Awake My Soul…

When God created Adam, he breathed into Adam’s body, and the man came to life (Genesis 2:7). What an intimate picture: God’s actual breath filling a man’s lungs. The breath of life. We see elsewhere in Scripture God’s desire to fill us with His breath, even if we are technically already alive.

One of the most notable places we see this is in Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a prophet handed the unfortunate task of  telling the Israelites that, unlike what false prophets were promising, the Israelites would not be delivered from captivity for a long time. At the time, he and about 10,000 other Israelites were captive to Babylonia.
But as the Lord gave Ezekiel this depressing message to share, He also gave him a promise. God gave Ezekiel a picture of a valley of dry bones–basically, a large pile of dead and fully decayed bodies. And He told Ezekiel: “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live” (Ezekiel 37:4).

Breathe on me, breath of God, breathe on me.
I come alive, I’m alive when You breathe on me. 

Ezekiel 37 tells the story of a prophetic vision God gave the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones and the Lord asks him, “Can these bones live?” (37:3). Ezekiel responds, Sovereign Lord, you alone know” (37:3).

Then God tells Ezekiel to prophesy:

“Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord’” (37:4-6)

The lyrics to Tomlin and Lecrae’s song beautifully reflect this powerful passage:

“Then He said to me,
Prophesy to these bones and say to them,
Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!
This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones,
I will make breath enter you,
And you will come alive.
So I prophesied as I was commanded.
As I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound,
And the bones came together, bone to bone.
And I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them,
And skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then He said to me,
Prophesy to the breath,
Prophesy, son of man, and say to it,
Come from the four winds of breath and breathe,” raps Lecrae while Tomlin sings the chorus:

“Awake, awake, awake my soul,
God resurrect these bones
From death to life, through you alone
Awake my soul.”

 

Awake My Soul by Chris Tomlin ft. Lecrae

 

 

Living the Lyrics: “Great are You Lord” by All Sons and Daughters

Incorporating Praise Into Your Prayer

Sometimes when we are praying, it can be so easy to spend all of our time asking God for favors and telling Him about all of the things in our life that may be hard. While God loves when we bring Him our everyday trials. It is so important to take some time just to praise Him for all that He is. Our God is an awesome God!

The song, “Great are You Lord” by All Sons and Daughters helps me to enter into that praise.

It’s Your Breath In Our Lungs

The verse describes some of the most beautiful aspects of our God. He is love itself, brings light into the darkness, and heals our broken hearts.

How often do we really stop to let ourselves be overwhelmed by a sense of who God is?

Genesis 2:7  even says that God took the dust and breathed life into us our very life. This is the same God that breathed the stars into the sky. That is the breath in your lungs. The song’s chorus rides on this truth, singing “it’s Your breath in our lungs/ So we pour out our praise to You only.”

Sometimes all I can do is lift up my hands to the Lord and praise Him for placing His breath in my lungs. When you have nothing left, know that you are His. Allow that to be enough to move you to praise, for our Lord is great.

“Great Are You Lord” Lyrics

Verse 1:

You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
Great are You, Lord

Chorus: 

It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only

Bridge: 

And all the earth will shout Your praise
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing
Great are You, Lord

Living the Lyrics: “No Longer Slaves” By Bethel Music

Music Is Praying Twice

St. Augustine of Hippo is credited with saying “he who sings prays twice,” once with our music and once with our words. This means that when we sing we are glorifying God, not only with the words, but with the music itself. Have you ever felt that way? Like the notes themselves were guiding your prayer? Music speaks, and when we give it to God, He can use it to speak directly to our hearts.

No Longer Slaves

Bethel Music’s song “No Longer Slaves” starts by beautifully expressing that, saying to God: “You unravel me, with a melody. You surround me with a song.” When we allow the Holy Spirit into our praise, we allow him to unravel us and put us back together again.

This song is an anthem of freedom from fear, repeating over and over that “I’m no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God.”

What a wonderful concept. The more I listen to this song, the more it means to me because at different points in my life, it means different things.

What Fear Enslaves You? 

Maybe it’s fear of not being enough. Maybe it’s fear of the future or the fear of failure. Maybe you fear the opinion of others. Regardless of how fear enslaves you, God promises to rescue us. In Isaiah, He says “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand, and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” We are children of God.

As we sing this chorus, we can rejoice at the fact that, as Gods beloved children, we are no longer held captives of fear, but freed by His love.

As the song says, “You split the sea, so I could walk right through it. All my fears were drown in perfect love. You rescued me, so I could stand and sing. I am a child of God.”

If you haven’t heard this song, click HERE, sit down, and pray it. Pray the music, pray the words, and let the Father speak to your heart.

“No Longer Slaves” Lyrics 

You unravel me, with a melody
You surround me with a song
Of deliverance, from my enemies
Till all my fears are gone

I’m no longer a slave to fear
I am a child of God

From my Mothers womb
You have chosen me
Love has called my name
I’ve been born again, into your family
Your blood flows through my veins

You split the sea, so I could walk right through it
My fears were drowned in perfect love
You rescued me, so I could stand and sing
I am a child of God….

 

Refreshing Your Soul

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14 NIV) 

Have you ever watched little kids worship? They don’t care who’s watching or who thinks they look weird, they just worship the Lord with all they have. I love seeing little ones worship because you’re able to see life from a completely different perspective. They don’t yet have the mindset of us adults, as we go about our day and criticize those who are doing things different, or when we worship we are constantly looking around to see if others are watching us thinking we look weird.

Little kids have the heart of wreck less abandon. They have the ability to let go of their doubts, their false examples, their small realities, and exercise their God-given imaginations, at the same time while exercising their faith. Being imaginative like a child gives us the help we need to see that there is more than what meets the eye. It can help us see that anything is possible in a world where God is in control. It allows us to engage more deeply into the Story of God and our place in it. And it is a necessary component of childlike faith.

It refreshes my soul to see these little ones go through life and their daily lives with such unending joy and innocence about them. They are always excited for what’s next and always looking for the bright side in every situation, good or bad. We as adults, can learn so much from just watching children on a daily basis. Their love for pretty much anything and everything is infectious, but the one thing that always pulls me right into them is their heart for God. As soon as I see that one tiny 5 year old child raise their hand in worship or when I see them dance around to the songs we sing, now that my friends is contagious!

My encouragement to you is to start living your life like a child. Start living like they live, with unending joy and a huge heart for God. To help you see where I’m coming from, listen to this song posted below, called “Joy.” This song for me, instantly gets me excited and when I watch the people in the video dance around, that’s what gets me moving. BUT, the crazy thing is, I don’t do that in church. Why? Well because like I said earlier, we as adults are constantly looking around to see if people are watching us.

So let’s start dancing or doing whatever brings us joy when we worship and NOT CARING what people think we look like! Amen?!

So click on the link below, and enjoy this video. Thanks so much for reading friends, have a great day!

♥

JOY by Housefires

Let Your Glory Fall

Emotions. When I first heard this song “Let Your Glory Fall”, I sat on my couch and balled my eyes out for the length of the song. I was puzzled as to why this song was making me cry because I didn’t have a personal connection to the song…or so I thought. 

This song is based on the verse from Romans 15:13-“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV) 

Overflow is the key word here. In the chorus of the song it talks about being overwhelmed by God and the power of the Holy Spirit. For me, I was overwhelmed with the power of the Holy Spirit and I was able to meet God in this song as I sang it.

I was able to be engaged in worship all the while leading my church congregation through this piece. This song pulls at the heart strings a bit, just because of the words that are being sung. It’s a surrendering song, basically you’re putting everything in your life that you’re wanting to control, you’re now turning that over to God.

Let Him take the reins. Let Him have control over things.  I just feel like this song is a heart cry and a surrendering of sorts to God. Almost in a purifying sense. It’s all about giving it up to Him.

As you listen to this song, I encourage you to meet God where you are. Doesn’t matter what you’ve got going on or what stuff you’ve got in your life. Just surrender all that to Him, He will give you the strength to do it, you just have to be ready to give it all up. Trust Him, He’s got you. Just trust Him.

 

 

The 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 Man

Do you ever feel like you won’t ever find someone who accepts you for who you are? Especially if you’re like me and you have a lot of medical challenges daily?

For me, over the past year or so I have felt this way. I’ve thought to myself “you’re not good enough for him” or “he won’t want to be with you because of all the medical challenges you have and the fact that you have a brain injury on top of that is more than  he can take.” 

I kept running into obstacles such as this because I didn’t think I was worthy of having a man in my life that was okay with the fact that I can’t see or that I had to be assisted by a walker for a couple months after my accident, or the fact that I sometimes have frequent ER and hospital visits for brain surgery.

Well, right after my accident last August, my dad introduced me to a man who he had been getting to know over the last few months. I didn’t think much of it until the next month. I wanted to get to know this guy a little better, and naturally after being in a hospital room for the last month I wanted to get out of the house. And it just so happens to be that his birthday is the day after mine, so I invited him to go out for ice cream to celebrate thinking he would politely decline the invitation.

Much to my surprise, he said yes!

We talked logistics of where we wanted to go, what time, etc. at church on Sunday. I knew I would have to meet him there since I had my walker, so I texted him and told him I would meet him there. Much to my surprise again, he quickly texted back and said “You don’t have to meet me there, I’ll come pick you up, it’s not a problem.”  I was flabbergasted by this response, only because I had put in my brain prematurely that he wouldn’t want to deal with a woman who had all this stuff going on medically.

Once we got to the ice cream place and ordered, we sat outside, talked and listened to music. He made me laugh the whole time we spent together, which ended up being about an hour. Neither one of us looked at our phones once to see what time it was, we were just enjoying our time together. Not one of our conversations we had even remotely touched the subject of my brain injury I suffered the month prior, or the fact that I had to be using a walker. He just kept expressing to me that he was glad I was doing better the whole time we talked. I realized I could be 100% myself with him.

I didn’t want the day to end or our time together to come to a close that day! I suddenly realized no man had ever made me laugh like he did or made me feel as appreciated and loved as he did. Here’s the crazy thing, he accepted me for who I was!

Fast forward to a year later. Today, this man and I are still great friends. Even though I now can walk without the assistance of a walker, he still accepts me for who I am amidst my brain injury. Since going to ice cream together, we’ve spent more time together doing various things.

He’s the most amazing man I’ve met and I’ve been praying that God blesses this relationship. I pray that if we’re supposed to be a couple that He will bless it, and if we’re not I pray that we can remain great friends. I have met his brothers, his dad, and his mom since our first encounter and I have to say I absolutely LOVE his family! My family loves him and his family just as much, so this looks promising.

I have written on an index card the verses from 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 with his name inserted. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 

I have seen each of these things spoken about in these verses, lived out in him. Each line of these verses is exactly who he is. My mom has said that when the right man comes along, you’ll know. I truly believe in my heart of hearts that I have found my 1 Corinthians 13 man. He is amazing and I actually can see us being in a relationship, getting married, having a house together, building a life together, and growing old together.

If that’s not proof that God’s moving in this relationship, then I don’t know what is. I truly believe that we were put in each other’s lives for a reason, what that reason is I have yet to figure out. Now the flip side to this, may be that God has put this man in my life to show me that there are men out there that do love you for who you are and who don’t care that you look like hell sometimes. Maybe he has, maybe he hasn’t. Maybe he was put in my life for exactly the reason I’m thinking, knowing the outcome of this unclear. All I know is that I’m glad I met him and I’m glad he’s never left.

Ladies, trust in the Lord that He knows who to bring into your life to make you see things and maybe yourself differently. He has crazy ways of showing it, but sometimes that may be just the ticket to you finding your forever 1 Corinthians 13 man.

♥

The Lord finds mysterious ways of saying “I’m here for you”

It was Thursday morning around 9:00am and I was headed to a doctors appointment with my brain surgeon to discuss surgery….again. At the end of the appointment, the final decision (for now) was to wait a couple more months before doing anything, which I was fine with; (after having over 30 brain surgeries last year, I think I can spare my brain a little more of a trauma break) 

I made it home, hopped on my computer like I always do and was just scrolling through my facebook page when this picture came up from a page that often posts inspirational prayers. In this picture, there was a prayer written that completely outlined what I’m going through and the tough decision I have to make as to whether or not I want surgery in a couple months. 

After reading the prayer, I reposted it on my facebook profile and simply wrote: “Lord, please guide me in this difficult decision. I trust You with my everything.” It definitely showed me that God is here for me and that He’s got me in His arms. 

 

The Lord definitely has mysterious ways of saying that He’s here for us and this was very apparent for me that he was telling me “You’ll be alright, I’ve got you my child”. My point is this, don’t go around trying to look for the answer because sometimes the answer is right front of you. God was telling me in that prayer to trust Him and not worry about my decision because He’s clearly got it handled.

Amen?! This also made me think of the song “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong” which says in the chorus:

 “I will call upon Your Name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine”

and then in bridge it says this:

 “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Saviour” 

 This song is so powerful and such a testimony! I wanted to share the prayer I found on my facebook with you all, the title of it is: Prayer for Strength and Faith. 

 

 

I hope y’all have a wonderful day and keep trusting in Him, He’s got you no matter what! 

Well done oh good and faithful servant….Well done

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21 NIV) 

That is what I was thinking when I was singing in my church choir yesterday. We pretty much had just started the service and we were singing “The One Who Saves” by Hillsong and the third line in the chorus says “He will light the way, He will lead us home”. The reason that line is so meaningful to me at the moment is because I had a dear friend that had passed away from cancer last Friday morning. 

I am so in awe over this young man because he showed immense courage and he was a true fighter! Even in his pain and suffering, he still asked how everyone else was doing. That amazed me…Most people would be curled up in a corner saying “why me, Lord?!” but not Andrew. Andrew fought hard through the battle and ultimately he won, he was able to go home to be with his Jesus. That is the ultimate gift, and now he is free of his pain and suffering. Even though, we miss him terribly, we know that he is rejoicing in Heaven. 

And when I sang that third line of the worship song, I put my fist in the air, lifted my head upward, and silently said “well done oh good and faithful servant, well done!”. As I looked up, I felt as if I could see his smiling face looking down on me, as if to say “don’t be sad for me, be happy! Even though I am gone from earth, I am dancing with my Father in Heaven!”. At that moment, I was overcome with joy! A joyful smile shown on my face and I could feel God’s presence in the room. 

I’ve had people say when someone passes away from cancer that “they lost the fight”, when in reality they’ve won! They’ve won because they get to be with their Heavenly Father, and as they enter the gates of Heaven, they hear Jesus say “Well done, good and faithful servant, well done!” Although it is very sad when we don’t have the person physically here anymore, they have a special place in our hearts. We’ll always remember the good times we had with that person and we’ll long for the day when we will be reunited with them in Heaven! 

So although my heart is broken because Andrew isn’t here anymore, I know he is living in eternity with Jesus and that brings me so much joy! All I can say is “Bless his heart” for being an amazing young man and for living out his final days with joy! 

 

 

Music: Good for the Soul…

Ever since I can remember I have had this fiery passion for music. I like to think of it this way, we all know the book: Chicken soup for the teenagers soul and the countless other books from this title right? Well, I like to think of music as being good for the soul.

I find that when I’m having a stressful day at school, with life or with whatever activity/situation I’m doing or I’m in, I’ll play my music. Whether it be on my guitar, piano or keyboard it doesn’t matter I just need a release of stress for an hour a day. Thats it. Music brings joy to my life and is as I said it’s such a fiery passion of mine. Even when I’m right in the heart of a stressful situation, I’ll sing if I don’t have my instruments readily available to me.

Here’s an example of that, I have a medical condition that requires me to sometimes be hospitalized and as a result I have to get an IV put in my hand. Now, because I’ve been poked so many times I have an utter dislike for IVs (who wouldn’t?!) I find that to help me relax so my veins can open up, I’ll sing. One song that I remember my mom and I singing during one of these times was an old Christian Hymn (the title of it has me drawing a blank at the moment) and I found that it really helped.

So that is why I wanted to use my gift for music to help other people through tough times. Music Therapy is a fantastic field to go into for me because it combines helping people and playing music into one profession. I want to help specifically children because I found that it really helped me to have something that I was familiar with and that would help me go to a “happy place” as I call it rather than just stare at the four walls of my hospital room.

I’m hoping to become a certified Music Therapist at the hospital where I’ve received all my treatments working specifically in the pediatrics ward. And eventually I would love to expand the profession not just for children but for adults as well. Right now music therapy is not offered for adults because of funding reasons, but I would love to be the person that makes the change.

Music is my favorite pastime and I look forward to it everyday. I’ll have music playing all day wherever I’m at, whether it be at school, in the car, etc. I feel so blessed that God has given me this gift and great passion for music so that I can hopefully bring joy and comfort to those around me.

“Everything on earth, shout with joy to God!
Sing about his glory! Make his praise glorious” Psalms 66:1-2 NCV

Worship: What does it mean?

Worship: What does it mean? This thought has popped in my head many times over the years I’ve been involved with music.

One thing that always struck me in particular was this question: when you raise your hands in church during the worship set, what are you really saying? Well, it is very simple. When you raise your hands, you are simply saying “God, you are amazing and I praise You!” For example, I raise my hands every time my church sings the song “God you are my God” because when I raise my hands I am saying that “Yes, God you are my God and I praise You for who You are!” And worship means exactly that, you are proclaiming that Yes, He is All-powerful and Almighty every time you raise your hands in worship.

According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the word “worship” is derived from the Greek word “proskuneo,” which means to crouch, to bow down in homage, to adore lovingly. Of all the different methods of worship, all have this common purpose in mind: worshiping God by willingly bending yourself in loving obedience to the Creator.

He is our Abba Father our “daddy” God and we should love Him just as we love our earthly father. Because He paid the ultimate price for our sins, He died on the cross so we didn’t have to. That is the ultimate sacrifice, and He did that so you and me could live. Pretty powerful, don’t you think? Thats how much He loves us, He loved us so much that He died for us. The one verse that I will never forget that I memorized way back when I was 4 or 5 years old is this: John 3: 16; “For God so loved the world, that He gave His One and Only Son. And that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”