Any Other Way

I think I’m really bad at keeping up with my favorite bands. It seems I can keep up with about three at a time. I know this is weird, but I don’t like to continually add new music to my library. I think I have excellent taste in music and it takes a long time for me to get burnt out on the stuff I like. All that to say I was listening to an old Tenth Avenue North album this morning. Well, this one song in particular caught my ear and my brain so much so that I listened to it four times on the way to work. So I just wanted to share my thoughts on it. The lyrics will be in bold (my favorite lines) or normal type and my thoughts are in the italics.

Don’t say goodbye, don’t say hello
We’re just standing on the surface
Don’t say alright, don’t say I know
I promise it’s not worth it

I want to know who you are
Even if you’re falling apart
Reach in and touch your scars
And all the shame you’ve kept in your heart

Do you know how powerful of a statement those first two lines are?
It’s rare to find someone who wants to really know you.
And even rarer to find someone who wants to know your brokenness. 
I think that’s the part of Jesus that I’m most attracted to. 
He wants to know me and my brokenness. 
James 4:8a says, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

‘Cause it’s not enough
It’s not enough
Just to say that you’re okay
I need your hurt. I need your pain
It’s not love any other way

I really like thinking about love this way. Think about it like this:
No matter what’s going on, I tend to say I’m okay. 
There are certain friends who know better.
They are faithful to sit me down and tell me that it’s okay to not be okay.
Then we get to talk about it or whatever. 
I am so thrilled that part of God’s love is Him taking our pain. 

Let’s not pretend
Stop your parade
Trying to convince me
That you’re alright and everything’s okay
Yet, do you even know me?

‘Cause I already know who you are
And all things that kept us apart
So reach in and touch My scars
And know the price I paid for your heart

God knows everything, even the things we don’t explicitly say.
It’s so amazing that Jesus has covered our everything. 
Everything that keeps us apart- He’s already healed.
John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” A greater love does not exist. 

‘Cause it’s not enough
It’s not enough
Just to say that you’re okay
I need your hurt. I need your pain
It’s not love any other way

A broken and contrite heart
I will not despise
Come as you are
And I won’t close my eyes
I won’t close my eyes
I won’t close my eyes
I won’t close my eyes

Sometimes we brake and fall into thinking that we aren’t even worth it anymore.
That’s just never true. 
Jesus will always take us and all of our brokenness.
We just have to come. 

‘Cause it’s not enough
It’s not enough
Just to say that you’re okay
I need your hurt. I need your pain
It’s not love any other way

‘Cause it’s not enough it’s not enough
just to say that you’re okay
You needed my hurt, you needed my pain
It’s not love any other way
It’s not love any other way
Yeah, it’s not love any other way

 

Relentless Love

I had the opportunity to spend some time outside this week on one of the beautiful days we had before the rain. I got out of class early, grabbed my Bible and sat in the prayer garden. The breeze was nice, so I shuffled my “calm” playlist.

The book of Hosea begins with God telling Hosea to marry a prostitute. Quite the wake up call if you ask me. Now Hosea doesn’t question or challenge God AT ALL. He obeys completely. So Hosea marries Gomer and they have three children. Something you have to understand about Hosea is that it’s allegorical in the sense that Hosea and Gomer’s relationship is representative of God’s relationship with Israel, which we can catch a glimpse of in Hosea 1:4-10.

Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.” Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.” After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God. “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’

That’s just such a great summary of Israel’s history in so few verses. I love it!

Gomer continues to be adulterous (chapter 2). Here’s what God says to Hosea concerning this:

The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” (3:1-3)

How incredible is that?! And yet that’s exactly what God does for us. He loves us so much that He bought us back and still loves us the same. Most days I have to be reminded over and over of this truth because it’s something I can’t even completely wrap my mind around. God’s love is infinite and there’s nothing I can do to separate myself from Him. So it is at this moment that I actually hear the music from my playlist blasting in my ears. I begin to sing along with Misty Edwards at the chorus of “I Will Waste my Life.”

For I am in love with you,
and there is no cost.
I am in love with you,
and there is no loss.
I am in love with you,
I want to take your name.
I am in love with you,
I want to cling to you, Jesus,
just let me cling to you, Jesus,
I want to cling to you…

This is almost like a conversation between the Father and me. He is telling me that He loves me beyond what I can understand and my response is simply clinging to Him harder than anything else in life. This is the perfect reassurance that a perfect love relationship exists. He loves me perfectly, no matter what I do.

As I continued reading Hosea, my mind still camped on these thoughts. The middle chunk of Hosea is full of rich history and it’s a wonderful and valuable read, but that’s not my focus here. A few more songs played as I began to cry in awe of God’s great love for me. The chorus from “Season” by Will Retherford is the icing on the cake.

I will run towards You
In Your arms I’ll stay
For Your love has changed my heart
You delight in me
And You call me Yours
Oh, Your love has changed my life 

And we come to the end of the book of Hosea where God declares, “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.” (14:4)

God, there’s so much hope and so much love in the few pages of Hosea. Your love is prefect. Your love is better than life (Psalm 63:3). In You, I find my satisfaction and my rest.

You won’t relent until You have it all. My heart is Yours. 

Stand in the Rain

She never slows down.
She doesn’t know why but she knows that when she’s all alone, feels like its all coming down
She won’t turn around
The shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down

So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it’s all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won’t drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain

She won’t make a sound
Alone in this fight with herself and the fears whispering if she stands she’ll fall down
She wants to be found
The only way out is through everything she’s running from wants to give up and lie down.

So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it’s all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won’t drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain

So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it’s all crashing down
Stand through the pain
You won’t drown
And one day, whats lost can be found

So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it’s all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won’t drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain

 

This is a significant song to me at the moment.
It’s by Superchic(k). I don’t listen to them on a regular basis.
The two verses are just so my life right now.
There’s no easier way to say it.
Just thought I’d share.

God always answers, one way or another,
   even when people don’t recognize his presence.
Job 33:14

Forever Reign

Forever Reign by Hillsong

You are good You are good
When there’s nothing good in me
You are love You are love
On display for all to see
You are light You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope You are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace You are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true You are true
Even in my wandering
You are joy You are joy
You’re the reason that I sing
You are life You are life
In You death has lost it’s sting

Oh I’m running to Your arms
I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here You are here
In Your presence I’m made whole
You are God You are God
Of all else I’m letting go

My heart will sing
No other Name
Jesus, Jesus

I just love this song. There’s so much truth in this song, so many promises straight from Scripture. My favorite line is “You are true. You are true, even in my wandering.” I’ve been going through a long period of spiritual emptiness and wandering.

I want to show you at least one place in Scripture where all these promises are found.

1. God is good.
Luke 18:19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.”

2. God is love.
Psalm 36:7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

3. God is light.
Revelation 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

4. God is hope.
Col. 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

5. God is peace.
1 Cor. 14:33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.

6. God is truth
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

That’s all I have time for tonight. I hope this brings comfort and joy in knowing who God is.
I have to take the ACT early in the morning. I’d appreciate some prayers. Thank you!