What a difference a day makes! I’ve heard this saying before, but this weekend I realized just how true it is. Although the saying should be, “what a difference a day of prayer makes!” From Saturday morning to Sunday morning God showed me just how much power there is in prayer.
The reason behind my fervent prayer was the fact that I was playing the drums on the worship team at church on Sunday. We’d had worship team practice on Thursday night and to say that it hadn’t gone well would be an understatement. I had messed up many times and couldn’t seem to get some of the song endings right. My negative thoughts convinced me I’d ruin worship and make a fool of myself in the process.
To top it off, my seasonal allergies kicked into high gear. I felt miserable! By Saturday the need for prayer was undeniably evident. During these types of situations, the only thing that calms me down is talking to God by writing in my prayer journal. As I settled down before the Lord, I wrote Him a desperate prayer.
4.24.10
Lord, my throat hurts, my head hurts, my eyes are watering and I can’t sleep. Please help my body to function! Lord, I want to glorify You on the drums tomorrow. I need You to take my meager ability and multiply it! I can only do this though Your strength. I am claiming Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”
Writing that prayer helped calm my fears and get me through the day. There was only a little time for practicing on Saturday, so I needed to trust God for musical ability that could only come from Him! Judging from Thursday’s practice, He’d have to pull off a miracle! I woke up early Sunday morning and decided that time would be best spent in prayer. I remembered the encouraging words of Psalm 33 and decided to read it again. Then I wrote another prayer in my journal.
4.25.10 (a.m.)
Psalm 33 says to “Sing joyfully to the Lord … Praise Him, Praise the Lord with the harp (I inserted the drums), make music to Him on the ten-stringed lyre (again, drums), sing to Him a new song, play skillfully and shout for joy.”
Lord, I don’t feel well today. I really need You! I want to honor You on the drums today. Please guide my hands and feet so that others may worship You. Please help me to play skillfully. I don’t want my mistakes to distract others. I will give You all the honor and glory.
The only way I was going to play skillfully was if God took over. There was absolutely no way anyone was going to “shout for joy” if I played like I did in practice. I was depending on God to take my drumsticks and use them for His glory.
He answered my prayer in a big way! On Sunday evening I took a few minutes to think about how God had made His presence known in my life that day and I made another prayer journal entry.
4.25.10 (p.m.)
Lord, thank you for being my hands and feet today. Worship time was awesome! I could feel Your presence. Thank you for answering my prayers. You showed Yourself through the music, communion and through Pastor’s message. You are an amazing and awesome God!
Sometimes I try to live my life in my own strength and I don’t rely on God. Then things start going wrong and I wonder why my life is a mess. This weekend’s 24-hour prayer power experience has helped me realize that God deserves to take charge of everything in my life. Why am I still holding on to things, thinking that I can do a better job handling my life than He can?
Playing the drums is one of my steps of faith. On my own I cannot make a joyful noise, but He has the power to make a joyful noise through me. I’d rather have my life planned out and scheduled so that there are no surprises or unknowns, but the Lord knows that I need experiences like playing the drums so I’ll depend on Him.
What drumsticks (areas of your life) to you need to hand over to God? Let Him take over those areas and use them to play skillfully.
If you want to know more, read Psalm 33.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
What Do You Expect?
My husband once told me that I expect too much out of people. When he said this to me, it was one of those comments I didn’t want to hear because it was painfully true. I am definitely guilty of putting unrealistic expectations on my friends, my family and even my husband.
Some expectations are fine. I expect my kids to work hard in school, do their chores at home and show respect to others. However, I can’t expect them to be perfect. They are going to fight with each other. They are going to fail. They are going to do things that make me want to crawl into a hole. I cannot have unrealistic expectations for them and I need to love them even when they let me down.
When we were first married, I had lofty expectations of my husband. He needed to have a good job, treat me like a queen, be frugal with money and spend all of his free time with me. How hard could that be? I wanted him to give me the world on a silver platter, and when that didn’t happen (imagine that!), I was disappointed.
When I raised my expectations of him to such a high level, there was no way he could reach them. Not even with an extension ladder or a ten-foot pole. It caused a lot of tension in our marriage when he wanted to golf on Saturdays instead of spending time with me. What I didn’t realize was that since he excelled at golf, playing 18 holes was a way for him to do something he was good at and to blow off steam. Steam that may have come from the weight of my expectations!
In the end, I decided to take up golf myself so we could play together. Now our whole family can golf and it’s a fun way to spend time together. It still gets a little tense when golf season rolls around, but I’m working on being supportive – or at least tolerant of the time spent golfing. I’m trying to accept my husband and encourage him, even if it includes golf!
In the book “One Month to Live” by Kerry & Chris Shook, there’s a section about accepting others. They say, “One of our greatest problems in relationships is that we’re always trying to change the people we’re relating to. To accept others means that we stop trying to change them and we start trying to understand them.” They cite Romans 15:7 which says, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
My daughter and I recently saw the movie, “Tooth Fairy” starring Dwayne Johnson (previously known as “The Rock”), who plays a washed-up professional hockey player. After one hockey game, Johnson meets a little boy who idolizes him. The little boy looks at his idol and says, “One day I’m going to play in the big leagues just like you!” However, instead of encouraging the kid, Johnson tells him how hard life is as a hockey player and that only a small percentage of kids who play hockey ever end up playing it professionally. He goes on and on with his tirade and then ends by saying, “Lower your expectations.” I’m pretty sure that’s not what the boy wanted to hear from his hero.
However, it may actually be a good concept for relationships. Maybe if we could lower our unrealistic expectations of others, we would enjoy our relationships more. There are some things like honesty, trust & loyalty that are essential to relationships, but there are other things that are not. If we’re looking to others to meet needs that only God can meet, then our expectations will always fall short.
Prayer: Lord, I want to look at others through Your eyes. I don’t want to judge others or put urealistic expectations on them. Just as You accept me as I am, please help me to accept others. I want to bring You praise by accepting others as a beautiful creation You made.
If you want to know more, read Matthew 7:1-5 and Romans 15:7-13.
Some expectations are fine. I expect my kids to work hard in school, do their chores at home and show respect to others. However, I can’t expect them to be perfect. They are going to fight with each other. They are going to fail. They are going to do things that make me want to crawl into a hole. I cannot have unrealistic expectations for them and I need to love them even when they let me down.
When we were first married, I had lofty expectations of my husband. He needed to have a good job, treat me like a queen, be frugal with money and spend all of his free time with me. How hard could that be? I wanted him to give me the world on a silver platter, and when that didn’t happen (imagine that!), I was disappointed.
When I raised my expectations of him to such a high level, there was no way he could reach them. Not even with an extension ladder or a ten-foot pole. It caused a lot of tension in our marriage when he wanted to golf on Saturdays instead of spending time with me. What I didn’t realize was that since he excelled at golf, playing 18 holes was a way for him to do something he was good at and to blow off steam. Steam that may have come from the weight of my expectations!
In the end, I decided to take up golf myself so we could play together. Now our whole family can golf and it’s a fun way to spend time together. It still gets a little tense when golf season rolls around, but I’m working on being supportive – or at least tolerant of the time spent golfing. I’m trying to accept my husband and encourage him, even if it includes golf!
In the book “One Month to Live” by Kerry & Chris Shook, there’s a section about accepting others. They say, “One of our greatest problems in relationships is that we’re always trying to change the people we’re relating to. To accept others means that we stop trying to change them and we start trying to understand them.” They cite Romans 15:7 which says, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
My daughter and I recently saw the movie, “Tooth Fairy” starring Dwayne Johnson (previously known as “The Rock”), who plays a washed-up professional hockey player. After one hockey game, Johnson meets a little boy who idolizes him. The little boy looks at his idol and says, “One day I’m going to play in the big leagues just like you!” However, instead of encouraging the kid, Johnson tells him how hard life is as a hockey player and that only a small percentage of kids who play hockey ever end up playing it professionally. He goes on and on with his tirade and then ends by saying, “Lower your expectations.” I’m pretty sure that’s not what the boy wanted to hear from his hero.
However, it may actually be a good concept for relationships. Maybe if we could lower our unrealistic expectations of others, we would enjoy our relationships more. There are some things like honesty, trust & loyalty that are essential to relationships, but there are other things that are not. If we’re looking to others to meet needs that only God can meet, then our expectations will always fall short.
Prayer: Lord, I want to look at others through Your eyes. I don’t want to judge others or put urealistic expectations on them. Just as You accept me as I am, please help me to accept others. I want to bring You praise by accepting others as a beautiful creation You made.
If you want to know more, read Matthew 7:1-5 and Romans 15:7-13.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Easter Fortune Cookie
Have you ever sung a song over and over in your head and then later realized you’d been singing the wrong lyrics? It’s happened to me before, and it’s also happened to my daughter. Once, she was convinced Taylor Swift’s lyrics “Didn’t kiss him and I should have” were “Didn’t kiss him on the shoe head.” No matter what we said, we couldn’t convince her otherwise.
We sang a song at church last Sunday called “Lead Me to the Cross.” I’ll list some of the real lyrics and then I’ll explain how I was singing them wrong. The song begins:
Savior I come, quiet my soul, remember
Redemption’s hill, where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear, I count it all as lost.
Lead me to the cross, where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down
Bring me to my knees, I belong to You
Oh lead me, lead me to the cross.
I realized I had always sung the wrong lyrics to this song. I was singing, “lead me to the cross, where your blood poured out” instead of “where your love poured out.” Literally, Jesus’ blood poured out, but in reality, it was His love that was pouring out for us. As we sang that song, I pictured Jesus on the cross, blood spilling down, love flowing out. Love for a human race that he chose to die for, regardless of whether we loved Him back or not.
Philippians 2:7-11 explains how Jesus took the nature of a servant in human likeness, humbling Himself to die on a cross. He was the perfect sacrificial lamb, and He took on our sin when he died. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” All we have to do is receive the gift He’s offering.
As I was thinking about Easter and the significance of celebrating this holiday, a funny thing happened. I was eating at my favorite Chinese restaurant with my mom and I opened my fortune cookie at the end of our meal. It read, “You will soon receive an unusual gift freely given. Accept!” If that isn’t a good fortune for Easter, I don’t know what is! Who knew the fortune in a cookie could hit the mark so perfectly?
What about you? Have you accepted? Will you accept? It’s a gift freely given, and it’s yours for the taking. Thank goodness the gift of eternal life God gave us by sending His Son is not just a fortune; it’s a reality.
If you want to know more, read John 19:16-30.
We sang a song at church last Sunday called “Lead Me to the Cross.” I’ll list some of the real lyrics and then I’ll explain how I was singing them wrong. The song begins:
Savior I come, quiet my soul, remember
Redemption’s hill, where Your blood was spilled
For my ransom
Everything I once held dear, I count it all as lost.
Lead me to the cross, where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down
Bring me to my knees, I belong to You
Oh lead me, lead me to the cross.
I realized I had always sung the wrong lyrics to this song. I was singing, “lead me to the cross, where your blood poured out” instead of “where your love poured out.” Literally, Jesus’ blood poured out, but in reality, it was His love that was pouring out for us. As we sang that song, I pictured Jesus on the cross, blood spilling down, love flowing out. Love for a human race that he chose to die for, regardless of whether we loved Him back or not.
Philippians 2:7-11 explains how Jesus took the nature of a servant in human likeness, humbling Himself to die on a cross. He was the perfect sacrificial lamb, and He took on our sin when he died. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” All we have to do is receive the gift He’s offering.
As I was thinking about Easter and the significance of celebrating this holiday, a funny thing happened. I was eating at my favorite Chinese restaurant with my mom and I opened my fortune cookie at the end of our meal. It read, “You will soon receive an unusual gift freely given. Accept!” If that isn’t a good fortune for Easter, I don’t know what is! Who knew the fortune in a cookie could hit the mark so perfectly?
What about you? Have you accepted? Will you accept? It’s a gift freely given, and it’s yours for the taking. Thank goodness the gift of eternal life God gave us by sending His Son is not just a fortune; it’s a reality.
If you want to know more, read John 19:16-30.
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