Karaoke Tuesday: "Love Song" by Jason Morant

♥ Are you in love with your God?
Are you excited to share your good news with Him?
Do you run to Him in times of great sorrow or need?
Does your God see past your walls? Your insecurities? Your facades?
Does He see into the darkest corners of your heart..... and love you anyway?

Just when I think I've found my top three favorite songs, I'll hear another that just rocks my world. This is one of those songs: Love Song by Jason Morant.  Read the LYRICS HERE.


Who really knows you the best? Your spouse? Your mom or dad? Your best friend?
Aren't there secrets that you've kept hidden still? Thoughts you've buried? Things that make you feel guilty... or ashamed... or just loser?

God sees that, you know. God looks through your skin into your inner core. He knows you at your very best... He knows you at your very worst. And still... still... He loves you.

HE LOVES YOU.

That is something to sing about.
That is what this song is about.

Last Sunday, our friend, Micah, sang this during Worship. It was amazing; rock on, Micah! I'm sure God was pleased to be honored. :)

Have you taken a moment to honor God as your closest friend? The one who sees through all of your pretenses, who knows you best, and who loves you alway?
If I was doing a "Casey Kasem long-distance dedication"... I'd dedicate this song to God. What about you?
Song: Love Song
Artist: Jason Morant
Album: Abandon
Hear this song on Last.FM.

Honor God With The Good!

It's easy to run to God with the problems or issues - but do we always remember to honor God with the good things? I'm taking a moment now...

I'm a digital crafter - and I create and sell my digital scrapbooking kits and embellishments through my digital crafting blog and website/store. I found out last week that my application to design for an outside scrap store was accepted!! Now digital scrapbookers can find my creations for sale at MooTwo Designs too! I'm a Moo Two girl!



When my application was approved, I remember sitting back in my den chair and taking a moment - just a quick one to shout out to God: "Do you see this? I was accepted! Thanks, God!" I was just thrilled to have someone like my creations enough to offer them through their store - and I wanted to share that news with God.

Have you take a moment to honor God with the good in your life? You know He gets lots and LOTS of prayer requests, lamentations, cursing, wailing, etc.... I bet He's appreciative when someone takes the time to just share the good news with Him. I'm sure you've got something good going on in your life that you could share with Him.

You know he's always listening!

Karaoke Tuesday: "God Loves Ugly" by Jordan Sparks

I chose this song for Karaoke Tuesday before I actually even heard it sung. It started by a chance viewing of the title... then off to read the full lyrics - and that, actually was enough for me. But I'm playing it now as I type, and it is worthy to be here. Jordan Sparks does a great job with it. :)

Here are the lyrics.


Raise your hand if you are 100% happy with who you are...
what you look like...
how you behave...
where you live...
where you came from...
how you act...
what you think...

Anyone? Anyone?

I know I'm not! There are countless things I'd change about me if that fairy godmother came by waving her magic wand. I have lots of moments when I feel like I'm not good enough, pretty enough, strong enough, smart enough, witty enough, compassionate enough, clever enough... the list could go on and on.

I was a "kick-me kid" in elementary school. A year behind everyone in my class age-wise, a year ahead of everyone in my class brain-wise. Put that with an urge to be in charge (i.e. bossy) and a lacking of how to play the "social" game of school, and you've got a kid who really didn't find friends in school until about 9th grade. That's almost a decade of feeling out-of-the-loop and lonely during the "formative" years.... and that's hard to shake. Even now, nearly 20 years past high school, I find myself trying to be

bigger,
stronger,
faster,
smarter,
funnier,
friendlier,
BETTER all of the time.

I strive to be.... enough.

But miraculously, with all of my flaws, with all of my insecurities, God loves me.
Just as He loves you.

He Love Us.

Each of us.

All of us.

Flaws, and blemishes, and scars, and hurts, and angst, and wounds, and all.

You can take your dirtiest, darkest, ugliest, most embarrassing secret - and GOD STILL LOVES YOU.

God did not send His Son to earth in a limosine with a small, perkily-dressed Chiwuawua on his arm. He sent Jesus to a stable with animals. And when Jesus died, it was not a State Event with flags at half-mast and digital, televised coverage for the masses. Jesus died tired, in pain, betrayed, and alone. There cannot be any angst you have felt or will feel that will eclipse the pain and shame Jesus felt on the cross. He KNOWS your pain. He FEELS your pain with you. He LOVES you, regardless.

Thank God, He loves "ugly." Because sometimes, in me, there's a lot of "ugly" to love! :) But by letting go of my insecurities, my angst, my issues and giving them over to God, I have the opportunity for God to take that "ugly" and change it in to something beautiful.

And so can you.

I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Romans, 8:39 ~ The Message

Have a blessed day,
♥Mags



Wanna listen? You can hear it here on Last.FM.
Title: God Love Ugly
Artist: Jordan Sparks
Album: Jordan Sparks

Enjoy!
♥Mags

I Found God In A Brick Wall...

By now you've probably seen the coverage of Randy Pausch - author of The Last Lecture - who died recently after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer. This computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University first spoke in September 2007: a lecture entitled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams. It's remarkable how Mr. Pausch remembered his dreams as he grew into adulthood and how many he could actually accomplish.

The lecture is fascinating - it has been turned into a best-selling book, you can listen to the lecture in it's entirely on YouTube, and you can read a transcript of the lecture as well.

There are many life-quotes spread throughout the lecture, but my favorite is about a brick wall:

"Brick walls are there for a reason.

The brick walls are not there to keep us out.

The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.

They’re there to stop the other people.”

I just love that idea - the idea that an obstacle in my path might have been placed there to give me a chance to prove that the prize on the other side is something I really, REALLY want. But I have to reconcile this idea with the one that I've written about before:

That God allows hardship in our lives to warn us we are on the wrong path.

Are the two mutually exclusive?

God wants us to be persistent - to never give up:

2 Chronicles 15:7 "But as for you, be strong and do not give up,

for your work will be rewarded."

But he also wants us to pay attention to the signs He provides when we are straying from the path He has set before us. So how do we discern which message to head? When does "persistence" make way for "get a clue?"

My first thought is that God would not use a brick wall... but something even sturdier - a reinforced, bullet-proof, steel wall of infinite height and density... or he will erect many brick walls - a stumbling of hurdles blocking our path. Of course, people are often stubborn and ignore the bright, blinking warning signs that God provides. I suppose it is easy to take the brick-wall-is-merely-there-to-get-you-motivated idea and run with it willy-nilly through all blockages in your path. Perhaps we need some method of discernment? Can you ask yourself if the prize on the other side of the wall is something that God might want for you? Can you know that your methods of getting over the wall won't hurt another person in your quest? Will your Christian life be better for achieving your goals?

I'm all about rules - following the big ones AND finding loopholes in the others that would allow me to circumvent them altogether. I'd be the first to glare at the brick wall before me and find the angle that would allow me to climb over it, dig under it, wrap around it, or bust through it. But the brick wall is there for a reason - either to inspire me to want to get past it, to warn me that the path ahead is lined with hardships, or to thwart me completely from making a BIG mistake.

I guess for each wall, I just have to figure out which! :)

Good luck scaling the walls in your life,

:) Mags

I Found God In Rain...

Please forgive the quietness on the God Blog - we were on vacation to Tennessee with our best friends for the last 5 days. It seems fairly impossible that there is still ANY place left on this earth without an Internet connection, but we managed to find one! And although I was yearning to check email, to blog, to make some digital scrap kits, or to just mindlessly web-surf, I was blocked by the angry, red, Intel Wireless icon blinking "NO WIRELESS CONNECTION." Of course, this was probably God's reminder that this was a family vacation, and I wasn't supposed to be spending it on the computer, anyway. :) We had a wonderful time: swimming on Lake Norris, tubing (WOW! What a rush!), hiking (Okay... that was my husband, his friend, and all of the kids... I don't really like "nature..."), or just lounging around laughing. We are blessed to have such good friends with whom we can spend a week and not kill each other (the kids whacking each other with pool cues doesn't count, does it?!) :)

But when we returned today, I was anxious to power-up the laptop and check email (846 emails!), check my groups, read comments from the blogs (Whoo-hoo...there were some!), and pop in to all of my favorite web spots! In a Christian scrapbooking group I belong to, someone posted a link to an amazing blog called Bring The Rain. I wasn't familiar with the group, Selah, but apparently the wife of one of the singers has started this blog about her family's journey through a pregnancy that would not result in a baby to raise on earth.

Now I've mentioned before that my sister-in-law & brother-in-law lost their beautiful baby daughter, Julia Ellen, after only 6 days of life. She was born in April 2006 with the genetic abnormality called Trisomy 18. The complications that arise from the extra chromosome at the 18th place makes the chance of even a baby surviving delivery a long shot. But our Julia persevered, and her parents at least had 6 days to meet her, and hold her, and sing to her, and know her.

It has been 2 years since we attended Julia's memorial; and in that time, I have seen my in-laws' faith and love of God grow stronger - even in the face of the greatest loss they could imagine - the loss of their child. I read somewhere that "pain of that kind of loss never goes away; rather that you slowly become strong enough to bear it." I think that strength comes from one slowly releasing the reigns of control and handing over all of their worries and concerns and wishes and dreams to God. From what I've read so far (and I'm only in "March!") Angie, the author of the Bring The Rain blog, has truly done this as well. For a woman who is writing about the impending death of her child, Audrey Caroline, she has found God working miracles already in Audrey's life... even if that life only exists within Angie's womb.

If you are facing something so huge that it seems to eclipse your ability to think, to plan, to reason, to be - then please stop by Angie's blog. It is a story of hope - not of death - and I think it will bring you perspective and comfort.

♥Mags

I Found God In Grace...

The other day I was putting together a hasty lunch for my boys. It involved re-heating some leftover penne noodles from Carrabba's... quick, but one of my kids' favorite meals. They'll eat noodles anytime!!

As I passed out their plates, my youngest said, "Let's say grace to Momma because she made these yummy noodles!" Luke then proceeded to say our standard grace "God is great, God is good, Let us thank Him for our food" except for he subbed in "Mommy" instead of God. I had a moment of "Ack! Watch out for lightning!" But, I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. Receiving a genuine, no-one-prodded-him-into-saying-it THANK YOU from one of my kids always makes me feel really, really good. :)

I figured that God would share in my pleasure - given that Luke was following the whole Honor-Thy-Mother part of His commandments. And I wondered if God is just as tickled when one of His own children gives Him an honest thank you.

So often we are shrieking out to God in desperation, in peril, in stress, in anger, in frustration, in sadness, or in some major meltdown when life has us overcome. Very rarely, I suspect, do we stop and say a simple THANK YOU to Him for the blessings He has given us.




The last two days have been trying in my house. My husband had to travel this week, and we're still trapped in the humid summer days with no-school-to-keep-them-occupied which means the kids are driving each other (and me!) crazy at every turn. I know I've asked God more than once to zap my kids with the MUTE Button or gift me with a short period of deafness so I could have some peace and quiet. (He's chosen not to grant those blessings *sigh*) But when my son offered his thanks for the simple act of serving noodles for lunch, a lot of my frustration from the day just melted. A "thank you" can soften the hardest of hearts... and turn around someone's day.

And of all the beings in this world, I'm sure that God would appreciate some thanks as well.

Thanks for reading this blog today,
♥Mags

I Found God in the Movies: Dead Poet's Society

In college, I had a movie writing assignment - to write about the theme as it pertains to teaching (my major) in a movie of our choosing. One of my all-time favorites is Dead Poet's Society with Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, and Josh Charles; that was the film I chose for my essay.

How interesting that I would revisit this for The God Blog. It wasn't a "religious" movie, specifically - but the central theme revolved around discovering the beliefs and values you consider important... and then standing up for them. There was a quote from this movie that has always stuck with me... Not the "Carpe Diem" (Seize the day!) that Robin Williams' character, John Keating, was known to say... Not Captain, My Captain quoted by his students. This was just one more truism that Mr. Keating spoke - and it had a big impact on me.

He says...

You must strive to find your own voice,
because the longer you wait to begin...
the less likely you are to find it at all.

Your own voice. Do you have one?

Do you hold fast to your beliefs or do you cave under the pressure to fit in with those around you? Do you mimic the voices of others... never taking a stand for yourself? Are you silenced by the fear that people will make fun of you? Or are you just too lazy to take a stand on what you know is right?

Perhaps your voice is mumbled and muffled so that YOU won't be the one making waves or causing "discord?" Perhaps you don't have a voice at all. The platform of "no opinion" is certainly an easy and safe place on which to stand.

But the longer you wait to find what you believe in... the longer you stall on truly finding the lines you will not cross... the less likely you are to find your Voice at all. Your voice will become muted - dwarfed by the larger voices speaking out around you - and others will speak for you... instead of you speaking for yourself. When it comes to your faith... can you really afford to be silent?

Your own voice. Do you have one? And does your voice echo the voice of God?

God gave His people free will because He wants us to use it. He wants us to make choices and honor Him with our decisions. The tricky part for us is that often using our voice to glorify God brings condemnation from others. The Bible even tells us this:

"When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don't quit. Don't cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you've run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived. ~Matthew 10:21-23

If you haven't seen Dead Poet's Society, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's one that will stick with you - just as Mr. Keating's teachings did with his pupils. The boys in Mr. Keating's class found their Voice; they learned to think for themselves again... to stand up for their their beliefs - even in the face of disciplinary action, even in the face of great personal loss:

Can you imagine the changes in your life if the voice you find within yourself glorifies God? Mr. Keating climbs upon his classroom desk and says, "I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way." Standing up for God, the Bible, and Christianity - even if others roll their eyes at you and say "That's crazy..." or even if the herd brays "That's baaaaaaad," - needs to be one of the components in the Voice you speak. God stood up for you when he allowed His Son to sacrifice Himself for all of mankind. Isn't using your voice to stand up for God the very least you can do?

Mr. Keating shouts to his students:

In my class, you will learn to think for yourselves again!...
And as the powerful play of life goes on, YOU will contribute a verse...!

In a sea of millions of people in this world - all contributing a verse to the overall play of life, what will your verse say? How will your verse stand out from all the rest?

Speak. I'd like to hear your voice... especially if you leave a comment on this blog! :)

♥Mags

Karaoke Tuesday: "This Is Your Life" by Switchfoot

What's on your iPod?
Mine is packed with everything from Christian contemporary to Rock... Techno to Broadway musicals... 70's to 2000's... some grunge... some heavy metal... some bubblegum pop. I know all of the words to Metalica's Nothing Else Matters, Paula Abdul's Cold-Hearted Snake AND the entire High School Musical soundtrack... And I've found in writing this blog, that you never know where you'll find Divine inspiration!

This week's song is This Is Your Life by Switchfoot. It asks a simple question:

This is your life. Are you who you want to be?

WOW... that actually makes me feel... uncomfortable...

It's not asking "Are you WHERE you want to be?" "Where" would imply some status or accomplishment that I could easily shrug off with a careless, "Yes, I want to publish a book one day, but I've got time, right?"-kind of answer. Or "Sure... I might go back to teaching.. Who knows?"

Asking me "WHO I want to be" is an entirely different matter altogether...

Who DO I want to be, anyway?
I want to be honest.
I want to be funny - I love to make people laugh.
I want to be free of worrying about what people think of me.
I want to be a good mother... no... a GREAT mother.
I want to be a loving wife and best friend to my husband.
I want to be caring. I want to think of others ahead of myself.
I want to do right by my family.
I want to be thought of as "Christian."

Am I all of those things? Wellllllll... sometimes? Some days, I'm lucky if I achieve even half that! And although each day I start fresh trying to be those things, I know that my own pride, or arrogance, or preoccupation with my own activites often gets in the way of just WHO I want to be.

And each "failed" day builds up on me... weighing me down with it's garbage. That pile of regrets, and apologies, and guilt just builds higher and higher until it knocks me off of the path I've been trying to follow.

Switchfoot reminds us that "Yesterday is dead and over" - implying an alternative: to let go of the baggage and garbage that clouds our minds and hearts. That's easier sung about than actually done, isn't it?! But it just so happens that there IS a way to dump that garbage out of our souls:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest. ~Matthew 11:28

God knows that often we either come running to him shrieking "HELLLLPP MEEEE!" or come crawling to him crying in our exhaustion and despair. Fortunately, He scoops us right up and offers us comfort from the terrors or troubles that have knocked us down. With his ever-renewing Band-Aids of "forgiveness," He picks us back up and walks with us through our bumpy journey of life.
But he can't do our LIVING for us.
We are free to make our own decisions and our own mistakes. And it's those mistakes that sometimes have us looking back over our life wondering "What-in-the-Hades happened to me?! This is my life?!?! Are you serious?!" It is at that point where we must grab on to that free will God has provided us, and make some choices that put us back onto the path God intended for us to follow.
This IS your life: Are you who you want to be?
And if not, what are you going to do about it?
♥Mags

The Lyrics
Song: This Is Your Life
Artist: Switchfoot
Album: The Beautiful Letdown
Hear it on Last.FM!

I Found God In My Heart - Part 2

My story today is fairly UNrelated to the original "I Found God In My Heart" post, but since it involves "hearts," what else would I title it...? :)

My 4-year old is currently fixated on "floods" - He continually asks if it is going to flood, if it might flood, if it will flood, and other translations of the same question. At first I thought he was just afraid of thunderstorms, but his questions got more insistent (requiring a better answer than my standard "Um-Hm" or "Uh-uh,") AND often came in the middle of a sunny day. When he finally mentioned God, I realized he was fixated on the Noah's Ark story and the BIG flood.

I try to explain that God isn't going to flood the world again. My mother-in-law even helpfully reminded him about the rainbow and God's promise and all that. But he was still whining about drowning in a flood, and I was distracted trying to check email or something - so I said something uber-helpful like "You just have to listen to your heart when God is talking and hear him tell you that he won't flood the world again."

Nice answer, Mom.

He's 4.

He takes things literally.

The next thing I know, my son is contorted into some strange position on the sofa.. head all twisted up and cock-eyed. I start laughing and ask him what he is doing, to which he replies, "I'm trying to put my ear on my heart to listen to what God is saying in there!"

D'OH!

This reminded me that children - especially young children take just about everything literally. We sing so many fun Bible songs - many about Jesus being IN our hearts. You ever wonder how the kids take that? Because they are so trusting, do you think they envision a mini-Jesus walking around inside their bodies?

It makes me giggle... what their young minds might conjure up... but at least the idea is planted in their minds. And, as they grow older, hopefully, they will transition from the idea that there is an actual person inside their hearts to FEELING God filling their hearts and souls with His love, His Word, and His guidance.

Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment." Matthew 22:36-38

Following God's greatest commandment will allow the Lord to guide and protect my children - and allow them to accomplish all of the great plans He has for them...

... But until then... I'm going to have to be a little clearer on how I explain things... otherwise, my son is going to be permanently bent up like a pretzel! :)

Hug a little one today,
♥Mags

Not Cursed After All, They're Jesus Pants!

I ran a load of whites last night - included was the pair of cursed pants that I wrote about earlier this month. When the wash finished, I opened the door and my heart sank because inside was my husband's pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses.

After the rough-n-tumble spin cycle, they were scratched and cracked, a lens was out, and a few small slivers of lens glass were scattered through the clothes. I pulled out the frames and dug around for the missing lens; I felt badly for my husband who had recently purchased these - they were definitely ruined.

Apparently, as I was scavenging for the lens, I cut my finger on the edge. But I did not notice this as I transferred all of the whites to the dryer (I'm just going on the assumption that the filter will snag any stray pieces of glass... that's a good plan, right?!) By the time I got upstairs and handed my husband his demolished sunglasses, I noticed that my hand had blood all over it. No problem - wash off the cut finger, add a Band-Aid. We're good.

This morning, I opened up the dryer to get out the whites. The first item I pull out is the cursed pants... and I see big blobs of blood ALL over them. My eyes widen in panic -

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I realize that when I transferred the clothes to the dryer, my bleeding finger must have dripped blood all over my pants. My mind races as I pull out the other things:

• my husbands nice khaki shorts,
• two pairs of my favorite khaki shorts,
• 5 pairs of kids' shorts,
• lots of socks,
• and an assortment of underwear.

Nope.

Nope.

No.

Uh-uh.

Hmmmmm.


W O W. There wasn't any blood on the other clothes... just on the cursed pants. I laugh, at first, thinking, "well, of course, these particular pants would get stained with blood that was now set in with the heat from the dryer... that's the way these pants work, right?!" But then I started thinking some more... I had handled ALL of the other clothes -and by the time I got upstairs and realized that I'd been cut, there was a lot of blood. Why didn't the other clothes get ruined too?


And then I realized something:

I have misjudged the pants.

I don't think my pants are cursed. I think they are sacrificial pants... They are Jesus pants. Just as Jesus offered himself up to take the sin and stains from all of humanity, my supposed "cursed" pants seemingly throw themselves in front of stains and guard the rest of my clothes from damage.

I know you are grinning right now - and I promise you that I'm not really believing that my cotton, over-bleached, cargo Capri's have a literal mind of their own, BUT this blog is about finding God in everyday, ordinary life - and from this event on, my "Jesus Pants" will now remind me of His sacrifice every day that I wear them.


You've got to appreciate God and His sense of humor - and that he often has divine and unusual ways of getting a message to you. My message today came via a pair of pants. I love these pants! :)

Hope your day and your laundry is bright and unstained!
♥Mags