Week 10 - Somewhere in The Middle

This song from Casting Crowns has really been on my heart this past week. Each time I listen to it I'm amazed at just how well the lyrics capture our human walk with God.

Somewhere between the hot and the cold
Somewhere between the new and the old
Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Somewhere between the wrong and the right
Somewhere between the darkness and the light
Somewhere between who I was and who You're making me
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle
Are we caught in the middle

Somewhere between my heart and my hands
Somewhere between my faith and my plans
Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves

Somewhere between a whisper and a roar
Somewhere between the altar and the door
Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more
Somewhere in the middle You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Lord, I feel You in this place and I know You're by my side
Loving me even on these nights when I'm caught in the middle

(song written by Mark Hall of Casting Crowns)

The line that does it for me is "Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control". WOW!! I know myself I desires so much to follow God's path, yet want to hold onto the control. Driving in the car the other night I said to Mark, we've got to listen to this song. We turned it up loud and cruised along. After I sat there silently praying and saying "Lord where do you really want me to go, am I to sell up everythign and just get a van and go around the country ministering to people, am I to give up work and concentrate on kids, am I to start a home church? What Lord!?" and then the answer hit me straight away, and it was so simple "Just spend some time with me". I've been slack on the prayer and bible study and God was just saying "Come and meet me, spend time with me, have a relationship with me, then we'll deal with your questions". What a discussion and answer just from a song.

So after that "Long" intro, the point of this week is what worship song speaks to you and why?

Verse: Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah

Prayer: Lord thank you for the people in our world who have been anointed with the gift of music Lord. Thank you that we are free to worship you, celebrate you and have a life free to be followers of Jesus Christ.

Application: Paste the lyrics of a song into your journal that is impacting you now, or has impacted on your Christian walk at any stage. Journal why it had such an influence.

Don't forget to share here too

Week 9 - Count your Blessings

I watched Facing The Giants this weekend and the line "We will give praise when we win, we will give praise when we loose" really struck deep with me. No matter the situation, no matter how grim life can get, there is ALWAYS something to praise God for. Sometimes we can get focused on a problem we end up with blinkers on and can't see the good all around us. Once we step back and see the whole situation, the problem often becomes insignificant.

Verses : Psalm 128:2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

Prayer : Thank God for all the blessings and provisions in your life. Ask Him to forgive you where you have claimed His work as your own and to show you where you have been blinded to His blessings.

Application : Count your blessings. Journal your blessings and keep a watchful eye this week to see all the good things that God is doing in your life. Keep a journal of praise. When times get tough you will have a quick place to go to see the wonders that God does in your life. & share the joy here, It's not boastful to share His works

Week 8 - Trust

I know so many times in my life when I'm struggling it's often because of one simple reason. I failed to trust God I know when He is speaking to me, giving me direction, but often I fail to do my bit. Today I had a big realisation that these acts of "going my own way" are based on my failure to trust God and His plan for me. The laziness and the dragging my heals are rooted in not Trusting Him to make my paths straight. And what's shocking is I never thought I had a trust issue.

Verses : 2 Samuel 7:28 O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.

Psalm 9:10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 62:8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah
John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me.

Prayer : Ask God to show you the areas in your life where you have failed to Trust Him. Ask for forgiveness in not handing over the control to Him.

Application: Identify those areas in your life where you have doubted God, gotten impatient that He hasn't moved yet, or you have failed to move on His calling.

Creating Again

Aren't we so blessed to have a Creator God who loves us and created us in His image?

I so love being creative, taking raw materials and making something beautiful with my hands ... but somehow I'd forgotten the joy that being creative brings ... and I'd allowed the busy-ness of life to stop me from taking time to create.

So in the last week I've made time ... and I've found that creative happy place again ... and the best part about that ... it's a place closer to God too.I've had these photos sitting in a pile waiting to be scrapped for some time now. Every time I flicked through that pile I saw the long grass and thought of the story of Ruth in the Bible, so I decided that my journaling for this layout should be about that.

I've always loved the part of the story where Ruth declares that she will follow Naomi ... "where you go, I will go, your people will be my people and your God, my God" but as you read further into the story you realise that life wasn't suddenly going to become easy for Ruth after making this decision. She ended up out in the fields gathering left over grain just so she and Naomi could eat. And it's these words from Boaz that make me realise just how hard it was for Ruth... "May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord under whose wings you have come to take refuge." Ruth 2:12

And the Lord did reward Ruth ... she went on to become the great, great, great (and lots more greats) ...... Grandmother of Jesus our Lord and Saviour ... now that's some reward!