Grace is Sufficient

 "Grace is Sufficient" ~Shane and Shane

Phew, we're getting a lot of Shanes on this blog lately, but its cuz God's allowed them to make some really encouraging songs! =]

It was right before one of my midterms, and I was really stressing out; I hadn't stressed out like this for a while about school. I tried studying the entire day before, and nothing was inputting. The couple of hours before the test, for the life of me, I couldn't study at all. No focus, just stressed, thinking about how I didn't want to take that midterm. I just couldn't wait for everything to be over. In my stress, I decided to listen to this song.
 
What are you gonna say to God 
When all you do is pray to God 
To take the thorn away, 
And all you hear Him say is... 

"My grace...My grace is sufficient."

...wow...

I get so anxious sometimes. About my future, about how other people see me, about whether I'm doing a terrible or great job in leadership... And in my cries out to God, if I can take my eyes off my pain for one brief moment, He has reminded me: "My grace is sufficient. Sufficient for your stress, sufficient for your shortcomings, even in how you want to honor me; my grace is sufficient." I want to remember that His grace is enough in every situation. In the second verse, the speaker of the song is about to share the gospel, and even in those moments, its His grace for anything to happen. Let me sing it when I wake up, when I go to sleep, when I'm stressed, when I'm happy: "God, Your grace is sufficient!"

2 Corinthians 12:8-10
⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

If you catch that line at the end, here's also the end of my midterm story. I took the test, and the world continued to turn. It didn't stop. Life continued, and in fact we got our test back, and the score was much higher than I had expected. Phewww... good job Tim! Continue life. Right?

What are you gonna say to God
When everything you prayed to God came your way
but you forgot to thank Him..
And all you hear Him say is: 

"My grace."

Sustaining me every single day, even when I don't realize it or when I'm so forgetful of Him. Man, thank God for everything He does, but most of all, praise You God for Your grace =).







 

Without You

Tim has good taste in music :) Shane and Shane are quite wonderful. I was looking at Your Love. God worked so much in me this weekend! He's just humbled me like a billion times....but it's so gooood! Ahhh!! Boys. -_- Touchy topic.... but the time has come. I'm weary about this topic, especially because I thought any crush is like no-no. It's succumbing to temptations of the flesh. I was prideful for thinking I'd never crush hard and give so much of my heart to the certain brother... I always thought that when the time came that I'd be attracted to a brother, I'd crush right. But God totally humbled me and said, Annie, you don't know what you're doing, but I do, so trust me. Okay, this all seems a bit vague, let me clarify :). I've been attracted to a brother for a while...at first, it was just a mild crush. It was just like, this brother would make a great husband, then I thought about it more and more. And it started to get out of hand! So embarrassing..... Especially because I wanted to deny the attraction. The more I did that, the more attracted to him I got -__- And then he filled my head. I was thinking about him more than God. Bad Annie! I know! I was, sigh, something I thought I'd never do, something I thought I was mature enough to not do, I was giving more and more of my heart to him. I didn't know what to do with these feelings! Were they wrong or not? Am I meant to like this brother? I prayed for understanding of these feelings. I told a sister about it and she honestly and boldly pointed out to me that me wanting to understand these feelings is me wanting to take control of these feelings. And obviously I wasn't handling my feelings so well. I am so embarrassed to admit this, but I even got jealous. -_______- So, solution: trust God = surrendering to Him = place my feelings into God's hands. After talking to this sister, I went back home and I found this song, and I kept praying it.


I can walk through the storm
I can walk by father when my sight is gone
just as long as you are here with me


Here I am calling out father
Can you hear me?
I don't want to go without you
Here I am, Can you talk a little louder,
I want to hear you
I don't want to move without you


This song, along with Your Love, helped me to depend on God, give my heart to Him. And then, I stopped trying to deny the feelings, trying to understand them, and control them. I let myself have the feelings. I got less scared, which let me love that brother even if the love would not be returned, and even if it might be a mistake because God would be by me. And I just focused on loving God completely (like Jesus tells us to in the Sermon on the Mount), and loving that brother with His love as a result of loving God.

And then, I learned: he's dating! So saddd. It hurts! But, the weird thing is, I'm not crushed. God totally knows what he was doing. I'm glad that that sister told me that she was dating him, AFTER a couple of days, because if that did not happen, I wouldn't have filled more of my heart with God, and I wouldn't have been able to handle the fact. Me not crumbling proves to me: God loves me because God protected me by making Him my first and greatest love. That's what I get for trusting God :) This is pretty cool. I guess this is what it means to rejoice in the Lord. For He is near, and we don't need to be anxious of anything. But if in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, we present our requests to God, then the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. (Phil 4:4-7) :) :) :) He's doing that now... He's so good to me. He's so good to me.

Conclusion: God should just create one gender to simplify things for us! but then we'd never love Him more without going through these things. Okay, I guess it's okay for God to create two genders....
I'm glad that I had this crush on him, because it's drawing me closer to God. God knows what He's doing... LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eun34_2EmaQ

Hostage of Peace

This blog needs some lovin' =]. "Hostage of Peace" ~Tenth Avenue North I just like this song so much, I have to share it :]. I've only recently gotten into this song, but its a really great song. I love this metaphor of a war, and that we're held hostage. Arrested, held against our will. I want to be captivated by His grace. If we're fighting, let it be for Your kingdom If we're violent, let it be against ourselves Come arrest us with Your affection Give us freedom, make our need our only declaration! I really like that last line of the bridge. A lot of times, I don't want to declare my need.. I declare when I'm strong. Maybe I'll boast in my weakness even sometimes, but I'm still "strong" in a sense where I'm OK with my weakness.. but to boast in your need? I wonder what that's gonna look like.. Hopefully we'll see =]. God, I need you. That is all, and I will be satisfied in that. Take me hostage.

Clear the Stage - Jimmy Needham

This song, I found it on tumblr, and all of you can read my post on this on my tumblr, here's the link: Mayen's Musing The lyrics are in the video, but here's the lyrics anyways, enjoy =)

Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze

If that's the measure you must take to crush the idols

Jerk the pews & all the decorations, too 

Until the congregations few, then have revival

Tell your friends that this is where the party ends 

Until you're broken for your sins, you can't be social

Then seek the Lord & wait for what He has in store 

And know that great is your reward so just be hopeful


'Cause you can sing all you want to

Yes, you can sing all you want to

You can sing all you want to

And still get it wrong;
worship is more than a song


Take a break from all the plans that you have made 

And sit at home alone and wait for God to whisper

Beg Him please to open up His mouth and speak

And pray for real upon your knees until they blister

Shine the light on every corner of your life

Until the pride and lust and lies are in the open

Then read the Word and put to test the things you've heard 

Until your heart and soul are stirred and rocked and broken

'Cause you can sing all you want to

Yes, you can sing all you want to

You can sing all you want to

And still get it wrong; worship is more than a song

We must not worship something that's not even worth it

Clear the stage, make some space for the One who deserves it


'Cause I can sing all I want to

Yes, I can sing all I want to
I can sing all I want to

And still get it wrong

And you can sing all you want to

Yes, you can, you can sing all you want to

You can sing all you want to

And still get it wrong; worship is more than a song
Worship is more than a song
Worship is more than a song
Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze

If that's the measure you must take to crush the idols

Kutless-Identity

Ahh, this album is really cool...and here is one of the songs I like. ("believer" is really good too). Basically, the message that is really resonating with me is one about identifying with Christ. This is who I am: I am a sinner, but I am also God's child because Jesus' death and resurrection has made a place for me in God's kingdom. Before, I didn't know how to put these two parts of me together because they contrasted with each other so much....But I guess it was because I didn't realize how radical and powerful what happened on the cross was. I didn't know how to let go of my mistakes. Mistakes held on to me because my future decisions were based on past successes. But, because of Jesus Christ, I have a future, and this is what I ought to base my decisions on. I should strive to become who I want to be, and meant to be, instead of focusing on not becoming who I was... Ahhh, thanks God for revealing this to me. Now, I know that I can become righteous even though I stumble.

Doesn't look like the embed code is working...here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG-yjLB6etw&feature=relmfu

Embracing Accusation

It's been a LONG time, everyone =]. I think this is an amazing song, enough to share on this blog.



"Embracing Accusation" ~Shane and Shane


My approach to my sin is all messed up... At some points, I don't even realize the weight of it; that from day 1, my sinfulness made me deserving of death and destruction (Psalm 51:5). At other times, I am completely shackled by the continual reminders of my stupidity, brokenness, failure, sin.

Satan, in the Hebrew language, means "accuser." The image I think of is a courtroom, I'm standing before the Judge, and Satan the Accuser is there to try me as guilty. And it's so appropriate...These whispers--"You messed up. You are cursed. You are scum because of what you have done.."--in the end...is all right. All of it is right. It's incredible to think that Satan, the father of lies, is actually right when he points his finger at me and says, "SINFUL."

Hahaha..here's the gospel. "You're right Satan.. I embrace these accusations, because of this one thing you've forgotten: Jesus saves!!" That is SUCH good news.

It's amazing...so often, I feel like I need to escape Satan's and my own accusations. But THIS is SO important to what we call "THE Good News": We HAVE messed up; we HAVE sinned against an Almighty God, and deserve absolute destruction.. but the good news is that we are redeemed by God from this!! It's only in the full realization of our deserved death that Jesus's death and resurrection becomes the Greatest News Ever. Allelu-Yah.


Hope you guys are blessed by this song =].

Beauty for Ashes

"Beauty for Ashes"
~Shane and Shane

Beauty for ashes
a garment of praise
for my heaviness
beauty for ashes
take this heart of stone
and make it Yours

I delight myself in the richest of fare
trading all that I had
for all that is better
a garment of praise
for my heaviness
You are the greatest taste
You're the richest of fare


hi everyone! it's been a while since we've shared songs =].

This song has been a really big encouragement for me throughout this past quarter. I think a lot of it is because there have been so many times in the past couple of months where I felt like I've been chasing so many things to to satisfy me; relationships, knowledge, self-image, my plans, among probably a lot of other things. In trying to find my worth in these things, I clung extremely tight to them; it became really hard for me to trust God when He told me to let go, because my fist was clenched so tightly trying to find satisfaction and justification through all of these things.

When I hear this song, it reminds me of some amazing truths: That God is BETTER! than the reputation or comfort I hold on to. That I can give up ALL that I have, because I know that what I'm exchanging for in return is infinitely more satisfying than anything I can conjure up myself. For those of you who are confused about what a "fare" is (like I was before x]) it's food. Actually, it connotes a feast. This song is telling us that God is the BEST tasting--the most deeply satisfying, the richest-- of fare. I can know that He is the most satisfying of anything I can ever dream of for myself; more than any kind of relationship, future, or self-image. He gives me Himself and His love, when we have nothing good to offer Him. Isn't that good news? =]

I love the amazing picture of the gospel that is communicated through this song too! God is willing to take our brokenness, heaviness, our ashes, and give us what what is the BEST: Himself. This is the gospel painted for us; Jesus taking our disgustingness to the grave and giving us His life. 'His beauty for my ashes.

I think Isaiah 55 has an amazing Word for us:
"Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."

yay God. =]