May My Heart See...

Does your brain ever get overloaded?   Like full of so much you can’t shut it off?   I was thinking about what I should post next and different scriptures filled my mind.   Then I started thinking about worship and my last time in Bible study.   Then what about what my boss and I prayed about in his office last week . . . . back and forth – this or that – no, how about . . . but then’s there’s . . . . . Suddenly, a yearning for quiet came over me.   I tried to stop thinking.   Tried is the operative word here.    Finally, out of sheer frustration, I yelled,   QUIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Silence.   OHHHHHHHH, I needed that! In this busy world of noise, have you ever tried to stop, take a breath and quiet your mind?   Try it now, why don’t you?     Close your eyes.   Still your heart.   Revel in hearing “nothing” for a while.     Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; ...

Whether you know me personally or only know me through this blog, I think by now you know that I love music and most specially, Christian music.   This morning in worship, I had a wonderful experience that I would like to share.   We sang the song, Potter’s Hand .   Do you know that song?   I have linked a YouTube video at the end of this post in case you would like to hear it. The lyrics are from Isaiah 64:8, which says: Yet, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand. This morning, while I was song-leading, my friend, Leah, was in the back of the sanctuary offering the song up to her Lord with her hands and heart.   Oh, I couldn’t hear her voice, I just saw her.     While I sang words like, “take me, mold me, use me, fill me – I give my life to the Potter’s hand”, Leah was singing those words to her Potter, with eyes closed, hands lifted and heart surrendered. Leah, is a you...

Yesterday was my birthday and I don’t know about you but celebrating birthdays always makes me reminisce about the past.   Birthdays remind me of the differences (and similarities) of who I am now and who I used to be.    I don’t know how many of you know who I used to be – here’s my take on it.   My parents divorced before I was five years old.   I lived with aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends’ parents, my mom, my dad, my dad and his new wife and my mom and her new husband.   Needless to say, I moved around a lot!   I was confirmed in the local church but my mother didn’t attend.   My sisters and I went to church alone, or we pretended we went and walked over to the bakery and had donuts instead.    I really loved going to church but didn’t really feel welcome there and truly didn’t understand it all.   I listened though and still remember parts of the liturgy and music.   I had a yearning for it, if you know what...