Day 6: "The Stand"

In 2008 (yes, I looked it up), Hillsong United released an album. One of the songs from that album is called "The Stand". It builds beautifully and the lyrics are honest. The line of the song that I think is the most important says "What could I say, what could I do, but offer this heart, oh God, completely to you?" When we really see all that God has done for us, do we have any other option? There's nothing else we can do but offer our whole life to the One who made us and loves us more than we'll ever be able to fathom.

"The Stand" acknowledges what Christ has done for us because of His love for us, and then it responds with surrender. With awe. With determination for how our lives should look after we've encountered the Living God. It's both an admission and a challenge. When you've seen God, there's no other or better response than to offer your heart to Him. Completely.

Here are today's lyrics:

You stood before creation

Eternity in your hand

You spoke the earth into motion

My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure

And carried the cross for my shame

My sin weighed upon your shoulders

My soul now to stand

So what could I say?

And what could I do?

But offer this heart, Oh God

Completely to you

So I'll walk upon salvation

Your spirit alive in me

This life to declare your promise

My soul now to stand

So what could I say?

And what could I do?

But offer this heart, Oh God

Completely to you

I'll stand

With arms high and heart abandoned

In awe of the one who gave it all

I'll stand

My soul Lord to you surrendered

All I am is yours

Day 5: "Come Alive (Dry Bones)"

Lauren Daigle sings a song called "Come Alive (Dry Bones)" and it is just magical. The lyrics are honest and real. So many times we hear people talking about the obvious blessings of God with big, cheesy grins on their face. We forget that there is a battle raging all around us. Dark vs. Light. We aren't always aware of the battle, but it's happening. One of my favorite verses is Exodus 14:14. "The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still." We don't realize the battle is going on, but we feel the effects of it in our lives. We feel trapped or weighted down. Anything but free. But God tells us that He will fight for us and we can just be still. In fact, I'm sure he prefers us being still and waiting for His direction. I don't believe God gets mad when we take off on our own again, but I do believe it makes Him sad. Just like the prodigal son and his father, God misses us when we are not close by. When we're not listening and waiting eagerly for His next Word. But. When we do come back, He doesn't scold us or give us the cold shoulder. He rejoices and celebrates that His child is home!

"Come Alive" references over and over the relentless love of God. His heart is for rescue. For redemption. For reconciliation. We waste so much time staying away from Him because of pride or shame or guilt or fear, and the whole time we're away, He's expectantly awaiting our return. I love that.

Here are the words:

Through the eyes of men it seems
There's so much we have lost
As we look down the road
Where all the prodigals have walked
One by one
The enemy has whispered lies
And led them off as slaves

But we know that you are God
Yours is the victory
We know there is more to come
That we may not yet see
So with the faith you've given us
We'll step into the valley unafraid, yeah

As we call out to dry bones
Come alive, come alive
We call out to dead hearts
Come alive, come alive
Up out of the ashes
Let us see an army rise
We call out to dry bones, come alive

God of endless mercy
God of unrelenting love
Rescue every daughter
Bring us back the wayward son
And By your spirit breathe upon them
Show the world that you alone can save
You alone can save

As we call out to dry bones
Come alive, come alive
We call out to dead hearts
Come alive, come alive
Up out of the ashes
Let us see an army rise
We call out to dry bones come alive

So breathe, oh breath of God
Now breathe, oh breath of God
Breathe, oh breath of God
Now breathe

Breathe, oh breath of God
Now breathe, oh breath of God
Breathe, oh breath of God, now breathe

As we call out to dry bones
Come alive, come alive
We call out to dead hearts
Come alive, come alive
Up out of the ashes
Let us see an army rise
We call out to dry bones come alive, yeah
We call out to dry bones, come alive

Oh come alive

Day 4: "Because He Lives"

When I was in college, we had to learn and recite some of the creeds of the church in some of my classes. Out of all the things I learned and the authors I read while I was there, the creeds were probably my favorite part. I think it's very important to be able to articulate what we believe...to lay it out in words. It helps us get our heads around it a little bit and really think about what we believe and what it means.

There are a few songs out right now that have creed-like lyrics. One of those is Matt Maher's "Because He Lives". This song plays off of a hymn by the same name, but it puts the words in a creed-like format that I really enjoy. This is another song that talks about the resurrection. It truly makes all the difference. Because He lives, we can live. We can overcome the enemy and our struggles. We don't have to be afraid. All because He lives.

Day 3: "Forever"

I knew the first time I heard the song "Forever" by Kari Jobe, I knew it was important. The lyrics go through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I've been in church since I was born, and I became a Christian when I was 6 years old. Because I've spent so much time in church and around other Christians, it's not hard to become numb to what God has done for us. I usually see the significance of how He has been faithful to me personally, but I sometimes overlook the things He has done for us all--like sending His Son to Earth to walk among us and then take our punishment and defeat death and Satan once and for all.

When I actually stop and think about the magnitude of what it means that Jesus took my sins upon Himself, it blows my mind. He not only took on my sins, but He took the sins of every single person, alive or dead or not here yet, upon Himself. Jesus is the only human to have ever lived a sinless life--even though He faced temptation just like we do. He was completely perfect and blameless and then He took on our sins. He willingly picked up our shame, our guilt, our brokenness. He absolutely did not have to, but He chose to do it. He submitted Himself to the Will of His Father and TOOK our punishment. A man who did nothing wrong was punished and put to death because of my lies, my pride, my idolatry. Every sin I have ever committed or will ever commit was placed on Him on that day and then He died because of those sins so I wouldn't have to. That blows. my. mind! It's huge! I pray that every person would experience the overwhelming joy and peace that comes from having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that because I'm a Christian I don't have problems and I don't mess up. I do have lots of problems and I mess up all the time. BUT because of Jesus and His love for me, I can trust God to have my good and His glory in mind when things happen in my life. I can look for God in every situation regardless of how good or happy it may seem from the outside. I am not very good at trusting God and I like to try and take things into my own hands too much, but God already knew before I was even conceived that this is what I would struggle with. My daily sins have already been paid for, and I can try to live and love more like Jesus every day of my life. I can try to be obedient to the things God says because of His love and not because I'm just following rules. I can try to tell others about His love and His mercy and His grace through my words and actions each day. I can do all of this while resting in the fact that God and already defeated my real enemy. I may feel like different people are the enemy at times, but the REAL enemy is Satan and he has been defeated! I can rest in that and trust God with the circumstances of my life.

If you've never heard "Forever", I encourage you to listen to it. Learn the words. When you sing them, think about what it really means and the impact Jesus made when He died and rose again. I pray that those of you who don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ would decide to trust Him with your life because His plan and His ways are so much better than anything we can ever come up with on our own. I promise He is worth it.

Day 2: Fight Song

I'm probably late to this party, but I am loving Rachel Platten's "Fight Song". Sometimes I feel like other people write the words I wish I could write, and the chorus of this song is like that. Have you ever read a book or heard a song and thought "yes! this is what I've been trying to say!"? I have. I do. A lot. Most of the time, it's just stuff that resonates with me and how I feel about stuff and what I believe. But with this song, it's what I'm too scared to say on my own. I'm too concerned with what other people think of me. Some of those people are relevant to my life and some are strangers. I shouldn't care what anyone thinks of me. That's easy to write. Easy to say. Not easy to live like I believe.

I know all the quotes about how I shouldn't care what people think of me because they're not thinking of me. I have most of those quotes pinned on Pinterest. I read them and think about how great it would feel to just be free and to not care about the opinions of others, but there's still pride in my heart. I want to believe that I'm important enough for others to think of me. There's still stubbornness. I want to pretend like there's nothing wrong and everything's fine. There's still fear. I am so afraid that I'll show people the real me with the scars and rough edges and mistakes and shortcomings and flaws and then they will react in exactly the same way I see it play out in my head. They'll leave. Rejection. Loneliness. Insignificance. That's what I'll feel. Again.

The lesson I taught in the 12th Grade Girls' Life Group class a few weeks ago was about the importance of loving yourself so then you can turn around and love others well. God always works it out to where I teach about the things I need to learn the most. I obviously haven't learned it yet. But I want to. I want to believe what the Bible says about me. I want to know with everything inside of me that God has a plan and a purpose for my life and that I matter. I'm tired of being afraid. I think it's kept me more alone than I would be if I actually put myself out there and took a chance.

Every time this song comes on the radio when I'm in the car, I belt it out. I want the words to be true of me. I want to take back my life from the fears and insecurities that have held me captive for so long. I want to prove--more to myself than to anyone else--that I'm alright. I want to just not care if ANYONE else believes it or believes in me. I want to be secure in who I am in Christ and let the rest of it go.

Maybe I'll get a little closer to that every time I belt out these words and remember that Jesus says I'm worth it.

Day 1: Be Thou My Vision

I joined a sorority at the beginning of my junior year in college. Up to that point, all of my college friends (and most of my friends in general) were boys. I've kind of always been better friends with boys than girls because I have 3 sisters. There was plenty of drama in my house. I didn't need it from my friends too. Disclaimer: I do have friends that are not boys, but I've been friends with those girls for a while. Anyway...I wanted to have some female friends from college so I joined a sorority. There are so many things I learned about myself from my time as an active member of Alpha Sigma Tau. It was so wonderful to be a part of a sisterhood that pushed me to be a better version of myself and not a cookie cutter copy of someone else. I think people have the wrong idea about sororities, but at the same time, some sororities are awful. Mine was not, and I am thankful. I made some deep friendships in the 2.5 years I had in that group, and many of those friendships still exist today.

One of my favorite things about being in a sorority was reciting scripture and our creed together and singing our songs and hymns. There's just something about everyone saying or singing the same things together...no one louder than the others. I went to a very musical college, so hearing all of our members sing and harmonize together was always so wonderful. We usually stood in some sort of circle, so it sounded amazing. My favorite memory of singing with my sisters (aside from weddings) happened one night when we were in an old building with a hardwood floor and great acoustics. The song we sang is one of my favorites anyway and it brings up so many memories and feels for me.

Today's song is "Be Thou My Vision"--written by Saint Dallan Forgaill in the 6th century. It was used in the Irish monastic tradition before it was translated into English and adapted over time. The words I'm most familiar with are below. I feel like these lyrics are the perfect prayer. If we can truly ask God to be our vision, our wisdom and truly mean it...then I think our hearts will be in the right place. This song not only brings back feelings of sisterhood and friendship, but I also pray that my life will reflect these lyrics.

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my Wisdom, and thou my true Word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, and I thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

31 Days of Lyrics That Give Me the Feels

I've tried this before...this 31 days of writing thing. I usually make it to day 11 or even 15 before just stopping. I think I made it all the way through one year, but my posts got super lame near the end. Please accept my apology for lameness. For some reason, I'm trying again. 2015 style.

This year, I'm writing about song lyrics that give me feels. Some songs make me cry. Some songs make me smile. Some make me want to take off and go to Heaven already. Some lyrics don't make any sense, and I don't think I'll just be writing about Christian songs, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not giving myself too many rules this time.

31 Days of Lyrics That Give Me the Feels:

Day 1: "Be Thou My Vision"

Day 2: "Fight Song"

Day 3: "Forever"

Day 4: "Because He Lives"

Day 5: "Come Alive (Dry Bones)"

Day 6: "The Stand"

Day 7: "It is Well"

Day 8: "Bones"

Day 9: "Give Me Faith"

Day 10: "Be Born In Me"

Day 11: "I Am Not Alone"

Day 12: "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)"

Day 13: "It is Finished"

Day 14: "C.S. Lewis Song"

Day 15: "At the Cross"

Day 16: "Oceans"

Day 17: "You Make Me Brave"

Day 18: "I Will Carry You"

Day 19: "While I'm Waiting"

Day 20: "Lord, I need You"

Day 21: "Even If (The Healing Doesn't Come)"

Day 22: "Above All"

Day 23: "Jesus, Son of God"

Day 24: "Cornerstone"

Day 25: "Hard to Get"

Day 26: "Good to Me"

Day 27: "Flawless" (Not Beyonce)

Day 28: "Beautiful"

Day 29: "Just Be Held"

Day 30: "My Everything" and "Always Enough"

Day 31: "The Power of the Cross"