Changing us, Calling us...

Music has always been a major force for me. Both in life situations, worship, and in God pouring out His word over me. I thought I'd share a few songs that have really impacted me recently in massive ways. Please please please listen to the lyrics. Actually watching the video isn't necessary, but listen to what they say. I know, I know. It's like 15 minutes. But if you're reading my blog, I think you can spare 15 minutes with this in the back ground. ;) Even if you're just checking emails. :P

First song: Tear Down the Walls by Hillsong United

The first time I heard this song, it was being sung by the excellent Jeff Henry (middle school minister at my church) during our "back to school bash". They had heard it at youth camp over the summer and as I heard 300+ students screaming out these lyrics, it floored me and never left me the same. I love this song and every time I hear it I just want to get up and scream it. :) And yes, a little dancing in front of the mirror while lip-syncing to it has occurred. :P Song and lyrics. Sing along with me. Possibly even in front of a mirror. ;)

Tear down the walls see the world

Is there something we have missed

Turn from ourselves

Look beyond

There is so much more than this

And I don't need to see it to believe it

I dont need to see it to believe it

Cause I cant shake this

Fire deep inside my heart

Look to the skies hope arise

See His majesty revealed

More than this life there is love

There is hope and this is real

Cause I dont need to see it to believe it

I dont need to see it to believe it

Cause I cant shake this fire burning

Deep inside my heart

This life is Yours and hope is rising

As Your glory floods our hearts

Let love tear down these walls

That all creation would

Come back to You

Its all for You

Your Name is glorious

Glorious

Your love is changing us

Calling us

To worship in spirit and in truth

As all creation returns to You

Oh for all the sons and daughters

Who are walking in the darkness

You are calling us to lead them back to You

We will see Your spirit rising

As the lost come out of hiding

Every heart will see this hope we have in You

*************

Second song: Burn for You by Fee

This second one has really inspired me recently and made me beg the question, "Am I just singing this? Or do I really, REALLY mean it? And if I do, how will that look in my life?" More about this in the future, hopefully, but in the meantime, enjoy the song. And ask yourself the same thing I asked myself.

There's a stirring in my heart

Unexplainable

There's a calling on my days

Undeniable, yeah

And there's a fire in my bones

Uncontainable

And it's causing me to burn

It's causing me to burn

It's causing me to burn

For you

I'll go anywhere

I'll do anything

At any cost for you

My King

There's a passion in my heart

For the world to see

Revival fires burn

A great awakening

And there's a raging fire inside

This soul of mine

And it's causing me to burn

It's causing me to burn

It's causing me to burn

For you, yeah

Oh, burn for you

Yeah, burn for you

To the ends of the earth

To the ends of the earth

To the farthest part

Til every heart has heard

To the ends of the earth

To the ends of the earth

To the farthest part

Til every heart has heard

There's a stirring in my heart

Unexplainable

And there's a calling on my days

Undeniable

And there's a fire in my bones

Uncontainable

And it's causing me to burn

It's causing me to burn

It's causing me to burn

For you

Burn for you

Yeah, burn for you

Oh, burn

Burn for you

Yeah, burn

Burn for you

To the ends of the earth

**********

Third song: Arms Wide Open by Hillsong (again)

I first heard this song from my sister. She's always nagging me to listen to some song or another, but for some reason I relented and listened to it. I'm so glad I did. We played it on repeat for about three hours as we reviewed Greek and Latin nouns. It's now one of my most favorite songs in the world and I love the part they all scream out. And to mean it! Do we mean it? And yet again what does that look like in our lives if we TRULY live that way?

Take my life I lay it down

At the cross where I am found

All I have I give to You oh God

Take my hands and make them clean

Keep my heart in purity

That I may walk in all You have for me

Oh here I stand

Arms open wide

Oh I am Yours

And You are mine

Take my moments and my days

Let each breath that I take

Be ever only for You oh God

Oh here I stand

Arms open wide

Oh I am Yours

And You are mine

My whole life is Yours

I give it all

Surrendered to Your Name

And forever I will pray

Have Your way

Have Your way

Oh here I stand

Arms open wide

Oh I am Yours

And You are mine

**********

So scream them out load to the sky, lip sync them in front of the mirror, whisper them a thousand times in the night, but above all, MEAN them. Words are worthless if they have no meaning behind them, and so are our lives.

An explanation..

A while back ago, I posted a poem/song that I've now come to find out was rather depressing and frightening to some people close to me.

Know this: I am not suicidal nor depressed, and never have been.

But I am a girl. Who struggles with the way people view her, with loneliness, with feelings of unworthiness.

I often write championing the cause of waiting and letting God be the one to fill the void in our lives. But the thing is, I can write all I want, and still not believe it myself.

I struggle! I'm human! I'm not perfect.

And the devil knows this. He knows my weaknesses. Those feelings of unworthiness, the fear of being alone. And he knows exactly how to play them.

I purposely was vague in that post, not wanting to offend or cause guilt to some friends of mine. You see, I spoke of prom.

Prom.

Oh the feelings of dread and joy associated with that word. An American tradition gone horribly awry.

You see, no one had asked me to go to the prom.

Now, many people might say "Just go with your friends as a group!" And many people did say that. But to me, and perhaps I was seeing a little too deeply into this, prom wasn't about the party. It wasn't about the limos, the dresses, the music.

It was about being asked. Asked to dance. Considered worthy enough to be asked.

And I wasn't asked. I didn't go. And I didn't dance.

That night I sat at home listening to depressing music, watching pictures of prom go up on facebook, and all I could think was, "Why didn't they ask...? What kept them from asking me...? Am I so undesirable to have as a date?"

And I forgot what mattered the most. I forgot how I had encouraged so many young girls to wait through highschool to date. I forgot my own commitment to wait. I forgot about the one God has waiting for me. I forgot about the ONE above who was quietly whispering, "I already asked."

And instead, I wrote that song. I vented my grief and despair over never having another prom (for I graduate this week) to go to, never being asked to dance. I let Satan have his way with my weaknesses. I let him manipulate those feelings of loneliness and unworthiness and that seeped in through the pictures on facebook, my friends innocent comments, their unconscious actions.

How could they have known? But I blamed them. And wallowed that night.

Yet the song has two lines at the end that "go up". Maybe. But they weren't heartfelt. They were done out of obligation to keep up the profile, the image people had known me for.

So why do I write this?

I write this to show that even those who proclaim to be strong and untouchable, those who seem perfect and we put on a pedastool... we're not immune.

That night God brought several girls online to talk to me. Each one had been touched by what I wrote and I was able to be ministered by them! and to them. I saw, and they saw, that we are not alone. And by that, one lie was conquered. Loneliness.

I went to my writers forum, and in the midst of my tears, God brought out a batch of "thank yous". Fellow brothers in Christ thanked me for being an example of a heart for the Lord and for the love God had given me for them. And with that, another lie was conquered. Unworthiness.

What Satan meant for evil, God meant for His glory.

Amen and Amen.