Same God

So, here I am again, having gone on a long hiatus from blogging. Whoops… Life happens I guess.

And here I am at 1:50 am wide awake, mind racing. So all of you get to benefit (or suffer through) whatever this post may become.

I love music. It should come as no surprise. I’ve used song lyrics and music videos in many of my posts. I love the way music can so easily reflect what I am feeling. How lines in a song, or sometimes entire songs, can say what my heart and head can’t make sense of. I love the rhythm of songs, the chorus and repetition.

I was a band geek in high school. That shouldn’t surprise you one bit. I love music. music with lyrics, music without. Music with up beat rhythms or slower.

Don’t ask me the name. Don’t ask me all the lyrics most times. I probably don’t know. In my head I’m somewhere else when I’m listening to music. I notice the instruments, I notice the repetition, I notice the message. And eventually, after hearing the same song a thousand times, I pick up enough to find the song.

Today’s song is different. I am sure I’ve heard it a few times before, but the first time I really heard it; the first time I heard it and actually heard the words; it stopped me dead in my train of thought. It stopped me dead in the feelings I was unable to explain. As I listened to the song, tears falling, it brought me to my knees praying because of how God was using the song to speak to me. And since that day, this song has been one of those life-describing, where-I-am-at songs.

This song so best describes what I can’t say myself.

It came on hours after receiving a difficult email: a friend-like-family was being put on hospice. A young man whose life is, as many would say, “being cut short.” A young man I’ve watched grow up the past few years. A young man who is like a little brother. The email described the time their family is entering, described as fearless dying. The email described their hope, their trust in God and their knowledge that he is there.

Here I was struggling with my own feelings of grief, and this song came up on the radio echoing the family’s words.

So take all the fear and doubt
Go on and lay them down

Everything happens for a reason
There’s a time, there’s a place
For every season
He knows what’s best for you
So don’t be afraid

This song came into my life during a time where I was feeling very introspective, looking back on the last several months. It came on just as I was realizing how God really has been working in my life. I knew he was there, I knew he was working, but I LOVE looking back and seeing how it all ties together.

The same God who was with you then is with you now
The same God who led you in will lead you out

God hasn’t gone anywhere. He isn’t going anywhere. Even if we begin to question the “why” of hard times. Even in the face of death and illness. He’s there. He’s got a plan. It may not make sense today, but God has you.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever Hebrews 13:8

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Life has been good the last few months. I have seen God at work in some amazing ways. He has blessed me with an amazing community– something a year ago I ached for, I cried out to God for. He has brought me through.

Praying you can see how the Same God is with you today, that was with you then. Praying you can see how the Same God is working in your life.

 The Same God lyrics are property of Newsong. All rights reserved.

31 Days: Day 9

What does it mean to have faith??

Often we hear people talk about faith in and out of the realm of Christianity. “Have faith” they may say. “Oh ye of little faith.”

Even those who are not Christian have faith.

Faith that their chair will not collapse on them. Faith that their car will get them where they are going, that it wont burn up or have some other major problem. We have faith in the contractors and builders of tall skyscrapers that they will be sound buildings, that those buildings will not just fall over one day. We have faith that as we walk around a big city the buildings wont collapse. We have faith that trees wont fall on us as we are walking. We have faith that our stoves don’t have a gas leak that may cause it to explode the next time we turn it on.

Are you paranoid yet??

They all seem like such common things.It’s not every day that a gas leak causes an explosion. Trees don’t just fall over. Of course the chair wont collapse, they wouldn’t sell it if it could collapse buildings wont fall over, contractors and builders know that they are doing.

Our God created us. Our loving Heavenly Father created us. And thus he wants what’s best for us. Should we not have faith in Him like we do the chairs we sit on? Or the buildings we enter? We were created by a creator that’s better than any builder.

I was given a “praise stick” not too long ago that reads:

God Keeps His Promises

What promises does God give us?

He promises to always take care of us. He promises that he’ll never leave us. He promises that he has a plan for our lives that will give us hope and not harm us.

Companies promise that their chairs wont break upon sitting on them, that their buildings wont fall or collapse.

Which promises will you put your trust in?

TRUST

It’s something I’m learning these days. As I trust that God DOES have a plan for my life. As I wait patiently (or not so patiently, depending on the day) for Him to show me his plan. It’s something I’m learning these days as He’s all I have to depend on.

Which promises will I trust in?

God Keeps His Promises

I wrote this post a few months ago.

While in the midst of a job hunt and crazy life transitions.  But it’s still very relevant today.

God Keeps His Promises

The Last few months God has shown me over and over again, even as man’s sinful nature gets in the way that He keeps his promises. He has a plan.

I’m trusting in the promises of One much greater than I. I’m resting on the assurance that He cares for me. So onward I go.