Blessings

Umm... heard this song by Laura Story for the first time this morning as I was driving to work through the {wanna be} rain. With so many friends around me going through some tough stuff, it just really made my heart smile. PS- I made my favorite parts blue :)




We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Beautiful

The days will come when you don't have the strength 
When all you hear is you're not worth anything 
Wondering if you ever could be loved 
And if they truly saw your heart they'd see too much 


You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are made so much more than all of this 
You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His 
You're beautiful 


I'm praying that you have the heart to find 
Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight 
For all the lies you've held inside so long 
And they are nothing in the shadow of the cross 


You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are made so much more than all of this 
You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His 
You're beautiful 


Before you ever took a breath 
Long before the world began 
Of all the wonders He possessed 
There was one more precious 
Of all the earth and skys above 
You're the one He madly loves 
Enough to die 


You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
In His eyes 


You're beautiful 
You were meant for so much more than all of this 
You're beautiful 
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His 
You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You're meant for so much more than all of this 
You're beautiful, You're beautiful 
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His

Faithful

This week's song is a little more serious... a true expression of the heart.




Faithful - Brooke Fraser


There's distance in the air and I cannot make it leave
I wave my arms round about me and blow with all my might
I cannot sense you close, though I know you're always here
But the comfort of you near is what I long for

When I can't feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same
When I can't hear you, I know you still hear every word I pray
And I want you more than I want to live another day
And as I wait for you maybe I'm made more faithful

All the folly of the past, though I know it is undone
I still feel the guilty one, still trying to make it right
So I whisper soft your name, let it roll around my tounge,
knowing you're the only one who knows me
You know me

When I can't feel you, I have learned to reach out just the same
When I can't hear you, I know you still hear every word I pray
And I want you more than I want to live another day
And as I wait for you maybe I'm made more faithful

Show me how I should live this
Show me where I should walk
I count this world as loss to me
You are all I want
You are all I want

Christmas Favorites 2010

A few things to share on this Christmas....

• My favorite Christmas song lyrics this year: You're Here by Francesca Battistelli
  Listen to it here; Download it for free here
• My favorite Christmas verse this year: 

• My favorite Christmas memory from this year: Receiving an escape ladder from my parents as a Christmas gift... and laughing so hard when everyone realized it was only a 2 story ladder (and we live on the 3rd floor)
  
• My favorite Christmas video this year:
  

Hope you and your family had a blessed CHRISTmas!

Lucky Girl :)

I just have to brag for a second... I have THE BEST husband in the world. He is simply awesome. There have been SO many nights recently where I have come home from work, worn out and needing to study, and he's had dinner ready for me, chocolates in the cupboard, and the kitchen clean. What an amazing guy. I'm so glad I get to "grow old" with him. There's no one I'd rather have by my side everyday for the rest of my life than my best friend. Love you, Brad!

And on a related note, here's another song I'm currently loving:



Let's Grow Old Together
Lanae Hale

Right turn fall down
You’re there to pick me off the ground
And I can’t tell ya how you’ve turned my world around
You come closer your blue eyes
Have won me over and
I’ll never be the same without ya
Here with me through the sun and the rain
I thought you should know that you’re my hero

Let’s grow old together
With my heart in your hands and your hands holding mine
We’ll face the world together
Cause you are the one I’ve been waiting to find
It’s no secret, so I can’t keep it
Cause it’s true…
Baby, I love you

Long day Come home
When you’re there I never feel alone
And my cares melt away into your arms again
Your smile takes me
Just awhile to remind myself to breathe
Cause your still the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen
I thought you should know that you’ll always be my hero

Years turn us gray but my heart still jumps when you’re next to me
I feel so safe cause you’re still by my side on those cloudy days and
I’m so amazed by…you 


Better than a Hallelujah

This is my new favorite song. And it comes at a time when I really need to hear it. The phrases that really touch my heart are "God just hears a melody" and especially "Beautiful, the mess we are". How amazing is our God, that He would meet us where we are!

God loves a lullaby
In a mother's tears, in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.
God loves the drunkard's cry,
The soldier's plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.


We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful, the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah.


The woman holding on for life,
The dying man giving up the fight 
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes
The tears of shame for what's been done,
The silence when the words won't come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes.


We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are 
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

Better than a church bell ringing,
Better than a choir singing out, singing out.


We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are 
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are 
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah


Better than a Hallelujah sometimes


-Amy Grant

Love Never Fails

I have been meaning to post these lyrics since I first heard them on the radio. What a beautiful song! I wish I had heard it before I got married - it would be perfect for a wedding! The lyrics are below... take a couple of minutes to listen to it :)

Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don't

Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you

When my heart won't make a sound
When I can't turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life

Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you

-Love Never Fails by Brandon Heath

You're Not Shaken

I heard this song on the radio while I was driving to work and it was just such a good reminder that even when it seems like the world and everything around me is crumbling down, God is not shaken one bit. He stands firm and wants us to lean on Him for stability. I love that. What an encouragement it is to have such a strong and steadfast God!


You're Not Shaken
by Phil Stacey

I am sinking in a river that is raging
I am drowning, will I ever rise to breathe again?
I want to know why; I just want to understand
Will I ever know why? How could this be from Your hand?

When every little thing that I have dreamed would be
Just slips away like water through my hand
And when it seems the walls of my belief are crashing down
Like they're all made of sand
I won't let go of You now, because I know You're not shaken

I'm trembling in the darkness of my own fear
All the questions with no answers still grip me while I'm here
And I may never know why; I may not understand
But I will lift up my eyes And trust this is Your plan

When I am in the valley of the shadow of death
You're not shaken, You're not shaken
You're right here beside me and You have never left
You're not shaken, You're not shaken

Two Hands

You love, You love... a people undeserving

Here are three wonderful songs I wanted to share... have a blessed Easter!


Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin


To Know Your Name - Hillsong United


Not Guilty Anymore - Aaron Keyes

The Climb

When I first heard this song come on the radio, I fell in love with it. I don't know if it's because I relate so much to the lyrics (even though there are plenty of other songs out there that say the same kind of thing) or if it was just the tune... perhaps the combination? I don't usually have control of the way music affects me. A song could completely move me one day and then have no effect the next. This one has touched me everytime I've heard it over the past week or two. Perhaps I'm just seeking as much encouragement as possible these days.

The Climb - Miley Cyrus

PS- I didn't know it was by Miley Cyrus until after I fell in love with it. :)

Behind the Scenes

This is how I feel today...

Behind The Scenes - Francesca Battistelli

You may think I’m just fine
How could anything ever be out of line?
I take my time to set the stage
To make sure everything is all in place

Even though I’ve got the lines rehearsed
A picture only paints a thousand words

Things aren’t always what they seem - you’re only seeing part of me
There’s more than you could ever know behind the scenes
I’m incomplete and I’m undone, but I suppose like everyone
There’s so much more that’s going on behind the scenes

Sometimes I can’t see anything
Through the dark surrounding me
And at times I’m unsure about the ground
Beneath my feet if it’s safe and sound

When it’s hard to find hope in the unseen
I have peace in knowing it will find me

Things aren’t always what they seem - you’re only seeing part of me
There’s more than you could ever know behind the scenes
I’m incomplete and I’m undone, but I suppose like everyone
There’s so much more that’s going on behind the scenes

You may think I’m just fine
How could anything ever be out of line?

Things aren’t always what they seem - you’re only seeing part of me
There’s more than you could ever know behind the scenes
I’m incomplete and I’m undone, but I suppose like everyone
There’s so much more that’s going on behind the scenes

Never Alone

This is currently my favorite song. It's upbeat, it's cheery, and I relate to it... especially during this season of Thanksgiving. I sometimes get annoyed with songs that are so (almost unrealistically) happy, but this one recognizes that life is not always peachy and that through all of that we have a God who will stay by our side, loving and protecting us every step of the way.

If you want to listen to it, scroll through my playlist at the bottom of the page!

Never Alone

May the angels protect you
Trouble neglect you
And heaven accept you when it's time to go home
May you always have plenty
The glass never empty
Know in your belly
You're never alone

May your tears come from laughing
You find friends worth having
As every year passes
They mean more than gold
May you win and stay humble
Smile more than grumble
And know when you stumble
You're never alone

Never alone
Never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart
When you face the unknown
Wherever you fly
This isn't goodbye
My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone

Well, I have to be honest
As much as I wanted
I'm not gonna promise that cold winds won't blow
So when hard times have found you
And your fear surrounds you
Wrap my love around you
You're never alone

Never alone
Never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart
When you face the unknown
Wherever you fly
This isn't goodbye
My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone

May the angels protect you
Trouble neglect you
And heaven accept you when it's time to go home
And when hard times have found you
And your fear surrounds you
Wrap my love around you
You're never alone

Never alone
Never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart
When you face the unknown
Wherever you fly
This isn't goodbye
My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone

My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone