I made a promise to love You, and nothing can change my mind...

I have a slight music obsession :) So, from time to time you will see a random post (much like this one) where I will share my current "favorite" song.

I have been patiently awaiting the release of Cindy Cruse Ratcliff's first solo project in 17 years "Twenty Three"... and it was in the mail today! I had already heard most all of the songs on YouTube from Lakewood services and the release concert/worship service she had recently. One of the ones that I've listened to over and over and over is called The Promise. The album version is awesome. Amazing. However, I think everything is better live, especially when you have someone who can *sing* without being overdubbed and mixed to sound "radio friendly". So, I present to you The Promise... live from the release concert... please get some kleenex...

[Note: This video begins with "23", which is a fantastic song featuring Lincoln Brewster on the album cut, but if you would like to skip ahead you may fast forward to 4:35...]



I can't get those words out of my head... "I made a promise to love You, and nothing can change my mind." In fact, every time I think about that line I can feel my throat tighten up and my eyes sting. Shouldn't we all be thinking that way?

Nothing can change my mind.

When I find myself in a hard place...

Nothing can change my mind.

When I feel alone...

Nothing can change my mind.

When I'm about to give up because I can't see the finish...
When I'm impatient with Him...
When I'm broken before Him...

Nothing can change my mind...

The Promise
Written by: Cindy Cruse Ratcliff & Alexa Cruse
Produced by: Cindy Cruse Ratcliff

Rest assured, unashamed
I'm running after You
Unsatisfied with apathy
My heart it seeks Your Truth
And on this day and on my knees
I make a vow to You
And in return I'll know Your Name
Gain a life in You

Chorus:
And I have promised to love You
With everything, my offering
And I have promised to give You
My life, my all for Sovereign's call
I made a promise to love You
Nothing can change my mind

So secure, unafraid
Completely rest in You
I'm satisfied here on my knees
My heart it beats Your Truth
Forevermore with everything
I make a vow to You
And in return I'll know You Grace
You make all things new 

Chorus:
And I have promised to love You
With everything, my offering
And I have promised to give You
My life, my all for Sovereign's call
I made a promise to love You
Nothing can change my mind

A life within Your Promise
A love without an end
Your Grace You pour upon us
Cleansed and free from sin

Chorus:
And I have promised to love You
With everything, my offering
And I have promised to give You
My life, my all for Sovereign's call
I made a promise to love You
Nothing can change my mind

**I'd love to know... what's your current favorite song? Any you would recommend?

Blessings,

I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy

I may have before mentioned sweet Angie Smith. She is the wife of Todd Smith (lead singer of Selah), author of an amazing blog entitled Bring the Rain, and half of the team that runs the also amazing online Bloom Book Club. Angie has now written a very personal and very beautiful book by the name of I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief and Joy. Even the dedication page speaks volumes in just four words: "For her... For Him."

From the description on the back cover:

"Angie Smith was eighteen weeks pregnant with her fourth daughter, Audrey Caroline, when doctors discovered conditions leaving Audrey "incompatible with life." Faced with the decision whether to terminate the pregnancy, Angie and her husband chose to carry Audrey for as long as she had life. This began what turned out to be three months of loving and carrying a little girl that was not expected to live more than a few minutes.

Audrey Caroline lived for over two hours, weighing three pounds, two ounces. Yet, in the midst of the sorrow of loss, there was still joy. Angie weaves the faith-filled story of Audrey Caroline with a biblical story of hope to help us all to understand how better to cope with loss and disappointment..."

I've been meaning to write this post for almost a week now, and the thing is... I don't know that I  can put to paper (or rather, the screen) how much Audrey's story has impacted my life. The raw, unrelenting faith of Todd and Angie. The hugeness of our God and how He comforts even in sorrow... how He indeed does bring joy in the midst of the grief. I wish so badly I could condense it all down to a few paragraphs for you. The enormity of it all is still so fresh on my heart.

I discovered Angie's blog a little over a year after Audrey was born, and I read every word of every post in around two or three months. I cried. I prayed. I laughed, then cried some more.  I was captivated by the fact that someone would be so real and so open to basically total strangers. What also blew me away was the community of women (and men) who genuinely prayed and believed and related to Angie's story. Women who had suffered the loss of a child or were themselves in the middle of a difficult diagnosis for their unborn began to share their stories in the comments section and e-mails to Angie. Do you know what else? They found a place where they knew their needs would be prayed for. Women coming together to lift each other up in the midst of such brokenness and sadness. The love of Christ flowed so freely, whereas it's so difficult sometimes to find that in our everyday. We're often too busy or too distracted to notice the opportunity to reach out to the hurting and the weary. Even before she was born, Audrey was changing lives and introducing countless numbers of people to her Creator.

Angie often says that even at just over three pounds, Audrey had weight in this world. Indeed she did. Her story and her legacy will live on through Angie and Todd and a host of others who came to know this beautiful baby girl. All I have left to say is I encourage you to get this book. It's not a long read and it's incredibly well written. In fact, to make it even easier for you... Angie's book is now offered as a limited time FREE digital download from Barnes & Noble!! Get it while you can! :)

This is no way does justice to the impact the Smith family story has made in my own life. I can only hope you'll find out for yourself what a huge blessing came in a three pound package.

Blessings,

Psalm 93

I love this Psalm. I think it has amazingly beautiful imagery and it speaks volumes in just 5 short verses. Take a minute or two and read through this out loud. Soak it up. Linger on the words until you feel them really penetrate to your spirit today.

1 The Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. 

The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.

2 Your throne was established long ago; You are from all eternity.

3 The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their 

pounding waves.

4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea -- the Lord on 

high is mighty.

5 Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns Your house for endless days, O Lord.

Hiatus?

That's what I'm leaning towards calling my prolonged procrastination :) I've been in a dry spot creatively, so I fell out of the Blogosphere for a while. However, new posts should be arriving soon! Hopefully you'll find it interesting... but if not, at least my attempt may be amusing.

Also note that a group of bloggers are now in the Dominican Republic (DR) with World Vision and will be blogging about their experiences there. The button for Jessica Turner's blog The Mom Creative is on the left of my page, and you can follow the other bloggers at their respective blogs:

Briana from Bargain Briana
Jill from The Diaper Diaries
Andrea from Mommy Snacks
Amanda from Oh Amanda

I can't stress how important it is for us to act on what we see. The photos and videos you will see posted by these women are real. The poverty is real. The children are real. More importantly... hope is real. God is real. We are all able, even in our financial "instability", to give out of our abundance one way or another. For $35 a month a child can eat, get an education, form a bond with someone they know will pray for them and who genuinely cares for their well-being. You could be that someone. I'm not here to push some infomercial garbage down your throat, guilting  you into sending some money. I'm telling you from having experience in a third-world country... you can do some good. You can change a life. You can be hope and faith and love to a child. You can help a hurting kid understand that Jesus is real and He loves them and will provide for them. Just consider it. If you feel so led, act on it.

Blessings,

Tree On a Hill

[Feb. 2009]

I was driving home down a very familiar road and something caught my eye that I had never really taken notice of before. There was one lone evergreen pine tree at the top of a hill surrounded by dead trees of various kinds. It was a really pretty sight. My only thought at the time was, “I wish I could stop and take a picture of that.” As I continued to drive, the voice of the Lord was so clear in my spirit. “That tree represents my people. You are to be like that tree.”

Wow.

Do you know why that tree remains green all year round? It is an “evergreen”, but what is different about it from the other kinds of trees, you ask? Every needle on an evergreen pine tree is coated in a very thick water-proof wax. A protective covering.

Jesus was sent to us as a Savior. His purpose on this earth was to shed His blood so that we might have a protective covering. The blood of Jesus is our protective covering.

      Romans 5:9 – “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” (NKJV)

      Ephesians 1:7-8 – “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” (NIV)

      1 John 1:7 – “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (NKJV)

Another important detail is the shape of the “leaves” of this tree. They aren’t broad flimsy leaves. We see most trees with big leaves that turn pretty colors in the fall and then turn brown and fall off in the winter. Not so with the evergreen pine. It has needles that are long and slender, allowing enough space only for the water it needs to survive, which it stores all year in order to survive in the winter… the hard times… the bleak months.

      John 15:5-8 – “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (NIV)

      John 4:13-14 – (Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well) “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of living water welling up to eternal life.” (NIV)

One would think that all of these long and skinny needles are fragile or easily broken, but on the contrary, they are tough and very resilient to the elements. An evergreen’s needles are always a vibrant green and stand out among other types of trees, especially in the winter months. They are different. Their needles don’t change from color to color, season to season, eventually losing any color altogether. Green… alive… year round.

We can obviously equate these “other trees” with those in the world. Changing continuously, not sure which “color” to be, their “broad leaves” soaking up whatever comes their way and letting it change their appearance and character. We are to be imitators of Christ. Set apart. Different. Alive in Him.

      Leviticus 20:26 – “You are to be holy to me (my holy ones) because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” (NIV)

      I Peter 2:9 – “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (NIV)

God is so awesome. Even His creation cries out in worship to Him. One lone evergreen pine tree on a hill top. God’s promise to us that even in the winter months, when times are the darkest, the coldest, and the loneliest… we will survive… but only by His power and the merciful blood of His son Jesus.

      Psalm 96:11-13 – “Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord, for He comes, He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His truth.” (NIV)

      Psalm 98:7-9 – “Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord...” (NIV)

Come to Jesus

I love Point of Grace. I think they are incredibly talented and gifted women of God, not to mention they are seriously funny and so down-to-earth. They just released their new album No Changing Us, and it is awesome! The very last song on the CD is titled Come to Jesus (not the same song as the one by Chris Sligh). I watched a YouTube video of Denise Jones talk about the song and why they chose it for the album, and I wanted to share that here with you guys. I'll also post the lyrics below the video for y'all to read. I highly recommend you go out to iTunes and download the whole album or it's available at Target, Wal-Mart, and Amazon for some reasonable prices (iTunes = $9.99 & Target = $10.99 for your cheapest buys). I hope everyone (all 2 of you) is having a great week!



Come to Jesus
 This is for the weary and the weak
This is for the desperate and ashamed
This is for the hopeless hiding in the shadows
Cupping hands around a flicker of faith

This is for the one's who don't belong
This is for the silent castaways
This is for the sinner peeking through the stained glass
From a sidewalk in the cold driving rain

Chorus:
We all fall down
We all need saving once in a while
You are not alone
We all lose faith and lean on mercy
And through our darkest night, He said He'd wait for us
Just come to Jesus

For anyone who's given up on God
For those who've tripped and fallen out of grace
For anyone who's lookin to the bottom of a bottle
For the strength to make it through another day
(Chorus)

He did not come to raise the living or touch the eyes of those who see
It was for the bitter and burned-out
It was for the unforgivable
It was for the failure, standing on the bridge, because the guilt's too high a price to pay to live
(Chorus)

In the Season of Rain, Pray for Rain

If you've noticed the (in)courage button on the left of my page, maybe you've clicked over there a few times and read some of their awesome posts. If you didn't happen to read yesterday's post by Lisa-Jo, I encourage you to do so :)

You may remember a few posts back when I told you I liked to think and pray while doing the dishes? Well, so does Lisa-Jo, and she is more talented with her words than I am... so go read it!