Waiting for the rain...

Rain — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:59:04 +0000

The presence of the Living God
Satisfies the depths of my heart
And all of me changed when you came
And I’m made free by Your glory and grace
And I breathe You in,God
Cos You are there all around me

The kindness of Your love’s pure light
Pierces through the darkest of all night
And everything is possible now
For God is here
And God is good

And You are good, God
For You are good to me

And when I don’t understand
I will choose You

And when I don’t understand
I will choose to love You, God

And when I don’t understand
I will choose You

And when I don’t understand
I will choose to love You, God

And You are good, God
For You are good to me

It’s my privilege
To worship You
To worship

For You are good, God
For You are good to me

Rain — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:54:28 +0000

~And no good thing will you withhold from those who seek your face~

Rain — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:11:35 +0000

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8

Are they not in thy book? Verily they are; that is, the tears and afflictions of his people. They are in his book of purposes; they are all appointed by him, their kind and nature, their measure and duration, their quality and quantity; what they shall be, and how long they shall last; and their end and use: and they are in his book of providence, and are all overruled and caused to work for their good; and they are in the book of his remembrance; they are taken notice of and numbered by him, and shall be finished; they shall not exceed their bounds. These tears will be turned into joy, and God will wipe them all away from the eyes of his people. ~ Gill’s Exposition

you don’t have to do a thing…

Rain — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:14:50 +0000

just simply be with me…

Thoughts

Rain — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:48:34 +0000

The most meaningful words right now:

Your blood speaks a better word, than all the empty claims I’ve heard upon this earth, speaks righteousness for me, and stands in my defense… Jesus, it’s your blood…

Everyone is trying to define God, to put Him in a box, with a lid on, with instructions to say: do this and you will get this, pray like this and you will get this, fast like this and He will reward you, read your Bible like this and you will please Him and He will give you what you want. It is exhausting. It is meaningless, empty, useless, stale -air.

God Almighty is outside of all our borders, outside of all our boxes, He is uncontainable, He is undefinable, He does not fit into any human box, we cannot fathom Him with our little minds… and yet we never cease trying. Oh, how we fight to understand this Being, who is so unlike us. Because if we can just understand Him, then we can control Him. And if we can just control Him, He will give us what we want.

Disappointment. I am disappointed that God has not given me what I want. As if somehow He should be at my beck and call. That if I pray hard enough He should always give me what I want.

How little we understand Him. How little we understand ourselves. What we really need. How, in His goodness He withholds from us that which is not for our best. How I accuse Him of not being there…. When He is EVERYWHERE. When He has been where my eye cannot see… And still I accuse…

Have you ever stopped to think where you might be if God had given you everything you wanted?

You might be with the perfect husband, and the perfect brood of children, in the perfect house, in the perfect suburb, with a perfectly fulfilling job…

without God…

And still I rage and accuse: that He gave me this physical body and I’m in a physical world and I have these physical world requirements that HE created me with… so how dare He withhold it from me…?

….How dare I belittle the grace of God upon my life? When in an instant He can take this gift of precious life, the very breath that I breathe, from this grumbling soul… and what will remain?

Deep calls unto deep.

God knows.

He knows everything.

He knows every need.

And He knows that at the base of every longing and every desire is our longing for Him. And He knows how we can fill our lives with things, things to dull the longing, things that momentarily satisfy desire, things that occupy, things that fascinate, things that mystify… but only for a moment… And then the longing starts again… “God, a better job… God a bigger house… God just this one thing… God please… I need it… God, I need it!!!”

And so, IN HIS GREAT MERCY, IN HIS LOVING KINDNESS, He withholds…

And how it offends me…

.
.

It is grace that I need.

Not a husband, or a better car, or a better life.

What I need is to get on my knees and to worship the Uncreated One, because He is not like me, because I cannot understand Him, because He is outside of time, because He is all-knowing, and all-powerful, and full of grace and mercy and loving-kindness. Because He has not dealt with me according to what I deserve, but He has been gracious to me…

Amazing Grace

Rain — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 05:49:50 +0000

“Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable.” (Paul Zahl, via Tullian Tchividjian)

…

Our natural intuitions whisper, “Don’t draw too much grace just now. You have a whole lifetime ahead of you. Spread it out. Use it wisely. Don’t spend all your grace now!” The gospel scatters such law-infused thoughts with this promise: Come to Christ, keep coming to him, keep boasting in him. You will never out-sin his grace. His mercy is not measured. Not cautious, suspicious, reluctant. The kindness of Christ “constantly overflows with sheer grace.” As Jonathan Edwards said, God’s love is “an infinite ocean of love, without shores and without bottom.” Inexhaustible. (Tullian Tchividjian)

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, each time he said: “My grace is all you need…”

Trusting in Christ within

Rain — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:24:17 +0000

Dawn

Rain — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:43:38 +0000

“He is love, the tender Physician God who keeps tab of the every ache, a doting Father who soul-fissures when His child cries, the God who keeps the ledgers of every pain, every scrape, every brimming, falling, searing tear.” (Ann Voskamp)

His mercies are new every morning, His love never fails… (Lam 3:22-23)

Pour

Rain — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 03:16:02 +0000

Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him…

Trust

Rain — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 19:51:16 +0000

On God rests my salvation and my glory;
My mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
Psalm 62:7-8