All posts in Music Flavor

Hope For Me…

Deeply thankful for hearing…
There are some of us who are easily forgotten, easily unseen, invisible…
Gnawing fears come from this state and can eat a person alive.
There are some of us who will be consumed by the fears and will turn into people we where not meant to be… people with out hope for themselves.
There are some of us who will be rescued before it is to late and will be told ‘there is hope for you yet’, whether we deserve it or not…

There are some of us who will continually meet our same old enemy over and over again…
Gnawing fear will lurk and every now and then drag a person down again.
There are some of us who are stormy souls by nature, battling more with themselves then with anything else, easily deceived about who they are, easily blinded about who they can be.
There are some of us who will pull back because of lack of trust and will always risk letting fear get too strong a hold…

Even so…

There is hope for me yet…

Jesus remembers the forgettable, he sees the invisible.

Deterred by a great distances? Not our God.
Overwhelmed by our issues? Not our God.
Disappointed in our personalities? Not our God.

Moved with love for us always? OUR GOD!

“There is hope for me yet
Because God wont forget
all the plans he’s made for me.

I have to wait and see.

He’s not finished with me yet.

STILL WONDERING WHY I’M HERE
STILL WRESTLING WITH MY FEAR
BUT OH HE’S UP TO SOMETHING!
And the farther on I go
I’ve seen enough to know
That I’m, not here for nothing
He’s up to something!”
~Brandon Heath

TTFN

Hope For Me Yet

Brandon Heath

Must give credit to this amazing artist. His songs hit the mark in my life often.

TTFN

Victoria Awake (the album)

How can I not announce this for my big brother and gush a bit! I am so proud of Aaron (my brother) and Mike, a long time family friend, they are just so creative and passionate about their music!

Check out the above link and then feel free to support my older brother and his pal Mike by purchasing the new Victoria Awake album “High Hopes & Half Smiles”. The album is a minimum $6 purchase, but this site allows you to name your price and tip if you’re feeling generous. You also get to chose from several high quality audio formats. Don’t feel like buying …right now, you can stream the entire album from beginning to end online for free! Avoiding iTunes for the time being in order to avoid excessive admin costs.

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Switchfoot and Paper Tongues

(Garnet and I out for supper with friends before the SWITCHFOOT concert.)

Garnet and I have been on two dates within one week! This was a very good thing for us. In a way we kind of needed two dates close together to get back into spending time together away from the kids. We don’t date a lot… haven’t dated a lot. It isn’t that we don’t value it, we understand it is very important, it just wasn’t an option as much in the past. Well things have changed. We have pals we can babysit for and in turn they will do the same, free, for us and it works out lovely. The first date night was big emotionally. I felt a lot of pressure because I figured it would be so long till the next. I wanted to look my best and have a good time… in the end we took the pressure off, went out and just visited. With a note pad and pen in hand we sat down and talked about our coming year… things we would like to do and what we hope for. It was refreshing and easy to do cuz I am so comfortable with my man!
The second date I was more comfortable and we just had a blast! I was so excited, it is the first time in I don’t know how long that we have gone out as a couple with friends! We met my older brother and his wife and some long time friends of ours at a restaurant and then walked across campus to the concert.
Paper Tongues is a new band to me, they opened and where so charismatic and fun! I have been listening to their ep stuff all day and can hardly wait to get their first album.

Switchfoot is emotional rock. I have been a long time fan and was thrilled to hear their high quality new stuff and the old stuff that I can sing along to. It was cool to hear them talk about real issues in the world, like what is going on in Haiti. I used to be more cynical about when bands would try to get deep, but why can’t they? Most artists are far beyond us regular folk in there ability to see the world in a deep and truthful way so they are just the people to use the attention we give them for worthy causes. Let people share what they need to say! We all have times when we would appreciate just that, to be respectfully heard by others.

(Us ladies, enjoying the show!)

There was one particular song that got me teared up, it had a message on how what you are feeling isn’t love unless its breaking you… The last few days I have been really tuning in to words and thoughts on love. We are hoping to have a re-dedication ceremony this coming spring, for our tenth wedding anniversary. We plan to share some new vows with one another and writing our own has me nervous. We didn’t write anything the first time and this time we know one another so well that I feel like I need to really do my man justice…

Garnet gave me a pep talk about it and when I realise he’s on board with me I felt like perhaps I could give this whole writing some words about our love thing a go…, even though he isn’t a big romantic he is willing to do this…’romantic notions are more your gift my dear’ he shared…

Most of our marriage, to date, has been so tied up in KIDS that I often feel like love is very very ordinary and practical and simply as romantic as is possible to get in the tiny moments in between changing diapers and cleaning up the house AGAIN. BUT I have hope as this new stage of life begins… hope that in spite of all the wonderful things about the baby years I will morn, Garnet and I will see clearly again all the beautiful and romantic things about our love… good by sleep deprived chapter of life… hello HUSBAND!

(Switchfoot says goodnight!)

TTFN

Only Love

Words and music by Carolyn Arends and Brad Crisler
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

No one ever overcomes the dark with darkness
It takes a little light to chase the shadows back
So tell me why I try to fight the hate with hatred
When only love can do that

When I’m in this hole I just keep digging deeper
And when I lose my way I circle ’round this track
Trying to mend my heart with all the things that break it
When only love can do that

Only love, only love
Only love, only love
The more I try to fill me up
The more I lack
‘Cause only love can do that

Well I could swear sometimes it seems like I’m in quicksand
Or like I’m sinking fast in water cold and black
I go deeper down the more I try to save me
Guess only love can do that

Only love, only love
Only love, only love
The more I try to fill me up
The more I lack
‘Cause only love can do that

Well I have heard it said that you might be the answer
And it occurs to me — that could be a fact
‘Cause it was you who gave your life up for another
And only love can do that

Only love, only love
Only love, only love
The more I try to fill me up
The more I lack
‘Cause only love can do that

C 2001 Songs of Peer, Ltd / Mr. Marley’s Music (ASCAP)/EMI/April Music
Inc./Waltztime Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

Over and over again I am blessed by Carolyn Arends music. She is amazingly insightful and blessed with the ability to put such wise concepts into beautiful and easy to understand lyrics.
GOD IS LOVE, Jesus is God and his Holy Spirit lives in me… if I want to live by and in and through the Spirit then I must live by LOVE…
HE, God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, LOVE is the opposite of human nature…

THUS THE BATTLE!

I have a battle in my heart… everyone does… to respond to life and people with LOVE or AGGRESSION (anger, fear, hate all being under the banner of aggression).

The more I think about my God and my people the less I have a selfish pull to respond with aggression. The more I seek to live by the Spirit the less often I find hills to die on. Do I want to win at the cost of others? I am coming to a place where I don’t.

It is not easy to choose love,…there is always a cost…
it is painful to learn selflessness because it requires constant sacrifice, and never stops for it is a continual choice in each and every situation and with each and every person…
it is painful treading water, trying to not sink when those you seek to love repeatedly try to pull you under…

I can’t seem to find the words… I can’t say it as clearly as Carolyn so I include her amazing lyrics… I have been feeling her words in my spirit long before I heard them and so when I listened to this song called ‘Only Love’ I weep in relief and agreement.

There really is no other option!
…for we don’t win if we think only of ourselves
…we don’t win if we live out of an aggressive nature
…we don’t win by force
We win by surrender!
Christ alone can win so let him win in your life!

THE BATTLE IS THE LORDS AND THE VICTORY IS OURS!

p.s. It struck me as I worked on this post how frightening it is to love and live like this because we have to trust that Jesus will have our back… we can’t worry about protecting ourselves! I AM AFRAID but ‘perfect love casts out all fear’ and ‘he has not given us a spirit of fear’!

TTFN

FIND ME IN THE RIVER

We spent Sunday walking along our river! Thanking the Lord for his creation, obviously:)Find me in the river
Find me on my knees
I’ve walked against the water
Now I’m waiting if you please

We’ve longed to see the roses
But never felt the thorns
And bought our pretty crowns
But never paid the priceFind me in the river
Find me there
Find me on my knees with my soul laid bare
Even though you’re gone and I’m cracked and dry
Find me in the river, I’m waiting here

Find me in the river
Find me on my knees
I’ve walked against the water
Now I’m waiting if you please

We didn’t count on suffering
We didn’t count on pain
But if the blessing’s in the valley
Then in the river I will waitWritten by Martin Smith ©1995 Curious? Music UK
TTFN