Music Monday - {Steady My Heart}

Steady My Heart by Kari Jobe

There are days when the words that I pray just fail to match my emotions.  When that happens and my heart hurts, I just pray these words back to God and it helps.  It makes me feel like I have been heard by the One who cares.


When praying it gives me perspective to know that Someone cares.  It doesn't take away my circumstances, but I can think about how God likes to hold my heart.  When I pray "steady my heart" then I know I have what I have prayed for.  What I have learned is that sometimes God will remove what is making my heart hurt, or He will hold me through what hurts, or He will guide me through it, causing me to not look at the fallout but just staring at his firm steady hands as they hold me.


Even when it hurts
Even when it's hard
Even when it all just falls apart
I will run to You
‘Cause I know that You are
Lover of my soul, Healer of my scars,
You steady my heart, You steady my heart


I'm not gonna worry
I know that You've got me
Right inside the palm of Your hand
Each and every moment
What's good and what gets broken
Happens just the way You plan


And I will run to You
I'll find refuge in Your arms
And I will sing to You
‘Cause of everything You are
You steady my heart



When life hurts you, or people disappoint...when pain weaves it's way in and through your body, when you have prayed and prayed and you feel like you are out of words...just pray these words back to God.  It helps.


When you think that God has forgotten about you and your problems, He hasn't.  His delay is not His denial.  Ask Him to steady your heart until He works His best for you.

  " What, then, shall we say in response to these things? 

If God is for us, who can be against us? 

 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—

how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" ~ Romans 8:31-32

What also helps is knowing that all good things come from God.  So if I have to wait, or seek His best answer in ways that are different,  I too can know my response to God...and have a steady heart.

Five Minute Friday [Refuge]

Refuge is used 90+ times in the NIV Bible

Want to guess as to which book in the Bible used the word "refuge" the most?


A refuge is a hiding place.  David hid a lot.  He hid mostly in the crevices and caves from those who wanted to do him harm.  The most interesting part of his hideout plan was that he found the real Refuge.  


There's something about spending some quiet time in one place and being still before the Lord that brings protection and peace.


In David's effort to find physical shelter from those who wanted to kill him, he found a safe spiritual hideout that centered his faith on His steadfast God who offered him some sacred immunity.


David had some low times when he lamented to God and he wanted to give up.  He sought God as his refuge, and his life was preserved.  God provided safe haven.  

If you are going through some tough times today, know that God will cover your trouble with His providential care to protect and preserve, to offer asylum from your current ambush, and will hide your heart into his hiding place.  God's shelter is a secure shield and a stronghold to cling to.  His peace is a safe sanctuary that stopgaps, a strong tower that brings refuge. 

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging."  Ps. 46: 1-3

Music Monday [Always]

I love the truth that lives in these lyrics by Kristian Stanfill.  If anyone tells you life as a Christian is easy, it's not true.  And really...it shouldn't be.  If it was, then we wouldn't need God.  God knows just what we need, when we need it, and how we need.  I am thankful that God is always for us.  When trouble surrounds me, this song surrounds me with truth.


In my walk there are many foes.  When they rise up against me, I must remember that God is for me.  When things don't make sense I must trust.  When there are storms, I ask God to calm them, but many times instead, He calms me and leads me through them.  I have learned to lean on and lean in. 


Nothing else works as well as God does.  He is my help...always.


Oh sure there are times of fear, weak faith, and doubt but one thing I do know...God's promises are true and right.  He will come through on His time, on His schedule, and for my good.  There are times of wait that I don't need to understand.  But I do need to know that I am not alone.  I need to know that God will not desert me in my desert.  He is my help.  He is Faithful.

Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always
These lyrics help me keep my eyes on Him, and the troubles of this world soon fade.  Whatever is clamoring for your attention isn't as important as who God is.  God is for us and God is good.  Always. 


Remember His Goodness.  Always.

Music Monday

As I sit here and listen to the wind blowing so hard around our house, it reminds me of how life is such a swirl sometimes, at least it is at our house. The constant squeak of the loose tin flopping in the Oklahoma wind on our already-broken-down

garage tells me there is repair needed outside as well as inside this joint. I often sigh at the work that needs to be done. I know that God often sighs at the work that needs to be done....in my heart.

Life swirls with life. Life circles with pain, sadness, darkness, happiness, joy, peace, good times, and bad times. I could go on and on about this. I have years of experience living these crazy life circles. I have given up on asking the "Why me?" question. Here's why...I know my Savior and He has the best in store for me....always. Even when it appears that everything in my current life circle is against me.

The swirling circles that surround me are for His purpose. The valleys, the hills, the crags, the precipices (oh yeah, that's a big word...look it up!) the cliffs, the smooth garden paths, the thin places, the thick places, and the silent and long journeys in the desert. All those are carefully crafted at the hand of my Savior.

Life is so hard to take right? Yes, it is, but one thing we can take away from these situations, circumstances and potential growth opportunities is that God is. God is our refuge. God is our salvation, God is our hope. This is what I cling to when life doesn't make sense.

The lyrics of Stronger by Mandisa mean a lot to me right now.

"Thinking about how your world ain't right
And you wonder if things will ever get better
And you're asking why is it always raining on you
When all you want is just a little good news
Instead of standing there stuck out in the weather

Oh, don't hang your head
It's gonna end
God's right there
Even if it's hard to see Him
I promise you that He still cares

(Chorus)
When the waves are taking you under
Hold on just a little bit longer
He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger
The pain ain't gonna last forever
And things can only get better
Believe me, this is gonna make you stronger
Gonna make you stronger, stronger, stronger
Believe me, this is gonna make you ...

Try and do the best you can
Hold on and let Him hold your hand
And go on and fall into the arms of Jesus
Oh, lift your head it's gonna end
God's right there
Even when you just can't feel Him
I promise you that He still cares"

These are some good words to focus on when life doesn't make sense. When you are hit with illness, financial strain, car repairs, denial by insurance for medical claims, $2000 blood tests and EF-4 tornado's. When life slaps you hard in the face....you have to cling to something. My lifeline is God. I don't know the whys, but I know the Who. I am God's, His, and He is my Refuge. Psalm 119:114 "You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my only source of hope."

I could use a little good news, how about you? What life circle is slapping you hard right now?