Redeemer

Sorry for missing last week. I've been entertaining my parents this past week and doing some castle hopping! Well, Easter Sunday has finally arrived. I've been holding on to this song...waiting until Easter to share it with you because it is likely my favorite Easter song. The song is called "Redeemer" and it's by Nicole C. Mullen. It's an oldie, but I think it will forever hold a place in my music favorites.

I'm not going to write a whole bunch this week, I just want to share this song with you. I hope it reminds you of the amazing gift that the Creator of the Universe (!) has given to us all. Jesus is alive in heaven with the Father now, and alive living in us here on earth. Happy Easter everyone! He is risen!

Call on Jesus

This week's song choice is inspired by a recent bible study discussion on the Beatitudes.  We were discussing the first of eight:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3

For me, this is a tricky one to understand...what does "poor in spirit" mean? My study Bible says it is "in contrast to being spiritually proud or self sufficient."  So my current understanding is that to be "poor in spirit" is to acknowledge that you need God for everything.  Your sustinence, your achievements, your survival, your strength, your abilities, everything.  Someone who is "poor in spirit" has learned to give credit to God for everything and doesn't try to handle life's challenges on his/her own.

For people like me, who like to be in control, this is hard to do.  My first reaction is to try to figure things out on my own.  Quite often, I don't give my problems, my worries to God until I've struggled with them on my own for a while.

So back to the song...this week I've chosen another Nicole C. Mullen song called "Call on Jesus".  The first words of the song, I think reflect what "poor in spirit" means.  Here we have this beautiful, phenomenally talented, woman singing "I'm so very ordinary, nothing special on my own."

 

This song reminds us that we need to turn to Jesus with our problems, challenges, choices, fears.  Though so often in my life I try to solve things without asking for help from God, those times that I did ultimately turn to the Lord...he did show me the way.  Some answers were immediate, some have taken time, and there are still other challenges that I'm awaiting guidance from Him on.  The more I choose to rely on Him, the easier it is to have patience for his plan to become visible to me.  I have more trust in Him, and I am much less anxious...and less anxiety can only be a good thing.

A while ago, when I was stressed about something, my mother pointed me to a passage that she uses to provide her comfort.  It's now one of my favorite verses that I turn to frequently for a reminder of this message:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 4: 6-7

So whatever is troubling your heart today, may you give it all to God, right now.  Trust Him to guide you, give you strength and bring about solution according to his plan.  I hope you will find some peace in this.

Convinced

This week I'm going back in time a little bit to one of my favorite songs from a few years ago. At a Women of Faith Conference in Rochester, New York, I had the joy of meeting Nicole C. Mullen, an artist whose music I had heard before but I had never known her name. This woman is an amazing performer and I still would love to have the opportunity to see her perform again. At that conference, after seeing her perform I bought all of her albums and fell in love with a song called "Convinced" from the 2007 Album Sharecropper's Seed.

For me, this song is about how much God loves you and nothing can separate us from that love.  There is nothing we can do to make him love us less. That is such a powerful statement...there's no other love like that, and for many it's hard to believe.  How can he love me with all the things that I've done wrong, all my failures, all my sins?  This song is a reminder to all of us, an affirmation that we will always be loved by Him, no matter what. 

Listen to the link below...

It wasn't until just a few weeks ago that I realized where in the Bible some of the words in this song come from.  In a Bible Study with friends from church, we were reading Romans Chapter 8, which I've noticed seems to have lots of inspiring words for songwriters.  Romans Chapter 8, Verse 38 says:

For I am convinced that neither death
nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in al creation,
will be able to separate us from the love
of God that is Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nicole takes this passage a step further in her song by sharing her love for God in the same way.  Not only can nothing separate her from His Love, she sings that nothing can separate Him from her love.  That's quite a commitment.  She will always love Him, even during those times when she is in pain....she will love him.  When she is disappointed and frustrated with the course of life...she will still love him.  I pray that my faith and love for Him will be strong during the struggles of life as well. 

The wind will blow on everybody
And rain will fall on us all
And if the, weather of my life
Is not like I want it, still
I'll survive through the storm

'Cuz I'm convinced, I'm persuaded
I will not be separated
From the love
I have in You

Neither death or life coud sever
Neither height or depth could measure
The love You have
And my love for You.

I hope this song and these words are encouraging to you this week.  No matter how disappointed you are in yourself, no matter what challenges you face this week, be comforted in knowing that God loves you and he always will.  And may your love for the Lord be strong and constant throughout your journey in this life.