If His grace is an ocean we're all sinking....

These words are beautiful, I love the lyrics to "How He Loves" By David Crowder Band.

"He is jealous for me. His love like a hurricane I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of the sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me! Oh how He loves us, oh! Oh, how He loves us, how He loves us, oh!"

This, my friends, is what a true worship song looks like. Praising Jesus for who He is! For recognizing that His love and mercy and salvation have absolutely nothing to do with us. He LOVES us! Not because we did anything to deserve it, but because HE is great. What a mental picture: "If His grace is an ocean we're all sinking". How overwhelming is God's love! It overtakes us, surrounds us, carries us, saves us. We can do nothing but let it wash over us as we drown in His love, as we surrender control and let the hurricane of His love breathe over us and we twist and turn in His uncontrollable, wild, fierce love for us!

Another song that has spoken to my heart is "Your love is a song" by Switchfoot

"The stars are falling out, my dreams are fading now, fading out. I've been keeping my eyes wide open. I've been keeping my eyes wide open. Oh Your love is a symphony all around me, running through me. Oh Your love is a melody underneath me, running into me. Oh your love is a song! Your love is my remedy!"

I have been hearing so many "Christian" worship songs that seem to be all about us, all about what is going on in our life, how we can feel better about ourselves, etc... And while there is a time and place for that, at the heart of worship, we are saying that it is all about God. All we can do is praise Him for who He is!

Lately I've been struggling with making my life all about myself... turning Jesus into Santa Claus and just making requests for Him to fulfill, as though that is how a relationship works! What if that's how I interacted with Tim? "Hey Tim, nice to see you, I would like ____________, ___________, and ___________." and then get disappointed when things don't go my way? Are we as christians really that spoiled?

I have been. I have even been looking to Tim to fill these needs in my life instead of God. How easy it is to keep our eyes focused on what is tangible and right in front of us. God, where are you in the struggles, the hurt, the pain? He is right there, sovereign over it, in control of it, and intimately near to it.

How distracted I get when I am more into myself and my own life than God. It is so easy to settle for nothing-ness when I am missing out on the greatest something-ness. I still bind myself to things that allow me to not experience and enjoy my freedom in Christ. I am free! Praise Jesus for giving me that freedom because He loves me. He chose me.

"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband's will, but born of God." -John 1:12-13

How amazing is this! What a promise it is! God chose you to be born - feeling unloved by family? God wanted you! His power goes above and beyond a parents decision, He wanted you! To wrap my mind around this beautiful truth is amazing - God wanted me! He does want me! This is something that I want to be continually on my heart, especially when Tim and I end up having kids - Jesus wants them and it is up to Him!

There is so much freedom in surrendering control because I know with all my heart that God will not let us down - His calling IS enabling. He has lavished His love on us! Let me be clear, this is not dependent on life circumstances. His love is not dependent on how good or bad things are going in our lives. It makes no sense to me when preachers and christians promise a good life and that God wants the best for His children - which, of course, means He wants us to drive around in SUV's with spinners and keep all our money to ourselves (that is, unless they tell us that God promised to give us money if we give them all of our money). The Bible is so clear on that: Jesus promises trial, hurt, suffering, and hardships for His name! If only preachers like that would look to the Bible and pay close attention to early christians - they were all pretty much killed! They lived out the rest of their lives in unbelievable hardships, knowing that their true reward was in Heaven. That alone is enough evidence to convince us of the truth of Jesus.

When everything is stripped away, all that is left is God. He so intimately loves us, loves me - and I have been denying it and running away. Not outright, but in my heart - doing just enough to get by. But God didn't do that for us! He didn't just love us enough to get us by - He died for us!!! He loves us with an intense, passionate, amazing love!

Oh, How he loves us!