The Song in our Hearts

I love Christmas carols. I love listening to them in the car or when I’m cleaning the house. Anytime really. They put a smile on my face and a spring in my step. There is a danger, however, when we hear them so often. We can sometimes forget the meaning behind the words. We can enjoy the music, but forget the message.

Silent night. Holy night. Let’s not forget the hush of awe that night holds for us. Our Lord and God came to earth as a mere babe. He experienced the pain and ugliness of life for us. He wept for us. He gave us hope when we had none.

Let our praise for our Lord be the song that sings in our hearts – not just in this season, but always.

May you all have a blessed Christmas.

What’s your favourite Christmas Carol?

Insufficient Words

There are insufficient words for the gratitude I feel for my life,
for the people whom I love,
for the countless gifts and blessings I’ve received.

I can’t express the thankfulness I feel for the power of a smile,
for the touch of reassurance
and the support of a helping hand.

I can’t articulate my appreciation for the world we live in,
for the smell of Jasmine in the morning,
for the cleansing rains,
for the shade of a tree in summer
and the warmth of a blanket in winter.

All I can do is kneel at my Lord’s feet and praise His Holy Name.
He knows my heart. He hears the words I can’t express.

He delights in you and me.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Psalm 100:1-3 (NIV)

A Spring in My Step

There’s a spring in my step

When the blossoms bud like jewels

And the world embraces renewals.

It reminds me of Christ

And the promises He made

So I no longer need to be afraid.

There’s a spring in my step

Because my Saviour’s blood did spill

So my underserved life will be fulfilled.

A plan set out by God

Conceived from the start

To speak to my trembling heart.

There’s a spring in my step

Because my Lord did inspire

A spark that became a fire.

I wrote this to celebrate the first day of Spring here in Australia. The photo is my rosemary bush in flower.

Meanings: Amen

I remember as I child I prayed to God late at night when I should have been sleeping. I would ramble on with Him and tell Him all about my day, my hopes, my dreams. I knew I should finish the prayer and say, “Amen”, but I thought the word was like a goodbye or a door that closed. I didn’t want to speak it because I wanted God to stay with me forever. I didn’t realise then He would never leave me. I didn’t realise “Amen” didn’t mean, “Ok, I’m done talking with you, Lord. You can go now.”

The word, ‘Amen’, instead means, “It is so” and it is derived from the Hebrew āmēn which means “truth”, “certainty”, and “verily”. It’s not a goodbye or a full stop. It is so much greater than mere punctuation.

To me, it is a declaration of God’s Truth. It is a one word song of praise to Him. It is a mighty agreement to His presence in my life.

What does the word mean to you?

Forgive me O Lord

I come to you battered.

I come to you broken.

I am not the creature I want to be.

Please, forgive me O Lord.

You are worthy

You are mighty

You are purity and perfection.

Please, forgive me O Lord.

Surround me with your love

Show me your mercy

Teach me your ways

Be my Comfort and my Rock

You are my Heart and my Forever.

I thank you, O Lord, for forgiving me.

Finding Home

Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;

save me and I will be saved,

for you are the one I praise.

Jeremiah 17:14 (NIV)

Believe this truth and it shall be done.

Believe it and your world will open

in a way you may not have ever imagined.

Praise your Lord

and discover that

He is your Master

Your friend

Your life

Your everything.

You will find love.

You will find belonging.

You will find peace.

You will find Home.

Wallpaper of the Week - Psalm 106:1

This is a view of the coastline looking towards Wollongong, south of Sydney, Australia.

Psalm 106:1 is a wonderful verse to meditate on. We truly can praise our Lord because He truly is good and His love really does last forever.

Amen.

Seeds of Praise

Deb at Truth's Vessel started a post about Seeds of Praise.

She challenges us to answer the below questions, then cut and paste this survey on to your site for your friends to answer. She says, "Before we know it, together we will have planted a huge garden of PRAISE! Let's see how far we can scatter our 'seeds of praise'!"

Seeds of Praise Survey

1. Give one instance when you didn't feel like praising God, but did anyway.

2. List three circumstances in your life that you'd like to praise God for.

3. Share four people you praise God for bringing into your life.

4. List three bloggers who's sites you praise God for.

5. Name a Character of God that You wish to praise Him for.

6. Give two verses of Scripture that cause your heart to praise God.

7. Share an acrostic ("P" is for Papa, "R" is for Redeemed, "A" is for Adoration ....) for P.R.A.I.S.E.

8. Openly share what praise means to you.

I will copy/paste my answers I put on her site in the comments section below

Awesome

Do you ever get a word stuck in your head that you then use everywhere? Is it like one of those horrible tunes that won’t go away? Do you fight it or do you just go with it?

Well that’s happened to me. My word is “awesome”. You’ll probably pick it up in many of my comments and have a quiet chuckle to yourself.

It’s not like a word I could really use that often, but somehow I manage it. I recently read somewhere that overusing ‘awesome’ is outdated and indicates someone who wants to appear younger than they are. How awesome is that?

Well, despite that, I love awesome. Awesome is such an awesome word, so I decided to go with it.

God the Father is awesome.
I am filled with awe for His love and His patience and His power.

God the Son is awesome.
I am awestruck by what Jesus did for me.

God the Holy Ghost is awesome.
I am filled by the Spirit. I am guided by Him. I am over-awed by this.

Every one of the gifts God gives me is awesome.
I can’t fathom all that He does for me, or all that He gives me.

My God is awesome. There aren’t enough words to describe this awesomeness.

What else do you find awesome? Do you love the word as much as me? Is there a word that you get stuck on as well?

photo: an awesome sunrise in Victoria, Australia

Our Gardener

I’m a terrible gardener. Plants are always dying on me, flowers hardly bloom, and my vegetables come out looking like mutant runaways from another planet. I did, however, have brief success with a succulent. I managed to grow a small carpet of pigface amongst the weeds of my garden. It bloomed into the most vibrant orange flowers I’d ever seen in my life.

This photo is not doctored in any way. It shows their true colour in sunlight. They seemed like little flames of glory in my broken garden. They didn’t last long but afterwards I successfully grew a pink batch. These are the flowers you see all over my blog.

Needless to say, God is a better gardener and we are even more beautiful and special to Him than the pigface was to me. Our Lord carefully tends to our needs, ensuring we never grow thirsty. He removes our weeds and makes sure we grow strong in Him. When we bloom, we shine with His glory. We stand out amongst the ruin like beacons to His nurturing love.

Praise be to God.