You Hold Me Now

On that day when I see

All that You have for me

When I see You face to face

There surrounded by Your grace

All my fears swept away

In the light of Your embrace

Where Your love is all I need

And forever I am free

Where the streets are made of gold

In Your presence healed and whole

Let the songs of heaven

Rise to You alone

No weeping

no hurt or pain

No suffering

You hold me now

You hold me now

No darkness

no sick or lame

No hiding

You hold me now

You hold me now

In this life I will stand

Through my joy and my pain

Knowing there's a greater day

There's a hope that never fails

Where Your Name is lifted high

And forever praises rise

For the glory of Your Name

I'm believing for the day

Where the wars and violence cease

All creation lives in peace

Let the songs of heavenRise to You alone

For eternity

All my heart will give

All the glory to Your Name

Your Kingdom come,

Your will be done,

Here on earth,

as it is,

in Heaven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GH-AkJDkNE

How He Loves Us

I was thinking the other day, about God and me-our relationship, and just shook my head in awe as I thought about how He loves me. It’s incredible really.

I don’t think I could ever come to a point of really understanding or comprehending how much He actually cares about me-it’s massive. All my life, the one thing that has always struck me; left me speechless; is when one cares and loves another unconditionally. I see it— through a father and his child, or a husband and his wife and think to myself “How I wish I had that...” But, when I stop and think about all the times God has been there for me, I smile, cause I know I have it already; I have that security and that source of love.

I sometimes try to convince myself that I love God just as much as His loves me, just to make it seem fair. But, it’s stupid really. His love for us, is... there’s no word in the English (or in any language for that matter) that can come close to describing it. It’s huge. And it never changes, from the moment we were born, to the second we die, He will always love us the same. Isn’t that just crazy (in an amazing way)??

I still shake my head thinking about it because when I try to reason with something like that, I get lost; it has no sense to it, no logic; yet, it’s real, it’s truth. Everything about how He feels for us is genuine, authentic and personal. There’s not a second of our lives that He does not take note of, He really loves us.

There are a lot of things that have gone old for me; things that I’m used to or that I’ve gotten familiar with. But every time the thought of how He loves, strikes me, I’m in a whole new place. It’s a revelation to me every time, I can’t explain it, it’s just different. I’m in love again every single time.
There’s really nothing like Him.

Psalm 36:5-6 (The Message)

God's love is meteoric,

His loyalty astronomic,

His purpose titanic,

His verdicts oceanic.

Yet in His largeness,

nothing gets lost

The Solution

"God this is our prayer Father,

that we will be a people Lord

that will make the tough choices in life.

Lord that we wouldn’t be afraid

or intimidated by the world,

but that we will rise up as Your church

across the earth;

God a people dedicated

to being your hands,

to being your feet,

to running this race for the least of these.

For the lost

for the broken

for the hurting God,

we pray for them now

and commit our lives Jesus

to seeing Your Kingdom established on this earth.

Father, I pray

we wouldn’t just leave it in this place,

but that we will take this,

take what you’ve done in our hearts

and We Will Run into this world God.

We push down

the four walls of our church buildings

to see Your name lifted higher.

Your glory God,

Your glory.

In Jesus name we praise you and we thank you.

And all of God’s people say,

Amen."

Joel Houston

Isaiah 58:6-9 (NKJV)
“ Is this not the fast that I have chosen:

To loose the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the heavy burdens,

To let the oppressed go free,

And that You break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;

When you see the naked, that you cover him,

And not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light shall break forth like the morning,

Your healing shall spring forth speedily,

And your righteousness shall go before you;

The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;

You shall cry, and

He will say,

‘Here I am.’

No Reason To Hide

We've got nothing to lose,

we've got no reason to hide.

We've got the answer inside of us

Its time we took the disguises off

We'll see Your glory revealed,

and See Your Name Lifted High

Theres nobody else for us

Jesus You are the only One!

You're Alive

and

We Are FREE!!

You are everything, everything we need!

Theres not a minute to waste not a second to lose

Theres a city that waits for us

it's time we took all the lamp shades off

We'll see Your glory revealed

And see your name lifted high

There is nobody else for us

Jesus You are the only one!

You're alive and we are free

You are everything, everything we need!

Love has spoken and we believe,

you are everything everything we need.

Nothing compares to You,

Nothing could ever seperate us now

Your love is ours

Nothing can seperate us

Nothing can come between us

Nothing can seperate us now

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xtUsJOHsA8&feature=related)

Matthew 5:14-17 (NIV)
"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.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

The Driving Exam

It has been the hardest thing I have yet endured this year-my driving exam. This was something that literally kept me up at night for a whole year! I never liked driving; never liked associating myself behind the wheel moving the machine; everything about it just scared me and I knew before I tried that I’d be a hopeless driver.

When the time came, when I was pushed and forced by everyone I knew I had to get this problem sorted out, I felt like I had to face death.

So finally the day came and all I remember is how sick I felt and how bad I wanted to get it over with. My first try, I failed the one part I was dreading-a.k.a ‘the slope’. Even though I passed what most people would fail-the road-I still wasn’t happy because I had to return to that place again to pass the obstacle course.

So a while later, I came back and this time I was actually confident. I got through the tough parts but at the very end, on my three point turn, apparently I backed up too far and my bumper went over the white line. So the guy stopped me, asked me to step out, sign this paper, and apparently, I had failed, again. I had never felt *so* angry in my life. A second time? Seriously?? I really wanted to blow up something. I started telling myself, “That’s it. I’m never driving again...” What was worse was having to go back and tell those who knew that I had failed, again. All I wanted to do at that point was just sit at a corner and cry.

I set a date to make another go at it. I didn’t think much of it during the days in between-wasn’t bothered to be bothered by it. Finally when Sunday came and I had my practice round, I was a mess. I kept making mistakes over again, and this time, I actually hit a pole, something I had never done, ever! I remember tearing up in the car with my instructor in it, feeling like the world’s worst driver. I couldn’t sleep at all on Sunday. It was when I woke up and that I realized I actually did manage to sleep. I called an Uncle of mine. It was nice talking to him because he made me laugh; I really needed that;

laughter always helps me in moments of intensity.

Long story short, I finally made it. I got through everything and now I have that stupid piece of plastic that allows me to drive freely on the road.

One important thing, even though it was so hard for me, God had me taken care of at all times. It’s scary sometimes, going through something that you have no control over and feeling so helpless. I think I forget that easily; we get so caught up in the moment sometimes, we forget what’s most important; in this case, I really had nothing to worry about. It’s simple, He’s like a father to us, and whatever a father can do for his child, he will. And the other thing, never give up. As corny and cheesy as it sounds, it’s so true. We fall ever so often real easy. And people make the mistake by choosing to stay down instead of getting up.

We have to really start giving God the credit that He deserves, believing that the little(or big)things that we have no control over can be taken care of by Him.

This is my story.

This is my faith.

I have nothing else in this world, not unless it’s Him. God got me through this and I’m eternally grateful for that. No words can express it, I’m just so damn happy.

BE STRONG IN THE GRACE