. Show it. Let there be something different. Let that be God.

That, my friends, is Church. See if you can treat it like that.

Love:)
R

A prayer

Eternal Father of my soul,

let my first thought today be of You,

let my first impulse be to worship You,

let my first speech be Your name,

let my first action be to kneel before You in prayer….

Yet let me not, when this morning prayer is said,

think my worship ended

                  and spend the day in forgetfulness of You.

-John Ballie in A Diary of Private Prayer

Psalm 27

Light, space, zest— that's God!
   So, with him on my side I'm fearless,
      afraid of no one and nothing.

When vandal hordes ride down
      ready to eat me alive,
   Those bullies and toughs
      fall flat on their faces.

When besieged,
      I'm calm as a baby.
   When all hell breaks loose,
      I'm collected and cool.

  I'm asking God for one thing,
      only one thing:
   To live with him in his house
      my whole life long.
   I'll contemplate his beauty;
      I'll study at his feet.

  That's the only quiet, secure place
      in a noisy world,
   The perfect getaway,
      far from the buzz of traffic.

God holds me head and shoulders
      above all who try to pull me down.
   I'm headed for his place to offer anthems
      that will raise the roof!
   Already I'm singing God-songs;
      I'm making music to God.

Listen, God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs:
      "Be good to me! Answer me!"
   When my heart whispered, "Seek God,"
      my whole being replied,
   "I'm seeking him!"
      Don't hide from me now!

You've always been right there for me;
      don't turn your back on me now.
   Don't throw me out, don't abandon me;
      you've always kept the door open.
   My father and mother walked out and left me,
      but God took me in.

  Point me down your highway, God;
      direct me along a well-lighted street;
      show my enemies whose side you're on.
   Don't throw me to the dogs,
      those liars who are out to get me,
      filling the air with their threats.

I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness
      in the exuberant earth.
   Stay with God!
      Take heart. Don't quit.
   I'll say it again:
      Stay with God.

Your hands really are holding me

I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
That You would take my pain away

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crookedly lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

When You walked upon the Earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know You hate to see me cry
One day You will set all things right
Yea, one day You will set all things right

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands

Your hands
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave You when...

When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave...
I never leave Your hands
-Your Hands, J.J. Heller

This last weekend I spent with my church small group going all over my island and doing all sorts of crazy fun things. I came into it kind of nervous because I didn't know anyone really in my group, but it was beyond amazing. I had way lots of fun, and all the girls are really great and super nice. So it was great!
 My hope for my post on Friday was to encourage others, and just to share the things God had given me. But over the course of the weekend, I began to see that almost as much as I had written thinking it was for others, it really was also something for me. I've been struggling with the loneliness of being one of the only girls I know and am constantly in contact with who is a Christian. And over the weekend as I spent time with the amazing adults who have chosen to give so much for us, and the other Christian kids, I began to realize the truth of what I had written. Mind you, I said I have never regretted this path I have chosen, and that it was the best thing I have ever done. Those things were, are, and always will be extremely true. But I was weary, if you will, of often not having someone to turn to who shared my worldview and love of God. I was kind of lonely.
 And then I was praying Saturday night as I sat looking out over a lake we were at, and I began to listen. And into that silence, God spoke about how much He loved me, and how He was consistent even when my friends weren't. That when my world was shaking, He stood. I was in His hands. I wrote about how when your burden was to heavy, He would take it, right? But that burden I had stubbornly kept, and foolishly clung too. And there He was, offering to take it. And He did. He really does, and I'm not just saying that. I still worry. It's not instantaneous. But he reminds me that the burden is His when I try to take it back.
  God has a sense of humor. I think He has to laugh, sometimes, as we stubbornly cling to our independence, not realizing or not caring that He's standing right there, and far more able to take care of our problem. I mean, we're acting like toddlers. Rather funny.
  It hasn't suddenly been perfect. But I think I'm starting to see some light at the end of this tunnel. And I'm starting to see the purpose of this time. And when I'm tempted to worry, I can remind myself that it is not mine to worry about. It belongs to my King, as do I. I am His and He is mine. And that is a beautiful promise.

Love:)

R

Phos Hilarion by David Crowder Band

This is an amazing song!!

Love:)

R