The Lord Is My Rock

I was so excited to read the Elevation Worship Blog today… I hadn’t checked in a while.  When we visited  Elevation Church in Charlotte a while back during Pastor Steven Furtick’s The Dip series, they did this amazing song. It was so timely a song, and the words spoke loudly to me there in the 4th row. And I was somewhat bummed that I couldn’t find it anywhere on youtube or to download yet.  What a comfort that the Lord is my Rock.

It’s an Elevation original song. I hope they record a full band version soon, because it rocks! Check out the video of Wade Joye singing acoustic version of “The Lord Is My Rock” and check out the worship blog too.

 

Verse 1: [E F#]
When the waters rise
My hope is sure
When my world falls apart
I stand secure

When my way is dark
Your light breaks through
When i don’t feel you near
Your word is true

Pre-Chorus: [B - F#/A# - G#m - F# - E - F#]
Jesus your love surrounds me
You’re holding my life
Holding my life

Chorus: (2x) [B F# G#m E]
The Lord is my rock
And I won’t be afraid
I wont be afraid
You’re with me

Verse 2:
When the waters rise
My hope is sure
When my world falls apart
I stand secure

Bridge: [E F# E F#] [E F# E/G# F#/A#]
Oh God you carry us
You rise above
You lift us up

Dear God…

Dear God,

This week was good. Props to you for that. Since we are still unemployed I felt the need to get off my butt and go do something… Sure beats pity party and job applying and watching Clean House on the couch all day. (Not that it happens all the time) Plus, you know I’m a structure person. I need a routine. I need a basic map for the day, so I know what needs to be done and I’ll do it. So I made a point to focus more on my physical and spiritual core like Christine Caine says. I  got up to work out most days these week and I up’d my spiritual discipline this week. And then I served in the C3 office every day for a few hours. You know I like admin work, so that was good for me. I keep reminding myself what Pastors Jeff and Daryl say ALL the time- “You are never more like Jesus than when you SERVE.”  Plus it was a great positive environment. I met some new people.

As for the spiritual discipline… It can be hard to wake up and make time to spend time with you.  Just being honest. I don’t always have the desire to have a deeper and deeper intimate walk with you, especially when circumstances are crazy and crappy. Mostly it’s because I’m ADD, and there’s a little laziness in there too. But I want to.  I’m praying more fervently every day that you would put a burning desire in my heart for You and the things of You.  In all honesty I just want to serve You wherever. And I am finding that when I do, You show up and reveal who you are. You soften my heart. Again, I keep thinking of a brief talk in First Wednesday worship where Martha was saying when you are in a pit, when you are struggling, to PRAISE YOU ANYWAY, make an effort even when you don’t feel like it. Eventually the love and desire and the praise will come naturally, but do it anyway at first. He will honor that and will lift you up in the midst of your adversity.

I was left alone quite alot this week in the office. In the printing room or stuffing some-2,000 Strawberry Festival bags, labeling message Cd’s.  Alone with my thoughts. Alone to have conversations with you. It was amazing. I got to pray over hundreds of bags that C3 will hand out. I prayed You would reveal your love and hope and yourself to each family of that bag. I believe that you will. And in that time I felt You quietly and gently whispering to me your affection, your encouragement.

Aside from our tough financial situation, and the fact I have no idea when we will come out on the other side of some of these struggles, I am grappling with some tough questions – “Do I really seek You to know You intimately and love you more? Or do I mostly seek You to get a response out of you? To get You to do something for me?” That’s hard. I already know the answer to that most of the time. Some other ones that a friend is asking, that I am now asking myself- “Are you passionate about Me or are you passionate about using the gifts you believe you have?” Or how ’bout “If I never desire to put you in a place where the gifts you think you have are used and following me means that you live outside of your comfort zone everyday, am I enough for you?”

Yeah…that’s where I am. And you know.

Easter Egg-stravaganza

I am still reflecting on this Easter. It has by far been the best I’ve had ever. So fun, so engaging, and so moving. And the best part, many people got introduced to Jesus for the first time this Easter weekend and began a relationship with him!

Not only did we do an Easter egg hunt Lifepoint style (with 185+ amazing volunteers and dropping 30,000 eggs out of a helicopter), but well over what we expected to show up came out to Ashley High School. 10,000 adults and children! We had inflatables, games, giveaways, and face painting (aka the AWESOME TEAM – thanks to all 4 of my girls who painted and put a smile on kids faces NON-STOP from 9:30 to well past 12:30). I think overall everything went pretty smoothly and very organized for our first time. If and when Lifepoint Church ever does this event again, it will get even better. Some people will always have something negative to say, but that fact remains that we did it because we LOVE the community, we wanted people to have a good time, and it was FREE. See more pics here.

Check out the video Brad made that captured the whole egg-stravaganza:

I have to note that the entire service flowed so beautifully. Thank you staff and volunteers for making that happen. It makes a difference. Every element (that I saw in the 9am service anyway) flowed smoothly from one thing to the next. From song to bumper video to youtube video to message to an artistic painting. Drew knocked it out of the park with his team. They really did. I could not have imagined a more appropriate set list of songs that engaged the people, causing us to reflect and worship,  lifting high the name of Jesus, celebrating his sacrifice and resurrection!

The other thing. Pastor Jeff spoke on a subject that probably no other church was talking about. It’s not your typical Easter message. It was one of his best messages though. Really articulated well, and smooth. Heavy subject, but not over your head. He had a way of conveying the message in such a real,  compassionate AND passionate way- characteristics of God that is what is so compelling about the message and hope of Christ. Most people simply preach on Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. And that’s cool. We did too. But it was so much more to me. The message this Easter was taken out of Hosea. When God commanded Hosea to do something that made no sense whatsoever- to marry a whore and stick with her even when she ran around on him and didn’t even care. This is not a pretty story by any means, but God wanted to show Israel how they ran around on him, were ungrateful for his provision, and worshipped other gods. The same way that Hosea bought back his wife at her very lowest, when nothing good was left- God did the same for us in buying us back. And Jesus was the currency of the day. I can’t get over that. I hope those of us that know Christ never get over that. In my own life I am filthy, ungrateful, and focus or even worship other things. But “God demonstrated his own love in this- that while we were still sinning, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

God desperately desires a relationship with us, he keeps pursuing us even when we don’t want him. Because he loves us. And it’s FREE. It’s a free love. And it’s always AVAILABLE. We don’t have to earn our way into that love, we simply get to accept it.

I did something stupid

How often do we do something stupid? Like real dumb, and don’t consider the consequences? I was reading Proverbs 25 today on recommendation from this guy. Check it out.  And it got me thinking about something I did a couple weekends ago. I was hanging out at Firehouse Subs for lunch after church with some of the Lifepoint staff and a couple new friends who just moved to Wilmington. The cheesesteak was awesome, but something there may have impeded my urge to go back… and left a bad taste in my mouth. Literally. It may seem kind of funny now, but wasn’t at the time…

A few people were trying a tiny dab of this John Boy & Billy’s Three Pepper Hot Sauce. I think the bottle on our table was actually the Extra Hot. I wasn’t really paying attention to the fact that Jeff was reading a cautionary disclaimer printed on the bottle. Now I like spicy stuff. I usually upgrade to hot on my Thai food at Indochine. So I thought, what’s the big deal? Everyone’s a wimp. Let’s see how I can impress my table. So I slopped about 2 teaspoons onto my sandwich and chomped into the whole bit. It took a second, but eventually I was sweating a little, felt warm, and had this fluttering in my chest. They said my eyes were red and bloodshot. Not to mention I was a little hoarse already from allergies all week. My throat was on fire. My lips were tingly. As long as I kept chewing and drinking, the burning sensation was kept at bay. But the minute my mouth and throat got still, it’s like raging inferno radiating heat from my esophagus. Although I didn’t feel sick to my stomach, the fluttery feeling in my chest after about 5-10 minutes led me to excuse myself to the restroom. And I threw up my lunch. Twice.

I don’t know if you can permanently do damage to your throat or vocal cords pulling a stunt like that, but what if? That would really suck if I couldn’t speak well or ever sing again. What if the habanero overload ate a hole in my stomach lining?

Ok so maybe these are drastic scenarios, but still. Every choice we make has consequences. I remember 1 Corinthians says something about everything being permissible but not necessarily beneficial. Seek wisdom from the Lord, and think first so you make the right choices. Pay attention to instructions or disclaimers in your life. Oh, and know your spicy limits.

On time encouragement

Truth be told, these have been some of the darkest days recently. Being in a holding pattern just wears on your soul sometimes, you don’t want to do anything, you’re frustrated, you can’t figure out why God has you in this still place. You question, you wonder “Why God, if I’m trying hard to follow you, are you keeping me here?” Is God really at work? And then you see evidence of it. Evidence like this story. Evidence like people speaking into your life at just the right time. An on-time kind of word.

I can think of several instances recently, even in small ways someone has indirectly or directly given me a word of encouragement.

• Scott Randlett at C3 Church spoke at the weekend service a couple weeks ago that was so relevant to my life and brought a word so strong on victory. Like when Moses is reminding the Israelites of how God has provided in the past and yet they still don’t trust him. We must know that God has given us the land, he has promised to bring us through to the other side, but we can’t be afraid of what might be over there if God has promised to take care of us. But before we can receive the things from the hand of God, we first have to focus on the face of God.
• Martha at C3 Church said something in the middle of a powerful worship moment at April’s First Wednesday (even though I was sick with a cold on my couch at home watching the live feed). As they were singing Hillsong’s “With Everything” she began talking about when you have found yourself in a deep pit, to praise God anyway! To sing anyway! Let go and give everything to him. It can be difficult to sing and praise God in the midst of adversity, even for someone like me who loves to sing. But when you do, when you choose to lift up God’s name even when you don’t feel like it, you will find he will lift you up and sustain you. It honors him.
• @krystalb said on Twitter yesterday about Mom still fighting melanoma cancer and Dad still out of work, but that they are doing wonderful. That God is doing a GREAT work at their very WORST. God IS doing a great work at our very worst of times, even if we can’t see it!

And finally an email from one of my best friends that I keep revisiting every couple of days:

Hi!
I was studying my Bible study, hoping to receive a Word from God about my situation, but I kept thinking of you.  So, I guess that’s the Holy Spirit working on your behalf.
Here’s what I read:
Sometimes God’s silence is because of our sin.  Confess and repent of any known sin.  If you have already done that, there may be another reason for God’s silence.  God’s silence sometimes means He is ready to bring into your life a greater revelation of Himself than you have ever known.  Take the story of Lazarus.  Remember how Jesus waited until Lazarus was dead for four days to come.  He said that he loved Lazarus and Martha and Mary, yet he heard their cry for Him and He was silent.  He let Lazarus die and even let them bury him.  Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  It was as if the Holy Spirit was saying, “Yes, if I had been there, I would have healed Lazarus, but you already know I can do that.  I wanted to share with you that I am the Resurrection and the Life.”
I know you are in a holding pattern, but just wait . . . get ready for your breakthrough.

I love you.

Joi

 

Have JOY, God IS at work, this season is just that- only a season! God’s hand WILL move, but you gotta be seeking his face first. You have to know him. I have so much to be thankful for! I will have an awesome testimony to share with others once I’ve come out on the other side. Do not be afraid, God is with you!