Lyrical Friday - Brokenness Aside

Happy Friday!
Before we get into this post, I would like to thank all of you who for two years have been faithful readers of this blog. I truly stand in awe of the Lord and His faithfulness. This blog was His vision and continues to be what it is by God's grace and all for His glory. Thank you. May the Spirit of the Lord fall afresh and anew upon you. May He bless you abundantly as you seek to know Him and make Him known.

Unto anniversary celebrations and lyrical business. Two years ago today, God spoke to my heart concerning a blog. I tried to push the still small voice aside but it would not go away. I gave the Lord five minutes. If in five minutes the blog had not received a name, an address, a theme and layout, I would not go through with this. Not kidding when I tell you that in five minutes it was all set us, from the "Lily Among Thorns" name to the first post. Obedience is what the Lord required and obedience is what this blog represents. While in the pit of despair, loneliness and brokenness, God called me out to take on the one role I did not want to take: a writer. When I fully surrendered to Him, He took me and equipped me with every spiritual blessing needed to accomplish the task at hand.

This amazing song my All Sons and Daughters is fitting for this birthday celebration. I am a sinner, and if you have been following this blog for any amount of time or know me personally, you know this to be true. If I am not failing in one area, I'm falling short in another. And that's OK because God takes brokenness aside and makes something beautiful out of it. Much like the two fish and five loaves in Mark 6, in and of ourselves we are not enough to do God's Word, therefore we too need to be broken in order for the Lord to do a miraculous work. The more He breaks us, the bigger the work He can do in us and through us. So whatever it is that you have, I encourage you to place it in the hand of Jesus. Yes, surrender fully and wholly and He will make something beautiful.

As for me, I am committed to the work that God desires to accomplish through this blog. My  life is as the two fish and five loaves, and I pray that this would be a perpetual place of encouragement and life-giving to you.

Brokenness Aside, All Sons and Daughters

Will your grace run out

If I let you down

Cause all I know

Is how to run

Will you call me child

When I tell you lies

Cause all I know

Is how to cry

chorus

I am a sinner

If its not one thing its another

Caught up in words

Tangled in lies

You are a savior

And you take brokenness aside

And make it beautiful

Beautiful

bridge:

You make it beautiful

You make it beautiful

happy birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday to this blog! 

With so many events happening, I haven't carved out the time to post on this wonderful occasion. Post coming soon. God bless you!

Sentence Tuesday

When our hearts are set on the pursuit and acquisition of vain and material things, we forget that our greatest riches are found in Jesus.

-Maky Fernandez

temptation

Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. 

The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Matthew 26:41

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:31 

God has pledged an escape route each and every time. Learn to deal with temptations: immediately, realistically, ruthlessly, consistently, and confidently. -Alistair Begg

Addiction

Good Saturday to you!
I was so blessed and encouraged to read Francine Rivers' blog post this morning and without hesitation I am sharing it with you. May the Lord speak both wisdom and comfort to you. May He bless you abundantly.

Addiction
By Francine Rivers
Www.francinerivera.com

Upon our return from the Panama Cruise, Rick and I learned someone we love dearly had disappeared. We knew what that meant and our hearts sank. Some knew where he was out there in the night going through his own private hell. All we could do was wait and pray and hope the turn-around would come quickly and he wouldn’t die this time.

I’ve been told by recovering alcoholics that it’s the first drink that kills you. An alcoholic doesn’t start back at the beginning. An alcoholic starts where he/she left off and accelerates. Think of being on a slide. If you stop partway down and stop yourself, you’re still there. Lift your hands and down you go. Without the strength of God working in a person, giving up the things that kill us is impossible. To sum up the 12 step program: I can’t, God can, I think I’ll let Him.

Years back, I’m embarrassed to admit I didn’t pay close attention to the dirty, disheveled man holding a sign at the entrance to the freeway. Now, I look for them. I make eye contact. Sometimes I have enough time (before the car behind me is honking) to hand them a bottle of water or a Christmas box.

Why do I see them now? I’ve experienced the anguish of wondering where my loved one is and whether I’ll ever see that person again this side of heaven. I’ve heard the stories of what people go through out there, drunk and alone, looking at a dumpster as a possible warm, dry place to sleep for the night.

Jesus said the poor are always among us. And so they are. Poor in ways beyond not having money.

I try not to worry, but some in my family say I have a worry gene and so it is a miserable default pattern in my life to fall back into it. I have a good imagination. That’s a blessing when I’m writing a story. It’s a curse when I’m imagining all the things that could be happening to someone I love who is out there on the mean streets, homeless, hurting and too ashamed to call for help. Every time the phone rang, my heart jumped. Night time calls always seem to bring bad news.

We are at war. In Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re also in a war here at home, and this war has countless fronts.

What do I do? I pray through my long list of friends who are going through the same thing I am right now. I pray for the many I know who are struggling with addictions; drugs, alcohol, computer games, pornography, food, work. Our nation breeds addiction. Sometimes I lay awake and go through the lines of David’s Psalm 23 or make an alphabetical list of the attributes of God.

And that’s what brings peace in the midst of the storm. Knowing God, remembering how deep and wide and high His love is for each of His children. Knowing Jesus lived out 33 years as a man who faced and overcame every temptation and now stands as our advocate before His Almighty Father who longs for us to return to Him.

Wherever my loved one is, God is there, too, waiting for surrender, ready to lift and restore. God loves my loved one far more than I do. God has a plan in all this and it isn’t to tear us to pieces, but to build us up, to give us a future and a hope.

I may not like the pain that comes with waiting, but it’s in the waiting that my faith grows.

Lyrical Friday - Conquering Lion

Happy Friday! 
I am posting very early today because one of my best friends is getting married later today. I am so excited. Maybe I'll have her share her "love" story on the blog. Anywho, unto lyrical business. 
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Today's post, Conquering Lion, is one that is sure to get you kneeling and praying. The Lord has gently convicted me of my approach to unbelieving family, friends and strangers. As you read last week in Tear Down The Walls, God revealed to me that in pointing out someone's sin, I was not winning them over to the Lord but rather kicking a dead horse. He has taught me that love covers a multitude of sin and that if I am surely to win anyone over to Christ it will be by the power of the Holy Spirit's love. 
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This week, through the lyrics of this song and through a short passage in 1 Kings I want to to encourage you to pray for those in your life who do not know Jesus personally and intimately. 
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Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse, and finally he died. Elijah replied, “Give me your son.” And he took the child’s body from her arms, carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying, and laid the body on his bed. And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.” The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and the life of the child returned, and he revived! 1 Kings 17:17, 19, 21-22

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Dear Friends, may we be men and women who are prayer warriors as Elijah was. May we lay down our lives in prayer, standing in the gap for those who do not know the saving power and mighty grace of God. Through our prayers, immense strongholds and the strongest of chains can be broken. May our prayers be the fuel that revives these dead lives, may our prayers be heard by the Conquering Lion who can break any and every chain. 


Conquering Lion, Dominic Balli 



Bound up I saw him drowning today
He never look or even question
Is the burden of his free choice death
Cuz he can’t see and he can’t touch his chains
Well the Bible says to whom that you obey
To this one you become it’s slave, child
Either of sin leading to death or of
obedience leading to righteousness
Do those shackles bring freedom?

Chorus:
The Conquering Lion shall break every chain
The Conquering Lion shall break every chain
The Conquering Lion shall break every chain
Shall break every chain

Another day another time and I will break it then
My life, it’s my choice, I’ll choose how and when
But on the other side a battle cry
A fight for life and a life worth fighting for
Triumph’s loss if you never take it home
Victory is vain unless you claim your gold
One life to live you’ve got it one life to give
And when your freedom’s in the balance will you stand or fold?

Mind captive can you feel it pressing harder
Freedom born with now stolen by sin
Bound by your disbelief the fear enlarges
Conscience dead to what true love is
Liberty and justice, surety and fullness
America’s dream has not brought much contentment
Equality from within, prosperity and freedom
Is it just a figment of our imagination?
Or are we living free?

evening, morning and at noon

As for me, I will call upon God,
and the LORD shall save me.
Evening 
and morning 
and at noon
I will pray, and cry aloud, 
And He shall hear my voice.
Psalm 55:16-17


Do you have a need today?
Are you struggling? 
Is there affliction in your life? 
Pray!
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Do you know someone in need? 
Do you know someone who is struggling?
Do you know someone in affliction?
Pray for them! 
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How can I pray for you?

sentence tuesday

May we never close the doors of our churches to dying souls but rather usher them into the saving grace of God. 
-Raquel Rodriguez