Preparing to Praise!

I think I'm taking my Sabbath blog break tonight and will write again tomorrow night instead.  

(That's what I originally posted, but later realized that I God didn't inspire me to blog a certain amount everyday...  just to blog something everyday.  So even a very short post counts.)

I'm helping on the worship team tomorrow morning and feel the need to be a bit more prepared spiritually than I am at the moment and think that means praying rather than writing.  Thanks to my sis-in-law for what she wrote about praise on her blog today...  if you want some good words about what most of us will be doing (or did) in church tomorrow (or this) morning, check out her blog...  

Back tomorrow Monday...

Day 17

Spring Therapy :)

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments after my Spring Tears post.  It all such a learning process - even learning to recognize how we all grieve differently, whether it's over people, or things or seasons or whatever.  But it's good.

This afternoon/evening we were blessed by our pastor's family taking care of our kids so Lowell and I could have a nice date!  We ended up wandering down by the San Joaquin River taking pictures of wildflowers and enjoying the quiet river and lack of people around us.  Here are a few of my favorites...

 

I love this guy...

Day 16

Hard Wired to Sing

I know I haven't directly mentioned Colossians 3:15-17 (my Lent theme verse) everyday, but it's been on my mind just about everyday.  I thought about verse 15 a lot for the first 10+ days  ("Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as member of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful.")  and it led me to all the stuff about grace.  While there will always be more to learn about living out that verse, I've moved on to meditating (for me that equals thinking a lot) about verse 16: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."  

I thought I was starting with just the first half of that verse and would get to the second half in a week or so, but I was wrong.  It turns out that for me, memorizing and thinking deeply about God's word goes hand in hand with singing.  (I shouldn't be surprised.)  I've been reminded in the last day or two that one of the most effective ways for me to let God's word dwell (i.e. inhabit, abide, LIVE) in me is to sing it!  Often when I am memorizing scripture, I either turn it into a song in order to help me memorize it, or it just turns into a song all on it's own as I'm repeating the words over and over.  It's just the way God makes my brain work.

I've been thinking a lot about Psalm 23 lately and finished last night turning it into a song...  (in Spanish!  It's the first song I've ever written that was in Spanish first and not a translation, so I'm excited about that!)  The song was running through my head all night (when Timothy was climbing in bed with me) and all day...  and that's a much better thing than grumpy thoughts or that other song that was running through my head the other night that I couldn't get out.  It's good for me to remember anew that my brain is wired by God to have music running through it and if I want the lyrics to be His Word, working them into a song is a great way to help that happen.

Do you have music running through your mind constantly?  How do you memorize scripture most easily?  Just wondering...  : )

Day 15

Spring Tears

The last few days have been sort of hard.  I've felt pretty sad for a variety of reasons and most of them I couldn't even put my finger on.  I realized last night I was grieving again when a picture of lilacs made me cry.  Because we used to have a lilac bush.  Back when we lived in our house with our beautiful yard.  (Not beautiful because we took good care of it, mind you.  I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea.  Our yard was fairly well neglected except for the requisite lawn mowing in the front yard.)  But our yard was huge.  And it was filled with all sorts of fabulous trees and bushes that fairly exploded in Spring.  

And here I go crying again.

I LOVED walking around our yard in Spring.  Never mind that Spring made me sneeze and made my eyes itch and my nose run.  It was totally worth it.  I loved watching the plants come alive again after winter.  I loved watching the bees dance around the blossoms on our fruit trees.  I loved anticipating the cherries, plums, peaches, apples and nectarines we would be eating all summer.  (Not to mention the citrus we would eat all winter!)  So I miss our old place.

There have been some other emotional things going on around me this last weekend and finally I realized this morning I needed to stop stuffing the tears and just let them out.  I think God helped me realize that in the middle of a season like this one, I don't have to feel any worse about crying from time to time than I do about sweating when it's hot or I'm exercising.  Despair and discouragement are bad.  Tears are not.  Just because I need to cry does not mean something's wrong with me.

They that sow in tears will reap with songs of joy...  Tears are sometimes seeds of joy.  And I bet it's no coincidence that tomorrow night in our Life Group we're looking at the story of the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with precious perfume and with her tears.  Maybe when I feel like crying I need to get to the feet of Jesus and just let my tears fall right there on Him.  I know that at least today, it brought a lot of relief.  Thank you Jesus for that.

Day 14

Gracias...

I have just a couple more thoughts to share about grace.  Remember a few days ago when I started talking about thanksgiving being connected with awareness of grace?  It made me notice for the first time (since my first Spanish lesson back in 1984) that the word in Spanish for THANK YOU is GRACIAS.  And in case you don't speak Spanish or see the connection...  Gracia is the Spanish word for GRACE.  So basically, every time I am thanking someone in Spanish, I am acknowledging grace.  I think that's pretty neat.  : )

And here's the last thing I have to say (for now) about God's grace:  

God's GRACE gets the LAST WORD!  

Do you know what the last verse in the entire Bible says?  It's Revelation 22:21.  "The GRACE of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.  Amen."  : )  And that just makes me smile.  To know that in the end, there is God's grace shown to us through Jesus Christ.  No matter what else happens.  No matter how many times I mess up.  No matter how many times I think things depend on me instead of on God.  No matter what, He who began the good work in me will be faithful to complete it.  Because I have chosen to entrust my life and heart to Him, His grace will get the last word in my life.

Gracias, Señor.

Day 13

Before the Throne of Grace

A couple of Septembers ago, I was in awe of the invitation God gives us - to approach God's throne of grace boldly!  Back in the Old Testament times, if the High Priest entered behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place, he had to carry burning incense with him so the smoke would conceal the atonement cover (aka mercy seat) of the ark where God's presence rested - OR HE WOULD DIE.  Wow. (Leviticus 16:12-13)  

I have always been moved by what God did when Jesus died on the cross for us - that He reached down from heaven and tore that curtain in two from top to bottom!  To go from "you can't come in here or you'll die" to an open invitation is stunning.  God has shown me the reason it means so much to me is because more than anything else, I long for intimacy with God.  I don't always realize that's what I am longing for, but it's there at the bottom of it all.  And the curtain being torn is my invitation to intimacy with my Savior and King.  Wow.

So, that September, I was feeling like I would love to write a song about it but couldn't figure out even where to start.  Then God gently suggested that I start with some of His words.  Aaahhh...  of course.  Hebrews 2:15; 3:1; 4:14-16; 10:19-23; 13:5-6; Micah 7:18; Eph. 2:4-5... 

And the song was born.  

BEFORE THE THRONE OF GRACE  (click here to listen to it)

We have a great high priest

Jesus Christ, the Son of God

He came from heaven to earth

He knows our struggles and how weak we are

Yet He was without sin

And through His body, invites us in

CH:     Let us come before the throne, the throne of grace

With confidence before our God

Let us boldly approach the throne of grace

With confidence before our King  (1^st time, go to V2)

To receive mercy and find grace

To help us in our time of need

You offer mercy, You pour out your grace

You always help us in our time of need

So let us draw near to God

With sincere hearts, full of faith

Guilty consciences clean

Captives set free from the power of death!

Hold onto your hope (hold on to your faith)

God our Father is faithful!

BR:                 So we say with confidence

“The Lord is our helper.”

He will never leave us

We will not be afraid.

God, You delight in mercy

By your grace we are saved!

We will fix our thoughts on You

For You have called us by name

To receive mercy…  etc…

(So I cry)  Lord, have mercy on me!

Hebrews 2: 15; 3:1; 4:14-16; 10:19-23; 13:5-6 ; Micah 7:18  ; Eph. 2:4-5 

Song by Melissa Ens

9.12.09

Day 12