I Wil Draw Near

My beautiful wife never ceases to amaze me.  She wrote this worship song last week for our upcoming Sunday service. Preceding the song will be Scriptures that contributed to her thought process.  I include those passages here and encourage you to spend time looking them up.

Here are the words to her song:

I Will Draw Near

 

Fountain of Life, flow over me

'till I'm filled with Your glory

Spirit renew the fire that once drew

me into the Holy of Holies

And I will draw near, as I wait here

I will return to my Father

My heart of stone, I lay at Your throne

That I may know You and be known

The sound of Your voice, fills me with joy

You turn sorrow to gladness

You don't disappoint, You never leave

and I am changed in Your presence

So I will draw near, as I wait here

I will return to my Father

My heart of stone, I lay at Your throne

That I may know You and be known

Only in You are justice and truth

and mercy binds me to You

How high are Your thoughts, How great are Your ways

Your covenant is my peace

Bridge:

You satisfy my soul with good

You bought my freedom with Your blood

Your fire consumes my sin

You captivate my heart

So, I will draw near, as I wait here

I will return to my Father

My heart of stone, I lay at Your throne

That I may know you and be known

© Sarah Apperson, 2014

Psalms 94:14; 107:9; 111:9-11 

Isaiah 31:3; 40:31; 54:10; 55:6-8

Jeremiah 2:13; 3:12; 3:19; 31:13

Ezekiel 36:25-27; 43:5

John 4:14 

Acts 2:2-4 

Ephesians 1:7-8

Titus 3:4-7

Hebrews 12:29

Love Mercy

I have been meditating on Micah 6:8 quite a bit these last 2 weeks.  If you are not familiar with the verse it says:

"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?"

I looked up the definition of justly.  It means to do what is morally right or fair.  So we are called to act with fairness, to do what is morally right.  

Interesting that this is followed by a call to love mercy!  Mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.  A synonym for mercy is grace.

Love Mercy.

I am forever grateful that God loved mercy.  He loved us enough that He sent His Son to die for us, to save us from what we deserved (hell) and to show us mercy and grace.  

This gift of salvation allows us to truly walk humbly with our God.
 

You Can't Measure Forever

 My son is at an age where he is trying to quantify and measure things.  His big thing right now is trying to figure out time.  He uses his hands to measure out what he thinks you mean by a half hour, an hour, etc.  He keeps using the word 'forever' as well when he wants something to continue.  So when he was playing with his sister, he mentioned the word 'forever' and spread his hands wide.  My daughter said to him, "You can't measure forever!"

I heard that comment and was immediately impressed by the wisdom of that statement. 

We can't measure forever.  Keep that in mind as you look at Psalm 100:5 which says, "The LORD is good. His mercy endures forever. His faithfulness endures throughout every generation"

I thank God that His mercy does last forever.  I stand in need of His mercy and grace.  The fact that God is eternal and His mercies are everlasting give me cause to sing with joy!  In fact if you read all of Psalm 100, it speaks of just that:

A psalm of thanksgiving. "Shout happily to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD cheerfully. Come into his presence with a joyful song. Realize that the LORD alone is God. He made us, and we are his. We are his people and the sheep in his care. Enter his gates with a song of thanksgiving. Come into his courtyards with a song of praise. Give thanks to him; praise his name. The LORD is good. His mercy endures forever. His faithfulness endures throughout every generation."

I can't read that passage without getting excited. 

There is so much here but I want to point out just a few things.

Serve the Lord cheerfully - We shouldn't act as if serving God is like pulling teeth.  We should do so cheerfully.  In fact we should do EVERYTHING as unto the Lord. (Colossians 3:23) We should do whatever we put our hands to with a cheerful heart.  In fact, it's good for us to do so!  (Proverbs 17:22)

He Made Us - God is the creator of everything.  People can debate the age of the earth and how we came into existence but the Bible says God did it.  That's good enough for me. 

We are His - God sent His Son and purchased us with a price, His own Sons life.  I am glad that I recognized and accepted that gift. 

We are His people, the sheep in His care - I praise God He truly does care for us, watches over us and guides us with His voice, His Word and His provision.

Yes the Lord is good and we have a reason to sing!  We can't measure forever, but I am glad that I have the chance to spend forever with Him!

Christians and Mental Health - I Can See Clearly Now

Fog.  Thick, thick fog.

Swimming through molasses.    

These are just a couple of the ways I have explained the feeling in my head since my last concussion.

It is hard to explain that feeling of being detached from yourself.  It is a scary feeling.  At times I have felt frustrated and overwhelmed.  I wasn't depressed but I sure was discouraged.  After a year and a half, I was not sure if I would ever see relief.  I was ready to concede that this was the new normal. 

The holidays were rough.  It took all of my energy to focus on the work before me and by the time I got home, I was spent.  I prayed and prayed for a healing but each day was the same.

Finally, I visited the doctor.  After some conversations about where I was emotionally, physically and mentally I decided to broach the subject of medicinal help for my situation.  The doctor prescribed me an anti-depressant that works more as a sleep aid than anything else.  I thought that some of my post-concussion symptoms could be improved with a good nights sleep.

All I can say is Praise God.  I am sleeping well and for the first time since my concussion, I no longer feel the foggy brain when I go through my day.  I am rested and relaxed and feel more like my old self. 

I know some Christians are vehemently opposed to prescription drugs, esp. anti-depressants.  Hey, I've been there.  I see now that I was being judgmental.  Jesus Himself used various means to heal people.  John 9:1-7 talks about a time when Jesus made mud with a little spit and told a man to go wash it off in order to be healed.  In the OT, we have the story of Elisha who told one sick man to go and dip in the river 7 times in order to be healed. (2 Kings 5:1-15)

If God can use the rivers and pools, mud and spit, why can't he use medicine?

Today I am clear headed and I feel better able to focus on all that God would have me to do.  I thank God that He still heals today and I am no longer opposed to how He chooses to do it.  Be it a word, a touch or a pill...God is the one who heals.  

Other Topics in the Christians and Mental Health series:
What are we afraid of?
How Should the Church Respond?
 

The Question That Never Goes Away

I am a fan of Philip Yancey's writing.  His books always feel so raw, so real.  They speak to my heart and express in words things I am not always able to articulate.  I was intrigued when I found out he was writing a sequel of sorts (30 years later) to Where is God When it Hurts?  THAT book sold over 1.5 million copies, which goes to show how many people are asking hat same question.

Which brings me to Yancey's latest work, The Question That Never Goes Away.  

Here Yancey addresses those questions that still linger..."Why God?" and "Where is God when we suffer?"  These are not easy questions to answer.  In fact, just like many of his books, Yancey does not so much answer the question as he looks at the question in different ways.  His latest book takes you through many recent tragedies like Sandy Hook, the tsunami in Japan and visits Sarajevo to see the state of recovery over a decade and a half later.  

Philip Yancey asks the questions on everyone's lips.  I found comfort in reading this book.  Yancey looks at Psalm 23 in a way I never have noticed before and it sent me to the Word to read the Psalm and to make a few notes.

I also appreciated the attention he gave to "being present" with those who are hurting.  Instead of saying the wrong thing, Yancey encourages the reader to BE the church and to BE with those who suffer loss, pain, etc. 

A great stand alone book, this also makes a great companion to his previous works on the topic of pain.

I received a free copy of this book via the Booksneeze review program.

The Super Bowl, Human Trafficking and an iPhone App

The Super Bowl is one of the larger venues where human trafficking is rampant.

The USA Today has an article up right now that talks about the Super Bowl and human trafficking:

Human Trafficking at the Super Bowl

 

Sponsor a Child at Risk

Here is some info on Human Trafficking from the Salvation Army: http://salvationist.ca/action-support/human-trafficking/

In addition, the Salvation Army has launched the first ever app that helps people spot the key signs someone may be being trafficked.

It is available on all iPhone and Android phones and is free to download http://sar.my/ahtapp 

Broken

So I was driving down the road this week and came across this song by the Sidewalk Prophets. I have never heard their music before. This song is from their 2nd Album, Live Like That.  

I found these words challenging




The first verse about brokenness reminds me of when we were preparing to leave Croatia.  Our friend prayed over us as we were going to leave and all I remember her praying was that God would break us.  I thought she was the worst friend in the world.

It took some time but I discovered the benefits of that prayer.  God did take us through a period of surrender and brokenness. Our lives were forever changed.

My prayer is that I live a life like this everyday.

I want Jesus Christ to be my one desire.

What about you?

Are you willing to allow God to break you, empty you out and make you lonely to the point where He is your one desire?