His Footprints in the Sand

God often uses music to minister to my soul and spirit. He deeply touches my heart with song and speaks to me through it. I’ve always taken to heart the Scripture that says He sings over His people.

“Yahweh, your Elohim, is in your midst; The Masterful One, He shall save. He shall be elated over you with rejoicing; He shall renew you in His love; He shall exult over you with jubilant song.” (Zepheniah 3:17)

Time and time again, during the ups and downs of life, God has sung over me and to me. He has brought songs to speak to me and assure me of His presence and work in my life. Over the past week, He has sung to me three particular songs. I will share them in this and the following two posts.

With this first song He reminds me that He has been with me and has loved me always. Even when I ignored Him and went my own way, He was never far from me. He has seen every moment of my life—the great, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the painful to Him and to myself. He assures me none of it has been or will be a surprise to Him. And especially during this season of life, He assures me that He is with me, carrying me every step of the way—this way that He has chosen for me to walk at this time.

Christ is my Friend. He is THE Friend that “sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). Through all weariness, sorrows, despairs, mistakes, unknowns, weaknesses, and overwhelming fears, He is there with us and He is willing to carry us. Will we relax ourselves into His arms and let Him?

You walked with me, footprints in the sand

And helped me understand where I'm going

You walked with me when I was all alone

With so much unknown along the way

Then I heard You say

I promise You, I'm always there

When your heart is filled with sorrow and despair

I'll carry you when you need a friend

You'll find my footprints in the sand

I see my life flash across the sky

So many times have I been so afraid

And just when I have thought I'd lost my way

You gave me strength to carry on

That’s when I heard You say

I promise you, I'm always there…

When I'm weary

Well, I know You've been there

And I can feel You when You say

I promise you, I'm always there…

One Day "GLORY!"

One day eyes that are blind will see you clearly

And one day all who deny will finally believe

One day hearts made of stone will break in pieces

And one day chains once unbroken will fall down at your feet

So we wait for that one day come quickly

We want to see your Glory

Every knee falls down before thee

Every tongue offers you praise

With every hand raised

Singing Glory

To You and unto You only

We'll sing Glory to Your name

One day voices that lie will all be silent

One day all that's divided will be whole again

One day death will retreat and wave it's white flag

One day love will defeat the strongest enemy

So we wait for that one day come quickly

We want to see your Glory

Every knee falls down before thee

Every tongue offers you praise

With every hand raised

Singing Glory

To You and unto You only

We'll sing Glory to Your name

We know not the day or the hour

Or the moments in between

But we know the end of the story

When we'll see

Everything To Me - For Birth Moms

There is a song written and sung by Mark Schultz that touches my heart deeply every time I hear it. Today, I finally had a moment to find the story behind the song. It is a song written to his birth mom who entrusted him to adoptive parents. This song and this post is for all moms who "lovingly placed their baby in the arms of God and in the arms of adoptive parents" (as my friend, Melinda, has so well expressed to me). Thank you, to all of you, for your self-less act.

First is the video where Mark tells the story behind the song.

Next is the video of the song.

I must have felt your tears
When they took me from your arms
I’m sure I must have heard you say goodbye
Lonely and afraid had you made a big mistake
Could an ocean even hold the tears you cried

But you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And you made the only choice you could that night

You gave life to me
A brand new world to see
Like playing baseball in the yard with dad at night
Mom reading Goodnight Moon
And praying in my room
So if you worry if your choice was right
You gave me up but you gave everything to me

And if I saw you on the street
Would you know that it was me
And would your eyes be blue or green like mine
Would we share a warm embrace
Would you know me in your heart
Or would you smile and let me walk on by
Knowing you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And I hope that you’d be proud of who I am

You gave life to me
A chance to find my dreams
And a chance to fall in love
You should have seen her shining face
On our wedding day
Oh is this the dream you had in mind
When you gave me up
You gave everything to me

And when I see you there
Watching from heaven’s gates
Into your arms
I’m gonna run
And when you look in my eyes
You can see my whole life
See who I was
And who I’ve become

For LIFE…

God Has Conciliated the World to Himself

“Yet all is of God, who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation, how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of conciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5 :18-19)

In these two brief verses we are given precious gold nuggets of truth. We are assured that all is of God. And I believe all means all.

We are also told that God has conciliated the world to Himself through Christ. God was in Christ and He was conciliating the world to Himself! God was calling and drawing the world to Himself in peace and friendship. Through Christ, He has put aside the enmity between Himself and the world, not counting the world’s offenses against Him. And He has put that word of conciliation in the hearts of believers that we may beseech others to “Be conciliated to God!”

“For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. We are beseeching for Christ’s sake, “Be conciliated to God!” For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes that we may be becoming God’s righteousness in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

Conciliation is a one sided action. There are those now who have already conciliated to God; and therefore, there now exists reconciliation between themselves and God. They have a mutual conciliation which translates into reconciliation. God has conciliated the world to Himself through Christ. And ultimately, all in the heavens and on the earth will be reconciled to Him through Christ, “the Son of His love…the Head of the body…Who is Sovereign, Firstborn from among the dead, that in all He may be becoming first, for in Him the entire complement delights to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens.” (Colossians 1:13, 18-20)

Glory be to YHWH!

RELATED POST: God Conciliates the World to Himself

His Beautiful Redemption

Life seems to be running away with me. I long for peace and acceptance of where God has me, but at the same time, I do not want to be content in areas where I should not be. I can't decide if I'm looking for a contentment that is unhealthy or if God is trying to teach me a lesson in contentment.

I am not looking for contentment in being spiritually stagnant or character growth. I am looking for a peace and acceptance of things in my life that I am not be able to control whatsoever. There are things I long to do and accomplish, and yet, there are other responsibilities in my life which daily take precedence over those desires. Daily life runs off with me and I can't seem to be able to spend time in other things I long for. There are circumstances that I wish I could change for the better. But what do I know about what’s better and what’s best? God is the (only) one that knows. I don’t know (and doubt) that if I changed things according as to how I think they should be, it would actually be an improvement. My thinking is finite, and I am certain that in the midst of difficult circumstances God is doing a mighty work in our lives. A work that cannot come about if I were able or allowed to change things according to the way I think they should be.

What is the Lord teaching me? What am I supposed to be learning? I feel like I am getting a lesson in FUTILITY. The futility of man planning this or that when only if the LORD wills can we do this or that. The futility lesson reminds me how I am not in control of things. It is God alone who is in control of ALL things, and He is surely showing me that each day.

“The steps of a man are established by the LORD…” (Psalm 37:23)

“The mind of a man plans his ways, but the LORD directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9)

“Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."” (James 4:13-15)

In the midst of all the struggle He reassures me that I am His beautiful redemption.

We are all HIS beautiful redemption....

I've had my forty days and forty nights at sea
I've had forty years in the wilderness, or so to speak
I've walked with sand from the ocean floor on my feet
To turn and say you left me

I'm a doubting Thomas needing to believe
I'm a perfumed sinner just like Magdalene
I'm Judas kissing on your cheek eager to deceive
I am all of these

Chorus:

I cry, Father, Father, forgive me
You say, Child, I already have
You are beautiful
Beautiful Redemption
You are Beautiful
Beautiful Redemption

I'm the guilty thief that's hanging by your side
And my shame is dying with your sacrifice
And all my fears come crashing down

As I look in your eyes I see paradise

Chorus

Hallelujah (we all, we all, we all fall down)
Hallelujah (we all, we all, we all fall down)
Hallelujah (we all, we all, we all fall down)
Hallelujah (we all, we all, we all fall down)

You are beautiful
Beautiful Redemption
You are Beautiful
Beautiful Redemption