Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Life Song

I remember playing on my swingset and singing Delta Dawn by Tanya Tucker at the top of my lungs as a child! I was always singing, and as a result my mother thought the whole family needed to be singing specials at church on a regular basis. We sang those beautiful old hymns like Wings of a Dove, That Old Country Church, On the Jericho Road, and Ten Thousand Angels. Now the problem with this was that I'm a little on the shy side...I physically react to nerves in the form of hives...or I used too. Public speaking of any kind was out of the question. But once I found Christ on the morning of April 3, 2005, I knew immediately that He was going to take me out of my comfort zone and give me a mic!

That very night at a Brady Weldon revival He sent a woman to the alter that ripped my heart to pieces...I was drawn to her and quietly witnessed to her what God laid on my heart...something I had never been able to do! God showed out that night as He did each and every night of that revival! There was an alter call like no other I'd ever seen or have seen since...lives were changed!

That same week I was asked to give my testimony at a youth drama presentation. I prayed for God's help, and wondered what in the world I was going to say when I got up there...my testimony is not for just any audience. Once I took the mic, my shaking hands stilled, my nervous voice calmed, and my story spilled out before a congregation that mostly knew nothing of me. I stepped off that stage into the crying arms of an old friend with a renewed spirit of God's Power! Since then I've never doubted God's hand in my life. When I feel God's pull, I go, because I know He will equip me.

Over the last year or so, God has pulled me back toward that song in my heart that just won't be quiet. I've been given the opportunity to find the song that God wants me to sing, and it has been the most wonderful, exciting experience. The actual singing has been an experience I'll always treasure, but it's the way God works in my life that has been the real ride. It has taken months, but slowly He is teaching me to hear my song, and to sing with courage and with the voice He wants me too. He's teaching me to find strength in Him and to let my life sing of His work in me.

Psalm 30:12 (NIV) that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Getting Real!

Getting real with God…how often do we really open our hearts in faith to God? It’s not like He doesn’t already know, but somehow we think we can hide our deepest secrets from the Almighty Living Father! But what will really happen if we actually bring those secrets…that pain…that fear and lay them at the feet of Jesus? Not just say “here it is, please fix it”, but sincerely, with deepest heartfelt gratitude in KNOWING He will take it, and mold you with it. Will you accept His response? Are you afraid of what He will do?

John 11:40 …“Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

Where do we get off thinking that God can’t handle our biggest problems? Or even worse thinking that the smallest details of our lives aren’t worth His time! He created the universe from the color of your eyes to placing each and every star in the sky….He loved us so much that He made the ultimate sacrifice just so He – God could be with us here on earth and in Heaven someday! That wasn’t just for us, but for Him too! What we perceive as small problems or small sins separate us from His Holiness. So yes, Jesus wants us to give Him everything so that He can be near us, bless us, and work in us.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

God chose YOU! John 15:16 sends chills down my spine. God chose me…the Creator of the Universe chose ME…He chose YOU! So why, would we hide from Him? Why wouldn’t we trust Jesus to take our life and use it to glorify God.?

John 14:13-14 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Thank you Polly…I was stuck and you gave me inspiration!