Today I was talking to some of the people from the on-campus prayer meetings about the tension of being a uni student, studying up for some job in the marketplace… but deep down wanting to do ‘full-time ministry’… it brought up something I have been pondering a lot lately… in the post-IHOP, early commerce degree internal WARZONE (oh, the drama, the drama!!). I was a singer, dancer and intercessor in a house of prayer. My job was to worship and pray and fast and read the Word and sing and dance… and I loved it. And now I am here studying a degree that is frustratingly boring and that leads to a career that doesn’t hold any greater appeal… and but despite all my tears and pleading and kicking and screaming… I am still here… I can’t do what I want to do so I feel like I’m stuck doing what God won’t let me get out of. And in my immaturity and lack of understanding so I am prone to whinging to Him… “ohhhh but I just want to do fulltime ministryyyyy” *stomps foot*… yes, oh yes, my little heart is very much a work in progress. One which He is fully committed and fully able to bring into completion (Philippians 1:6)…

But when I lift my eyes from my circumstances and actually listen to what He has to say… I am reminded that in a way, no matter what our vocation is, as Christians we are to live ‘full-time ministry.’

• “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5:14-15
• “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:5-6
• “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

And so on and so on… obviously, this doesn’t mean that missionaries, pastors and the like are wasting their time… and I still don’t want to be an accountant… but even if I ended up as an accountant, I would still have sooo many ministry and evangelism opportunities. Water cooler conversations about God, doing all tasks with an excellence that brings glory to Him, interceding for my colleagues as they work in the cubicle next door etcetc… if full-time ministry and a life devoted to prayer, the Word, fasting and worship is truly what I desire to live, my vocation will never stop me from doing that. Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39)… and that’s what it’s all about. I don’t want to do this thing I call ministry because I like it in itself. I want to do it because I love Him… and I want to love Him more and live a life of love that directs other people into His love… whatever that looks like.

One thing I think I need in particular is a broader definition of worship… the true definition. I am so quick to shrink it to only include things like singing and dancing… and so if I am doing a uni assignment I act all grumpy because I just want to ‘worship Him’… coming up with a spiritual sounding excuse to slack off my uni work and go do something I deem to be of ‘eternal worth’… conveniently forgetting that we are called to do all things with excellence to bring glory to Him (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Yes, He loves it when I sing to Him… but He also loves it when I cry out (even in the midst of all my confusion and immaturity… dark am I, yet lovely [Song of Songs 1:5]…) ”God, studying accounting seems like the DUMBEST thing to do right now when You’re coming back so soon and I just want to love You more… buuut for some reason You want me here. I don’t get it but I trust You…” and plug away at an assignment, when I could be reading the Word… that matters to Him. It doesn’t make sense to me… if anything, it feels like He should be disappointed with me for doing uni work instead of being with Him… but no, He wants me to be faithful to that which He’s called me in this season. That which looks like a confusing waste of time to me looks to Him like His perfect plan unfolding. And I am so amazed that He loves me so much that my little life and little heart is not overlooked… I am not forsaken (Deuteronomy 31:6)… I am not forgotten (Isaiah 49:15)… I am His beloved.

Yes, I love Him and that makes me want to spend my days praying and reading the Word and fasting and singing and dancing… but because I love Him I want to obey Him fully, even when I don’t get it. I have to trust that His desire for me to love Him more is even greater than my own… that He wants me to know Him even more than I want to know Him… and that He knows the plans He has for me (Jeremiah 29:11)… and is fully capable to bring them to pass. Whatever they looks like. Whether that means I end up as a fulltime missionary, a conference speaker… or a burning and shining lamp (John 5:35) by the office water cooler.

Count it all joy (James 1:2), he says!! Oh and “… I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances…” (Philippians 4:11) chimes in his buddy Paul. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, Paul also tells us to “… be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances…” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Yeh, well, what do you guys know?? You’re not a reluctant university student, doing a commerce degree against your will who just wants to be singing and dancing in a prayer room. Ok, Paul, it’s all well and good for you to tell me to count it all joy…

• you received forty stripes minus one from the Jews five times
• you were beaten with rods three times
• you were stoned once
• shipwrecked three times
• have spent a night and a day out at sea
• endangered by waters, robbers, your own countrymen, Gentiles
• endangered in the city, wilderness, at sea, among false brethren
• endured weariness, toil, frequent sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, frequent fasting, the cold and nakedness

– 2 Corinthians 11:24-27

Suck it up, mate!! I have essays to do, readings to trawl through, podcasts to endure, boooooring lectures to sit through… and you tell me to count it all JOY?? Mate, I’ll take the shipwrecks any day…

… I am totally kidding.

Sooooo… I need to complain less and trust Him more. To lift my eyes and fix them on Him, no matter how sucky my circumstances feel. I need to count it all joy, be content in all circumstances, be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.

Not that God doesn’t notice or care about how much I hate being at uni… He knows all the reasons why I hate it… but He also knows all the reasons why He won’t let me get out… He knows the desires He put in my heart, He knows the gifts and abilities He’s given me, He knows the things I enjoy, He knows what fascinates me… and what makes me so bored I want to run out of a lecture hall SCREAMING!!… He knows the plans He has for me (Jeremiah 29:11)… He has searched me and knows me (Psalm 139:1)… He created me… and He loves me. He hears my prayers, He sees every time I cry and treasures every tear (Psalm 56:8), He sees my confusion and distress… and yet even though He sees the big picture and is so much bigger than all these things that seem so overwhelming for my little heart… in all my distress He is distressed (Isaiah 63:9)… because He loves me.

He loves me… *smile*… that truth is enough to make me smile and feel just a little more peaceful even in the midst of a trying day at work or uni… enough to make me want to dance and sing all the time… enough to be transforming everything about me… enough to set my heart on a pilgrimage (Psalm 84:5)… enough to turn my heart from hating Him to loving Him.

And hey, I am fully deserving of hell… but now I get to be with Him forever, dwelling eternally in the fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11). I have to get through uni first though… but it’s better than hell

I am so in awe of God… this One who is love (1 John 4:8)… and loves me. The One who has searched me and knows me (Psalm 139:1)… who sees all the darkness and the unsettled issues… and yet calls me lovely (Song of Songs 1:5). The One who knows the plans He has for me (Jeremiah 29:11), the One who is leading me in paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:3), the One who allures me into the wilderness and speaks tenderly to me (Hosea 2:14)… that I would come up leaning upon Him (Song of Songs 8:5). The One whose great pleasure it was to create me (Revelation 5:11), fully knowing how many times I would choose disobedience and run after all those other things instead of into Him… and in spite of that loving me. Loving me even when I was His enemy (Romans 5:10). Loving me first… knowing that when I began to see His pursuit of me and begin to glimpse His love that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19) I would love Him in return. I love Him because He first loved me (1 John 4:19).

This is why I was created: to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). It’s more than a commandment, it’s my life vision… and what He is fully able and more willing than I can comprehend to bring into reality. Because it’s not about me gritting my teeth and making myself love Him more… it’s Him who is love showing me what love is, showing me the love He has for me and so awakening my heart to love Him still more and more. Him captivating my heart by opening my eyes to see still more of His beauty. He is the One who crowns me with love and compassion (Psalm 103:4)… the One who takes my ashes and gives me beauty (Isaiah 61:3). I don’t deserve it and I certainly could never earn it… and yet His love has been lavished upon me (1 John 3:1). He delights in showing mercy (Micah 7:18)… and delights in me.

What a beautiful God. I love Him … I love Him as best I can… in my weak-but-true way which somehow overwhelms His heart (Song of Songs 4:9)… *happy sigh*

As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 (NIV… buuut I capitalised some letters that NIV leaves lower case… I just like to do that…)

Yep. Mary of Bethany is my girl (… and, for the record, Jeremiah is my boy ).

In light of everything that needed to be done… Mary saw something of greater necessity… to be captivated and undistracted… just sitting at the feet of Jesus, and listening to what He had to say. This One with grace poured upon His lips (Psalm 45:2)… the One whose words are spirit and life (John 6:63)… the One who is the very Word of God (John 1). She is doing Song of Songs 2:3… “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men. I delight to sit in His shade…” I want to be like that.

But yes, there were other things that needed to be done. We can be a bit hard on Martha. But the Word says that she was distracted by the preparations that had to be done. Now… it’s not like I’ve read it in the Greek or anything (haha as a side note… I toootally want to be one of those people who can be all ‘… actually in the Greek that word means…’ I don’t like being at the mercy of potentially sucky translations… I like NIV. Some people think it is sucky. But I’ve researched a leeetle bit into translations… and I feel that liking NIV is justifiable. Aaanyway, back to what I was saying before…)… buuut as far as I can see, it doesn’t say that Martha was actually doing the serving at the time. Reading NKJV suggests that Mary and Martha were simultaneously sitting at Jesus’ feet… but Martha’s mind was elsewhere… distracted by all the preparations and serving that had to be done.

I picture Mary sitting and listening intently, fully captivated by Jesus… but Martha sitting there and being like how I am so prone to be… trying to read my Bible but my head is swimming with a whole bunch of other stuff I have to do (eg. do laundry, study, make dinner etctec…)… so much so that I eventually just drop Bible study, which I don’t feel like I’m ‘getting too much out of anyway’ (because I’m probably too noisy on the inside to hear anything…) in favour of other stuff that needs to be done. And so I’m guessing that at some point Martha bailed and started doing preparations… the preparations that had to be done. Sooo… I’m not going to have a go at her for doing stuff that needed to be done.

Haha I just realised that I started this post planning on talking about Mary, but I’m rambling on about Martha now… oh well

Sooo… Martha had a choice… preparations that obviously needed to be done, for she had, after all, opened her home to Jesus (and I’m assuming His disciples as well…)… versus sitting at the feet of God, listening to what He has to say. There is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1)… so I’m guessing that there was a time to listen and a time to prepare. Nothing wrong with preparation. But being so internally distracted by things that need to be done that you can’t focus on the thing that is better than all of that is a problem. A problem I am prone to…

Oh, that I would be able to sit at His feet, gazing upon Him with dove’s eyes (Song of Songs 4:1)… undistracted, undivided devotion (1 Corinthians 7:35)… listening to what He has to say… not distracted by all those other things, as valid as they may be. For they are not more important than just quietening down and spending time with God. And then that I could go do those other things with all my heart as if I was working for God and not men (Colossians 3:23)… worshipping Him in all that I do, whether I am meditating in the Word or doing an assignment for uni… but most of all treasuring the times just spent at His feet… the one thing that is needed (Luke 10:42)… the one thing I desire (Psalm 27:4)…

… reading books about the Bible/God is no substitute for reading the Bible

… talking about God is no substitute for talking to God

… having friends who go deep in God is no substitute for going deep in God yourself

… planning lots of fasting days and huge chunks of set-aside prayer time etcetc… but always intending yet never actually doing… is no substitute for being faithful with a little (Matthew 25:21)

… being able to quote a whole bunch of verses off the top of your head is no substitute for having them written on your heart (Proverbs 7:3)

… knowing facts about God is no substitute for intimate knowledge of the Person of God

… speed-reading your way through lots of chapters is no substitute for long and loving meditation

… having numerous commentaries sitting on your bookshelf is no substitute for actively pursuing the knowledge of God

… listening to a worship CD is no substitute for actually worshipping the Lord

… physically being in a prayer meeting is no substitute for actually praying… just your heart crying out to the Lord…

… hearing the word of God is no substitute for putting it into practice (Ezekiel 33:31)

… sacrifice is no substitute for obedience (1 Samuel 15:22)

… having His name ever on my lips is no substitute for having Him close to my heart (Jeremiah 12:2)

… “having it all together” on the outside is no substitute for a heart of truth, humility and righteousness (Matthew 23:27)

… being able to put Daniel 9 in a nice little timeline is no substitute for a heart that is truly prepared for the End Times

… having the role of a lead worshipper is no substitute for encountering the Lord in worship

… a big ministry is no substitute for personal fellowship with the Lord… where it’s just you and Him alone…

… a quick ‘thanks God’ when everything seems to be going well is no substitute for truly living with a grateful heart in all seasons and situations

… saying all this ^^ is no substitute for actually living it

Those ‘first things’ I listed aren’t bad… but in my own experience I have done them and thought that it was ‘enough’… in His kindness, God has convinced me otherwise… buuut I think that maybe I still need more convincing because I don’t always live like I’m convinced… I am so quick to say “it’s all about LOVE!!” … buuut I don’t always live like it. I am so quick to try to achieve the ‘end product’ that I miss the love… and without love it is all nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Oh and here’s an update on the 30 day challenge (today is day #8… yep, I am still pluggin’ away at it…)

Yesterday I was driving and was like “hmmm, I don’t want to waste this time… I’ll meditate on Revelation 4…” so I was driving and singing (yes, I sing to help me meditate on Scripture… to IHOPers this is not weird but maybe to other people it may seem so…)… and I was having so much fuuuun … a bit too much fun maybe. I suddenly realised I wasn’t actually paying too much attention to the road and was also speeding. Hmmm. It was a bit of a hazard.

Yep, ’tis day 3 of the 30 day challenge…

I was pondering verse 1 yesterday, specifically this part: “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” It reminded me of Jeremiah 33:3… “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Here are a few related thoughts I had:

1) we do a little… and then He responds with a lot

All John had to do was come up, and God would show him the things to come. All Israel had to do was call upon God and He would answer with great and unsearchable things. This also reminds me of Song of Songs 4:9 “… you have stolen My heart with one glance of your eyes…” The weak heart movement on our end results in a big heart movement on His end.

This reminds me again that it’s not all about me and what I can do… it’s all about Him. Without Him it all means nothing. Without Him it’s just coming up… and seeing nothing. Calling out… and being left unanswered. Glancing… and nothing responding. What He does in response to the little things we do is what makes them of any importance.

2) He rewards obedience (related to point #1)

He isn’t asking a lot in these Scriptures… just to come up… just to call to Him… and then He rewards by showing the things that are to come/great and unsearchable things.

He is the Lord God Almighty. That fact alone is reason enough to obey Him completely. He owes us nothing, all we deserve is eternal torment in Hell… but He delights in mercy (Micah 7:18). So when we obey Him… He rewards us!! The very fact that He is God commands obedience… we deserve no reward for obedience, it is simply the appropriate response… and yet He rewards us!! He is so kind!! It does my head in… praise the Lord that He is exactly who He is!!

Oh, that I would have a truly eternal mindset… considering eternal rewards better than instant gratification… and obey Him completely. And I want to know Him still more and more… this One who delights in mercy and loves unfailingly…

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

I delight in red pandas. Giant pandas. Otters. Among many other things… but most of all the God who created all of it.

Delight… it’s delightful

I love that God actually finds delight in things outside of Himself. You think that if you were the transcendent in beauty Lord God Almighty, in the perfect community of the Trinity you’d have no desire to create more things to take delight in. But it was in accordance with His desire that He created (Revelation 4:11). And He liked it (Genesis 1:21). And He delights in us, His creation… enough to even become His creation and die for our sins (Philippians 2:8). For the joy set before Him He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2)… He desires us… that we would be with Him where He is (John 17:24).

Love is beautiful

I want to know this One who is love (1 John 4:8)… this One whose name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14). I want to know this One who makes all things beautiful (Ecclesiastes 3:11)… this One who gives beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3). I want to see this One who is beautiful and glorious (Isaiah 4:2)… and be transformed. When I see Him I’ll be like Him (1 John 3:2). I want to be like Jesus… I want who I am to make Him known. If people are drawn to me I want them to be pointed to God. I want to display His splendour (Isaiah 60:21).

I want to be beautiful!!

… but not beautiful as defined as superficiality that fades (Isaiah 40:6) or comes off with a quick swipe of *makeup remover (Jeremiah 4:30). Not deceptive charm (Proverbs 31:30), flirty eyes (Isaiah 3:16) and foolish, fake laughter (Ecclesiastes 7:6).

*I am not taking a swipe at makeup and makeup-wearers. What I have a problem with is makeup being relied on for confidence in beauty… in my own life I have found it too easy to run to when I’m feeling insecure…

I want to have unfading beauty (1 Peter 3:4). The beauty of a heart fully confident and mature in love (Song of Songs 8). Most of all I want to be beautiful as in people interact with me and are directed to the beautiful God. I want to be beautiful in that who I am reveals Jesus… the One who is beautiful and glorious. I want to be a reflection of the beautiful, uncreated God.

… it’s a work in progress. But He makes all things beautiful in their time… inwardly He is renewing me day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). And I don’t want to keep it on the inside (hehe if that’s possible)… I want to overflow. All the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that He is cultivating in me (Galatians 5:22-23)… I want it to flow unhindered outward. That is beautiful.

I am definitely not there yet. But He is. He is so beautiful… I don’t even know. I just know that there’s so much more than the little I’ve already seen (1 Corinthians 2:9)… and I’m hungry for the ‘more’. And I want to be part of a generation hungry for the knowledge of God… and generation with a divine dissatisfaction… a holy hunger (yay for alliterations!!). A generation captivated by the beauty of the Lord, with hearts set on seeking Him out (Psalm 27:4).

Hehe before I start let me just say… cheesy cheesy cheesy cheesy!!

I wrote this on the train to work today… added finishing touches on the train ride home… mad props to Julie Andrews

To the tune of “My Favorite Things”:

Growing in knowledge of God and His glory

Learning to love Him… it’s now my life’s story

Living to make known the joy that He brings

These are a few of my favourite things

Job and Isaiah and sad Jeremiah

Psalms and the letters to Thessalonica

Song of Songs, Proverbs and all of the rest

Of any book I think BIBLE is best

*dramatic music part*

The Antichrist in the end times; nations getting mad

I simply remember my Sovereign King and then I don’t feel so bad

*back to happy music part*

Jesus of Nazareth, great intercessor

Died on the cross although I’m the transgressor

Desire of nations, rejected, despised

This is the Man to whom my heart does cry

*dramatic music again…*

When the darkness is all I see; when I’m feeling sad

I simply remember my God’s love for me and then I don’t feel so bad

Cheeeeesy but it made the daily commute delightful

So, this is old news for WordPress bloggers, but for the sake of those who don’t blog at WordPress: on the blog stats page it shows you all the links people clicked on to get to your blog… oh and on a side note, it also shows you all the search engine terms people use too… people have Googled everything from “praying through dance” to “help! I love God but don’t like worship” to find my blog. But anyway, back to what I was saying before… while looking at the clicked links I noticed that http://wordpress.com/tag/song-of-songs was there… and I’ve seen it there many times before… out of interest I clicked on the link… turns out my blog is the featured blog for Song of Songs. Fancy that!!

I never set out to be a featured Song of Songs blogger. I just like the book, and love the God whose heart is expressed through it… and so I quote it in my posts, because I quote it to myself all the time. And somehow I ended up being a featured blog. Crazy.

It’s like how for six or so months I was singing about God/to God on live TV and webstreaming all around the world. I never set out with that as my aim… I just liked to sing and thought it’d be great to be on an IHOP worship team, so I auditioned, got invited to join a team and then all of a sudden the little voice that God always heard (Song of Songs 1:14) was being heard by people I don’t even know all over the world. Crazy.

Or how I always kinda wished I could dance… I would watch people who’d taken dance lessons for years and be completely fascinated… and pretty envious too. So when an opportunity came to dance… when I felt a bit of a prod on the heart from God to get over my fears and just worship Him as I wished I could… I got up and… *dramatic music building*…. got dizzy and almost fell over the first time I tried to spin around. But you know what? I kept at it. Forgot about how dorky I probably looked and totally felt… and just danced because I love Him and He makes me feel like dancing :D… and then before I know it I’m terrified and ‘kicking and screaming’ (as I like to call it) because I had an audition for the dance team the next day. And now I’m helping start a harp and bowl style dance team at my church. In the space of about a year I went from “I wish I was a dancer” to “I’m a singer who dances… not a dancer…” to a dancer. Crazy.

All that to say… I’m learning how much God can do with a willing heart. Even a weak ‘yes’ is enough for Him to do more than we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Even with the little we have to offer, when we choose to partner with Him in what He’s doing, taking Him up on the incredible, gracious, humble, loving etc. invitation He offers us… He does the incredible (Ezekiel 22:30, Jeremiah 5:1). He makes our paths straight when we seek to glorify Him in all we do (Proverbs 3:6). He knows we don’t ‘have it all together’ (Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38). He is well aquainted with us (Psalm 139:1)… all our weaknesses, failings and unsettled issues. But He sees the weak movements of our heart towards Him… and they move His heart (Song of Songs 4:9). He sees all the darkness of heart, yet sees the sincere desire to love and obey Him and finds it lovely (Song of Songs 1:5). God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5)… yet He loves hearts that want to be full of light… but are still so dark. He really likes it when we’re willing.

Oh, that I would never back away… but always be found willing, loving, responding to Him as I should. And yet I take heart when I stumble… I know that even though the Shulamite told her Beloved to go on without her (Song of Songs 2:17)… she still ends up in Song of Songs 8… fully confident and mature in love. Haha this is not an excuse for me to be content with saying ‘no’ to God, by the way. But it reassures me that my weaknesses don’t intimidate God, they don’t mess up all His plans for me, they don’t make Him love me any less (1 Chronicles 16:34), they don’t change who He is… The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin (Exodus 34:6-7). My weaknesses make for a perfect stage for the display of His splendor (Isaiah 61:3). In my weakness His strength is made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:9). It ensures that not to me, but to Him is the glory (Psalm 115:1).

Soooo I think I bunny trailed a whoooole lot there. But I’ll try to tie it all together now.

The fact that I ended up as a featured post on Song of Songs doesn’t mean I consider myself an authority on Song of Songs. If anything it makes me think “uh-oh, I need to actually start seriously studying Song of Songs again… people actually read what I write…” It means that God wants to make His heart known, and I wanted that too and so He ended up using me to do that. Same with dancing and singing… yes, He’s blessed me with some amount of proficiency… but there are a lot more talented singers and dancers He could use to make Himself known, and He most definitely does… and yet He chooses to use me too. All I bring is a willing heart and the gifts He gave me first… and then He does the rest.

It was once illustrated to me like this: it’s the kid trying to open the peanut butter jar, then the dad comes along and puts his hand on top of the kid’s hand and they open it together.

*starts singing* my Father He is God… He will do great things…

Praise the Lord for friendship… for surrounding me with people who show me the love of Christ by the way they love me… when I’m doing well, when I’m upset, when I’ve hurt them… praise the Lord

Praise the Lord for leaders who truly are shepherds after His heart (Jeremiah 3:15)… who lovingly speak truth… who don’t define leadership as simply delegating, but lead the way in humility. Oh and especially leaders who talk to you using Song of Songs language… eg. “what chapter do you think you’re in right now?” I love it

Praise the Lord for His ability to plant sunflowers everywhere I go

Praise the Lord for helping me to parallel park on a busy street when I’m freaking out about how I don’t remember how to parallel park and am late for worship rehearsal…

Praise the Lord for www.biblegateway.com… makes putting references in my blog posts SO much easier

Praise the Lord for noticing, being moved by (Song of Songs 4:9) and treasuring every tear that falls (Psalm 56:8)…

Praise Him because He is worthy of praise (2 Samuel 22:4, 1 Chronicles 16:25, Psalm 18:3, Revelation 5:12 etc.)

Oh that the world would just get up and dance

… ummmm random thought there…

Praise the Lord for He makes all things new (Revelation 21:5)… and can take even situations that hurt to awaken your heart to love and trust Him more

Praise the Lord for taking a heart so cold, lonely, afraid, full of hate and despair… and loving it into loving Him back

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;
       come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.
       It is He who made us, and we are His;
       we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
       and His courts with praise;
       give thanks to Him and praise His name.

 For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; 
       His faithfulness continues through all generations.

– Psalm 100