You are More

I haven't been as good lately about reading my devotions, but I have been listening to one of the local christian rock stations whenever I'm in my car. There are a few songs that keep really catching my attention. Below is the lyrics to one of them and then a brief thought on what the song means to me.
Tenth Avenue North - You Are More
From the album The Light Meets The Dark
There's a girl in the corner

With tear stains on her eyes
From the places she's wandered
And the shame she can't hide 
She says, "How did I get here?
I'm not who I once was
And I'm crippled by the fear
That I've fallen too far to love"
But don't you know who you are?
What's been done for you?
Yeah don't you know who you are
You are more than the choices that you've made
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes
You are more than the problems you create
You've been remade
Well she tries to believe it
That she's been given new life
But she can't shake the feeling
That it's not true tonight
She knows all the answers
And she's rehearsed all the lines
And so she'll try to do better
But then she's too weak to try
But don't you know who you are?
You are more than the choices that you've made
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes
You are more than the problems you create
You've been remade
You are more than the choices that you've made
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes
You are more than the problems you create
You've been remade
'Cause this is not about what you've done
But what's been done for you
This is not about where you've been
But where your brokenness brings you to
This is not about what you feel
But what He felt to forgive you
And what He felt to make you loved
You are more than the choices that you've made
You are more than the sum of your past mistakes
You are more than the problems you create
You've been remade
You've been remade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XY2yudW5n4&feature=related

This song is a reminder to me that no matter where I've been or how far I feel I've fallen, I have been remade. This song says how i have felt before. Sometimes when  I'm ashamed of myself and things I've done, I feel that maybe I have fallen to far. At times I can feel that whatever I've done is bad enough that there is no way God would forgive me. But this song reminds me to remember that no matter what I've done I'm much more to God then my sins. Its not about where I've been or what I've done, its about whats been done for me. What God has done is the only thing that matters and the one thing I need to hold on too.
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5

A Love that Never Fails

I've been struggling a lot lately with different things and I just want to share with you one of the devotions I read in a devotion book I've been reading from Max Lucado's morning and evening Edition "Grace for the Moment"
A Love that Never Fails
"Love never fails". 1 Corinthians 13:8 NIV
"Some of you are so thirsty for this type of love. A love that never fails. Those who should have loved you didn't. Those who could have loved you didn't. You were left at the hospital. Left at the altar. left with an empty bed. left with a broken heart. left with your question "Does anybody love me?
         Please listen to heaven's answer. God loves you. Personally. Powerfully. Passionately. Others have promised and failed. But God has promiseed and succeeded. He loves you with an unfailing love and His love--if you will let it--can fill you and leave you with love worth giving.
                      So come. Come thirsty and drink deeply. "

This devotion, though short, got to me. Because it was true. I, like many others have,  was and have been searching for a love that never fails. But time and time again I was let down, disappointed, because I was looking in places where it could not be found. We all have people in are lives we we have cared deeply about. Who we have loved. Who we put are full trust in. And who in the end let us down. Hurting us so deeply, that we find this talk of an unfailing love a myth. Something that could possibly not exist. there is no way someone could love me no matter what I did. No matter what choices I have made in my past or what choices I may make in the future. There is no one who will be there for me no matter where I'm at or what hour of the day it is. But after you argue it, and fight it, you can not deny it. It is true. An unfailing love does exist. You just have to look in the right direction. To the heavens. To God who created you and watches over you and will love you unconditionally and through all things. A God who can show you and fill you with a love worth giving.

TIMEOUT

Most of us grew up hearing the story of Jonah and the Whale. Have you ever heard the story and thought man I wish I could be Jonah. You’re probably thinking WHAT? Why would I want to be swallowed up and stuck in a big smelly fish for 3 days? So let me ask a different question then. Have you ever felt like you needed a timeout? Had times when you knew what was right but didn’t want to do it. And just kept heading in the wrong direction anyway? Later didn’t you wish someone would have just said okay that’s it you need a timeout! Stay here until you can clear your head cause you are not looking at this the right way and you really need to pull yourself together.


Sometimes I feel overwhelmed and feel that even if I was straight up told what to do by God I would either not know it was him and do my own thing anyway or be like Jonah and just not think God knew what he was talking about. Granted the whale wouldn’t be my first choice but sometimes I think I need a timeout just like Jonah got. I need God to say look this isn’t right and you are going to do this my way, and to make sure you do I’m giving you a time out, so sit here and think about the fact that you are doing something wrong and that you need to make better choices. God gave Jonah a 3 day timeout to realize that he wasn’t in the right. Just like when children aren’t listening and need a timeout to be reminded who is in charge and who knows what‘s best. They’re given a few minutes to themselves to re evaluate their actions, and decide if they want to continue on that same path or not.

Despite the fact we don’t hear of people being swallowed up by large fish and then spit out later, I’m sure God still intervenes when he feels we are just not getting what he wants from us, and he decides we need a little more help or time to get it together. It may not be by making us spend 3 days in a whale, it may just be not getting the job we thought was right or getting into the school we thought we were supposed to go too. He may take away things that we have been putting before him to help us get back on track. Put a struggle in our path to stop us from continually thinking we knew what was better for us then God did. Even though sometimes I feel like I could use a more obvious timeouts like Jonah got in the whale I still hold on to the fact that God loves us and will use whatever tactics he needs to make sure we know he’s in charge; And that in the end he is the one who truly knows what’s best.

poem: light

Today's post is simple I'm not gonna really say anything just post a poem I wrote about a week ago about remembering who is truly in control.

Light

As I fall to my knees tonight

I pray for the morning light

But not for the sun to fill the sky

and not for the night to say goodbye

But for your light to come into me so I may survive

Because I feel numb and need your love to keep me alive

I need faith again to guide my steps

And for my lord to pull me out of the depths

I've stumbled along my own path for to long

And need to be shown were I truly belong

I thought I new what was best for me

But now I see only one truly holds the key

So tonight I pray you hear my plea

Because I know your love is the only thing that can set me free.

(by: Michele Larson 12-28-09)