Make My Life A Prayer
by Melody Green
Make my life a prayer to You,I
want to do what you want me to,
No empty words and no white lies,
No token prayers, no compromise,
I want to shine the light you gave,
Through Your Son, you sent to save us,
From ourselves and our despair,
It comforts me to know you're really there.
Oh, I want to thank you now,
for being patient with me,
Oh, it's so hard to see,
when my eyes are on me,
I guess I'll have to trust
and just believe what you say,
Oh, you're coming again,
coming to take me away,
I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might live,
And share the hope you gave to me,
The love that set me free,
I want to tell the world out there,
You're not some fable or fairy tail,
That I made up inside my head,
You're God, The Son, you've risen from the dead.
Oh, I want to thank you now,
For being patient with me,
Oh, it's so hard to see,
When my eyes are on me,
I guess I'll have to trust,
And just believe what you say,
Oh, you're coming again,
Coming to take me away.
I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might give,
And share the hope you gave to me,
I want to share the love that set me free.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Just some thoughts
So…I’ve been thinking. Yesterday, Adam asked us why and how can and do we love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. That’s really been on my mind a lot this morning. I’ve really been thinking through the passage in Galatians 2 where Paul says that we are crucified with Christ, and it’s not us who live, but Christ who lives in us. As I think on that, I think about what Alan brought up about the passage in Deuteronomy and how God told Israel that they won’t love Him with everything, and just how I can’t love Him like that. The only way for that to be possible is that I surrender and step back and allow Christ to show that love. That’s really been a humbling and freeing thought to me this morning. On one hand, I’m am just so convicted about how much I get in the way, and though I try to love, so often it’s in vain. On the other hand, what a comfort that I don’t have to. I put it that way only because I know I just can’t sit back and be lazy about it. there is obviously the fact that I have to choose to love, but with that I have to choose to surrender and humble myself and allow the love of Christ work through me. Just some things that I’ve been thinking on this morning.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Who's in control?
I had an interesting thing happen to me yesterday. A couple of days ago a friend of mine was on the phone with a family member about some wedding plans for his wedding. I told him about some of the things the Lord had been convicting me about. I said that he needs to lay this in the Lords hands and let Him plan it and to just be obedient to what the Lord says. He is in control.
Well it’s amazing to know that the Lord will hold you accountable to what you tell other people. My fiancée and I have been trying to plan our honeymoon, and things just seem to keep falling through. As I was at my friend’s house yesterday, I was trying to get a place worked out and I guess I was showing my frustration. Well… my friend came up to me and said these words, “You know, a friend just told me recently that the Lord was in control and just to let Him plan things.”
Wow! What a reminder. Not even a whole day after I had just spoken those words to him, it was as if the Lord was checking to see if I really believed what I told my friend. I kind of shrugged it off, almost with a feeling of pride. Almost saying to myself, of course I believe that. But did I really?
I am so glad that my Father is an active pursuer of me; that He doesn’t just leave me in my sinful thoughts. I say that because today, more and more avenues kept closing in our destinations for our honeymoon and I’ve spent most of the day frustrated at this company my parents have been using to get us a place. It’s been easy for me to blame the company for everything, that way I can justify my feelings. But as I sit here at work, the Lord brought back to mind the conversation that I had with my friend yesterday.
I have to remember who is in control, and you know what? It’s not me. I might like to think I am or that I’m wise enough to make my own plans, but I’m really not. It just reminds me of what the Scripture says in Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” The book of James says this:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16
In each instance, no matter what I may plan, the Lord is ultimately in control. For me to even think that I can I know better, I boast in my arrogance, and that is evil.
Lord, please forgive me. I repent of my arrogance and lack of faith. Even in something that seems as small as picking a honeymoon destination, I know that you are in control and know what’s best for us. So I lay this in Your hands, and ask for Your grace and strength to help me to be patient, trusting, and obedient to what You have to say. Amen!
Well it’s amazing to know that the Lord will hold you accountable to what you tell other people. My fiancée and I have been trying to plan our honeymoon, and things just seem to keep falling through. As I was at my friend’s house yesterday, I was trying to get a place worked out and I guess I was showing my frustration. Well… my friend came up to me and said these words, “You know, a friend just told me recently that the Lord was in control and just to let Him plan things.”
Wow! What a reminder. Not even a whole day after I had just spoken those words to him, it was as if the Lord was checking to see if I really believed what I told my friend. I kind of shrugged it off, almost with a feeling of pride. Almost saying to myself, of course I believe that. But did I really?
I am so glad that my Father is an active pursuer of me; that He doesn’t just leave me in my sinful thoughts. I say that because today, more and more avenues kept closing in our destinations for our honeymoon and I’ve spent most of the day frustrated at this company my parents have been using to get us a place. It’s been easy for me to blame the company for everything, that way I can justify my feelings. But as I sit here at work, the Lord brought back to mind the conversation that I had with my friend yesterday.
I have to remember who is in control, and you know what? It’s not me. I might like to think I am or that I’m wise enough to make my own plans, but I’m really not. It just reminds me of what the Scripture says in Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” The book of James says this:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16
In each instance, no matter what I may plan, the Lord is ultimately in control. For me to even think that I can I know better, I boast in my arrogance, and that is evil.
Lord, please forgive me. I repent of my arrogance and lack of faith. Even in something that seems as small as picking a honeymoon destination, I know that you are in control and know what’s best for us. So I lay this in Your hands, and ask for Your grace and strength to help me to be patient, trusting, and obedient to what You have to say. Amen!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Relying on God
The Lord greatly used something yesterday that really challenged me and is causing me to be introspective about some things. I was with Mandie at Barnes and Noble yesterday, and we were just browsing through the Christian book section. As we browsed through the books and talked about different things, she was looking at some books on marriage. She had made the statement, that she needed to read some more books on marriage, because she didn't feel very prepared. Then she posed this question, "How did people handle marriage without all of the books on the subject?" My response was, "They just relied on God."
Now, I didn't really put a whole lot more thought into it the rest of the day, but as I was making my rounds tonight at work, that conversation was brought back to the fore front of my mind. It's really a great question that I believe can go with any subject of life, and I think it should be thought about more often. Let me explain. If you are human, than you deal with a plethora of situations and trials. I like a how a friend of mine put it when He was teaching on the book of James. James 1:2 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, [2] when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." When he discussed the first part of that verse, he interchanged the word "various" with "multi-colored". Kind of implying just the wide range of the types of trials that we can go through. I don't want to make such a blanket statement for everyone, so I will make this a little more personal.
I start by posing this question, " When encountered by the "multi- colored" situations in life, what is the first thing that you run to for guidance?" That's the question that was really brought to my mind from my earlier conversation with Mandie. Very convicting for me. When it comes to wanting to know more about a situation, i usually tend to do one or both of two things. I either find a book on it, or I go and ask someone. Now don't here me say that it is wrong to to read books on any given subject, or to ask for advice. These are both wonderful resources that I believe the Lord gives us to help us in our walk, but that is the thing. They are only resources. They are not to have the final say so in our lives. That's where I think the danger can come in.
Many times I tend to run to these things and make them my authority. Most of that is out of pure laziness. It's easy to see what someone else says on a subject, and if it doesn't seem to go against what Scripture says, than I go with it. What a terrible to go about things! I tend to put my faith in the wisdom of man and not in the Truth. Going back to the conversation, how do I learn about marriage without a book or someone to tell me? The question I pose is what can't I learn about marriage in Scripture?
" How do I love my wife?" You must be willing to give yourself up for her, wash her in the Word, love her like you love yourself as it says in Ephesians 5
"How do I lead my wife?" You learn to serve her. To be a leader, you must learn to be a servant.
That's just a couple of examples. What about handling finances? The Scripture is full of principles on finances.What it comes down to is this. My Father needs to be the first person I go to when I have a question about life. He needs to be the last person, the final authority on my decisions. Human advice and other books should be be the in between, but only after I've spent time seeking the Lord and His wisdom. He may send me to some other source for the answer, but it has to go through Him first. I want Him to be my first love, the one one that I run to first. Not only when I have problems or need something, but also to share about the joys of my life. He's not there only to give when we feel we are in need, but I think that He wants us to share every moment with Him, that we might praise His name!
So who do you run to first when you need to to find guidance? Where do you put your faith? Is it in man? Or is it in the One, the Truth, who has the answer? May the Lord give me grace in this area, that I might seek Him first in all that I do.
Now, I didn't really put a whole lot more thought into it the rest of the day, but as I was making my rounds tonight at work, that conversation was brought back to the fore front of my mind. It's really a great question that I believe can go with any subject of life, and I think it should be thought about more often. Let me explain. If you are human, than you deal with a plethora of situations and trials. I like a how a friend of mine put it when He was teaching on the book of James. James 1:2 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, [2] when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." When he discussed the first part of that verse, he interchanged the word "various" with "multi-colored". Kind of implying just the wide range of the types of trials that we can go through. I don't want to make such a blanket statement for everyone, so I will make this a little more personal.
I start by posing this question, " When encountered by the "multi- colored" situations in life, what is the first thing that you run to for guidance?" That's the question that was really brought to my mind from my earlier conversation with Mandie. Very convicting for me. When it comes to wanting to know more about a situation, i usually tend to do one or both of two things. I either find a book on it, or I go and ask someone. Now don't here me say that it is wrong to to read books on any given subject, or to ask for advice. These are both wonderful resources that I believe the Lord gives us to help us in our walk, but that is the thing. They are only resources. They are not to have the final say so in our lives. That's where I think the danger can come in.
Many times I tend to run to these things and make them my authority. Most of that is out of pure laziness. It's easy to see what someone else says on a subject, and if it doesn't seem to go against what Scripture says, than I go with it. What a terrible to go about things! I tend to put my faith in the wisdom of man and not in the Truth. Going back to the conversation, how do I learn about marriage without a book or someone to tell me? The question I pose is what can't I learn about marriage in Scripture?
" How do I love my wife?" You must be willing to give yourself up for her, wash her in the Word, love her like you love yourself as it says in Ephesians 5
"How do I lead my wife?" You learn to serve her. To be a leader, you must learn to be a servant.
That's just a couple of examples. What about handling finances? The Scripture is full of principles on finances.What it comes down to is this. My Father needs to be the first person I go to when I have a question about life. He needs to be the last person, the final authority on my decisions. Human advice and other books should be be the in between, but only after I've spent time seeking the Lord and His wisdom. He may send me to some other source for the answer, but it has to go through Him first. I want Him to be my first love, the one one that I run to first. Not only when I have problems or need something, but also to share about the joys of my life. He's not there only to give when we feel we are in need, but I think that He wants us to share every moment with Him, that we might praise His name!
So who do you run to first when you need to to find guidance? Where do you put your faith? Is it in man? Or is it in the One, the Truth, who has the answer? May the Lord give me grace in this area, that I might seek Him first in all that I do.
Friday, December 5, 2008
God's Faithfulness
I just wanted to take some time and write about the goodness and faithfulness of my Lord and to praise His name! I was registering for classes online today and only signed up for 2 one credit classes. This was because I didn't quite have the money. I already had to drop classes this fall due to money, which was a good thing because it allowed me to do a little catching up.(Which I also praise Him for for teaching me financial discipline) So... I registered online for my 2 classes and called accounting to see how much i owed so that I could set up my monthly payment plan and he said that I had about $1100 credit! I asked how that was possible and he told me that my brothers and sisters from my church back home had sent about $1200 last March! I didn't even know about it! I could have taken classes this fall, but my Father's timing is perfect, because this couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Since I am getting married in June, one of the things my wonderful fiancee and I have been talking about is how are we going to take care of some things financially. on top of paying for the 2 classes and living. But God. Probably 2 of my favorite words in scripture. But God knew our needs and in His perfect timing provided some relief to our financial needs this semester.
I really feel for those who refuse to see the goodness of our Lord in situations. I just can't see how people can see such a sovereign Lord work in such specific ways and not praise His name! Well...this person was just shown again today that in spite of my faithlessness and often worrisome attitude, I have a Heavenly Father who is good and faithful provides for my needs, not my wants necessarily, but what He knows I need. I just give Him all the glory. Praise the name of Jesus!!!!
I really feel for those who refuse to see the goodness of our Lord in situations. I just can't see how people can see such a sovereign Lord work in such specific ways and not praise His name! Well...this person was just shown again today that in spite of my faithlessness and often worrisome attitude, I have a Heavenly Father who is good and faithful provides for my needs, not my wants necessarily, but what He knows I need. I just give Him all the glory. Praise the name of Jesus!!!!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Engagement Pics 2
Here are the rest of the pics. These are not all of them. There were a lot of pictures taken, but these are some of my favorites. Again...Enjoy!!!
Engagement Pics
So...here are some photots from two of our most beloved photographers, Jason White and Amber Bowen. There are quite a few pictures, so I am going to have to break them up over a couple of posts. Enjoy!
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