The Journey of a Soul

Just the other night, Emma prayed her bedtime prayer by herself for the first time.  She usually repeats after Jenni, but this time she said “Mommy, I do it “Jesus”!  Anytime she wants to pray, she just says “Jesus” So Jenni just said go ahead, Emma. 

Her words: “Jesus:  Today.  Keep us safe.  Good.  Tomorrow.  Amen.”

Translated: Dear Jesus, thank you for a nice day today.  Please keep us safe and help us to sleep good.  Help us to have a nice day tomorrow.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

As you can tell, she usually only repeats the last word of what Jenni gives her to ‘repeat.’ 

Doesn’t matter, it still melted me…

This is my buddy Chris Murphy having a little too much fun in the office jumproping with the phone cord.

Exodus 24:17 TNIV Chapter
To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

Deuteronomy 4:24 TNIV Chapter
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Hebrews 12:29 TNIV Chapter
for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Lord I’m tired
So tired from walking
And Lord I’m so alone
And Lord the dark
Is creeping in
Creeping up
To swallow me
I think I’ll stop
Rest here a while

And didn’t You see me cry’n?
And didn’t You hear me call Your name?
Wasn’t it You I gave my heart to?
I wish You’d remember
Where you sat it down

And this is all that I can say right now
And this is all that I can give

I didn’t notice You were standing here
I didn’t know that
That was You holding me
I didn’t notice You were cry’n too
I didn’t know that
That was You washing my feet

I was just thinking about the lyrics to David Crowder Band’s “You Alone” which talks about how God alone is our Father…How He alone is Good…How He alone is Savior….How because all of these things, “I am alive”. 

You are the only one I need
I bow all of me at Your feet
I worship You aloneYou have gven me more than
I could ever have wanted
And I want to give You my heart and my soulYou alone are Father
And You alone are good
You are alone are Savior
And You alone are God

I’m alive, I’m alive
I’m alive, I’m alive

I wonder right now if I really believe that…I mean really take it to heart.  If I believe that a relationship with God is all that I truly need, then wouldn’t all else pale in comparison?  Wouldn’t pain and joy be minimized by the realization that all is nothing without God?  Wouldn’t the successes and failures of this world be nothing more than mere trifles of the heart?  Wouldn’t the “fiery darts” of the evil one be almost laughable and easily deflected by our shield of faith in the One who loves us and whose grace is sufficient for us?  I just wonder how moving past the inellectual assent that God alone is my Father and moving on to really “TRUSTING” Him would change my life?  Would it change the world?  It just might!

1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

2 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.

3 My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?

4 Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

5 No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave ?

6 I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.

8 Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping.

9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.

10 All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

These verses speak the language of a heart truly humbled, of a broken and contrite spirit under great afflictions, sent to awaken conscience and mortify corruption. Sickness brought sin to his remembrance, and he looked upon it as a token of God’s displeasure against him. The affliction of his body will be tolerable, if he has comfort in his soul. Christ’s sorest complaint, in his sufferings, was of the trouble of his soul, and the want of his Father’s smiles.  Every page of Scripture proclaims the fact, that salvation is only of the Lord.  Man is a sinner, his case can only be reached by mercy; and never is mercy more illustrious than in restoring backsliders. With good reason we may pray, that if it be the will of God, and he has any further work for us or our friends to do in this world, he will yet spare us or them to serve him. To depart and be with Christ is happiest for the saints; but for them to abide in the flesh is more profitable for the church. – Matthew Henry