About a month ago one of our dearest friends approached me about their upcoming Ten Year Wedding Anniversary. She asked if I would be willing to write a song based upon a prayer her husband wrote. This was such a blessing and honor to me to be asked to put to song something so personal and treasured. I gladly accepted this request and got to work. You can hear the finished product by following the link below:)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eg04SY1BtYc
If you knew Jesse and Bethany, you would know why my heart was bursting with song after she asked me to write for them. SO, I couldn't just write one. I wrote this second song about the story of their love. They both shared their hearts and prayers and how they fell in love. What a beautiful love story they have, indeed! And these two people are some of the most generous, caring and selfless individuals we know. We love and appreciate them so much! I dedicate this next song to them for their Ten Year Anniverary too:) Jesse and Bethany, we love you guys! Many many blessings on more anniversaries to come:)
Https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OaNOBiizTsw
Each day make a joyful noise in this backWORDZ world. Choose to live life moment by moment in the extravagant love of your Father.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
Make A Splash
I'm in this spring time feel recently. Water is everywhere! Seems it is splashing on my feet, splashing on the car as I drive, splashing the dog as he runs. Just as the water is in abundance right now, God promises in His word a splashing too... A splashing and abundance of provisions, resources and production and an enrichment in EVERY WAY. So in that way, not only do we possess this abundance, but we are able to generously share this enrichment. I hope I make some BIG splashes for Him out of the abundance He's given me!
2 Corinthians 9:10 and 11 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity[e] in you. Yes, you will be enriched in EVERY WAY so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
We all possess something amazing. Whether it is within us, or springing forth from the diligence of our hands, we each possess a gift-resources. For some it may be wealth-riches. Yet, for most of us I believe it comes more from within us. It may be an extra measure of joy. For some, a splash of love. For others, an added dose of gentleness. Some still, an abundance of faith. Whatever our gift, our "little extra" or "abundance" or "overflow", may we share it generously! For HE is the One who supplies and increases and produces the harvest! We can trust Him who has provided to also increase and also produce a great harvest when we generously share of our "provisions"!!
So, what do you possess? What has He given you and increased and produced and enriched within you?! Kindness, faith, encouragement, love, gentleness, perseverance, speaking truth, humility? Share your gifts generously! May others thank God for your gifts.
Blessings,
Make A Splash!!
Abi
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Joseph.
Joseph.
Not too long ago I had the joy of listening to my husband share with our kids, from his heart, the story of Joseph. Something he shared has stuck with me.
In the past year and even recent weeks I have been faced with a choice. It's a choice Joseph too was faced with. The choice to forgive before even being asked. For me it's been the pain of a Grandfathers rejection and hurtful choices. He's gone to the grave himself now, so I can't ever find explanation or forgiveness if I'm awaiting something like that. It's been being cut off and spoken to harshly while trying to share my heart. It's been wounds from friends, from family and even from those distant past hurts that can linger and replay from time to time.
BUT, nothing like Joseph had to face.
Joseph.
Joseph exemplifies forgiveness to me. He was mocked, ridiculed, hated. He was abused, beaten, thrown in a pit and left for dead. And then, he was betrayed, sold, and forgotten. Yet, in his love and humility and mercy he forgave his brothers--before they even asked for forgiveness. And he trusted that even what was meant for his harm was being used by God for his good and for Gods glory! And he willingly laid down any bit of self that would want to steal back that thunder or inflict righteous judgment for wrongs committed to him.
Joseph forgave. Joseph forgave and acted in forgiveness BEFORE he was even approached about it.
So, as I walk in the land of the living I pray this today...
God, make me truly alive! Alive in the action of forgiveness! Forgiveness that is offered BEFORE it is even asked upon me to extend mercy. Forgiveness that is alive and living and active and thus, makes me more alive! May my heart beat for Yours and may I express a Joseph-like forgiveness, a Jesus-like forgiveness! And may I be changed! In Jesus name, amen!
Much love,
Abi
Not too long ago I had the joy of listening to my husband share with our kids, from his heart, the story of Joseph. Something he shared has stuck with me.
In the past year and even recent weeks I have been faced with a choice. It's a choice Joseph too was faced with. The choice to forgive before even being asked. For me it's been the pain of a Grandfathers rejection and hurtful choices. He's gone to the grave himself now, so I can't ever find explanation or forgiveness if I'm awaiting something like that. It's been being cut off and spoken to harshly while trying to share my heart. It's been wounds from friends, from family and even from those distant past hurts that can linger and replay from time to time.
BUT, nothing like Joseph had to face.
Joseph.
Joseph exemplifies forgiveness to me. He was mocked, ridiculed, hated. He was abused, beaten, thrown in a pit and left for dead. And then, he was betrayed, sold, and forgotten. Yet, in his love and humility and mercy he forgave his brothers--before they even asked for forgiveness. And he trusted that even what was meant for his harm was being used by God for his good and for Gods glory! And he willingly laid down any bit of self that would want to steal back that thunder or inflict righteous judgment for wrongs committed to him.
Joseph forgave. Joseph forgave and acted in forgiveness BEFORE he was even approached about it.
So, as I walk in the land of the living I pray this today...
God, make me truly alive! Alive in the action of forgiveness! Forgiveness that is offered BEFORE it is even asked upon me to extend mercy. Forgiveness that is alive and living and active and thus, makes me more alive! May my heart beat for Yours and may I express a Joseph-like forgiveness, a Jesus-like forgiveness! And may I be changed! In Jesus name, amen!
Much love,
Abi
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Radiate and Moses and Me
I want my face to radiate the presence of The Lord! Like Moses' encounter, I long for time in His very presence. Moses was not content to simply experience The Lord closer and more deeply than most, he continued to pursue and seek and ask for MORE! Exodus 33:18 says, "Now show me your glory." He wanted MORE! And amazingly, yet maybe not so surprisingly though, God not only responded; He showed up, He answered, He drew nearer still!
The amazing news????
I don't just think this was an experience limited to Moses and God. I believe that when we humble ourselves and seek His face and pray, HE WILL draw near to us and draw us nearer to Him as well. We will not be left without experiencing deeper, newer, fuller glimpses of our Fathers goodness, person and compassion!
A prayer for today... God, today I seek you with all my heart and soul and mind. Forgive me for the sins and faltering I daily wear. Clothe me in your righteousness and peace and hope and joy and compassion and mercy! I ask, like Moses, to see your glory today! Don't leave me unchanged! Mold me, make me, use me. Be the God of my emotions. Let me see You more clearly today and may the experience lead me to radiate your presence!
In Jesus name,
Amen!
The amazing news????
I don't just think this was an experience limited to Moses and God. I believe that when we humble ourselves and seek His face and pray, HE WILL draw near to us and draw us nearer to Him as well. We will not be left without experiencing deeper, newer, fuller glimpses of our Fathers goodness, person and compassion!
A prayer for today... God, today I seek you with all my heart and soul and mind. Forgive me for the sins and faltering I daily wear. Clothe me in your righteousness and peace and hope and joy and compassion and mercy! I ask, like Moses, to see your glory today! Don't leave me unchanged! Mold me, make me, use me. Be the God of my emotions. Let me see You more clearly today and may the experience lead me to radiate your presence!
In Jesus name,
Amen!
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The White Dress (poem)
The White Dress 1/29/15 and 3/10/15
Unbroken, restored, whole,
Faultless
Before the fall, after it all
I look back and look forward
There was peace, there is hope
Promise spoken, a new record foretold,
The white dress
Dancing and singing bells that are ringing
Deeply known and ever safe
Happy and whole life ever restored by grace
A clean slate, a promise, a ring to secure
A stained dress no more, He the Cure
The white dress
Unbroken, restored, whole,
Faultless
Before the fall, after it all
I look back and look forward
There was peace, there is hope
Promise spoken, a new record foretold,
The white dress
Dancing and singing bells that are ringing
Deeply known and ever safe
Happy and whole life ever restored by grace
A clean slate, a promise, a ring to secure
A stained dress no more, He the Cure
The white dress
Saturday, February 28, 2015
The Blue Playdoh Lid and Sin
Recently life has felt a bit crazy. It's that long winter feel- illness after illness affecting child after child and Sean and myself. So, that leads me to the blue Play-doh lid. Sometime last week (oh how embarrassing it is to admit the length of time this has gone on) as the kids were running rampant destroying, I mean playing throughout the house, they had Play-doh out. In the mix of that, somewhere along the lines a blue lid was left astray, alone, ignored and mostly unnoticed on the living room floor . Ironically, or maybe better said, ashamedly, I've even swept and swifer'd the floors and yet pushed the lid aside and simply swept around it. (Totally lazy, I'll admit it!) But I'm tired. I'm sick of being sick and cleaning up after sickness and bathing sickness and laundering mess after mess. Maybe someone else would see it and pick it up? Maybe it was so small and insignificant it didn't really deserve my attention or the work it took to be rid of it. After all, my joints were aching and I didn't feel like feeling the hurt to bend down and pick up the blue lid (or maybe it is white?! Now that I know I can't see the correct dress color maybe every white I see is truly blue and every blue I see is truly white?! But that's altogether another blog post.).
This week as I ponder several of those dearest to me struggling with deep and intense addictions, struggles, weights, and my own weights and sin, I consider the body builder. His chief desire is growth, strength, ability beyond common and power unmatched. While he lifts, the muscles tear. This tearing is what creates the deeper growth. It hurts. It aches. There are moments that thrill and moments that disappoint. Moments that feel like the pain and struggle and work is too much; accomplishments feel impossible, or maybe unreachable, unattainable. But little by little, small right step by small right step (thanks Jason Mitchell for the planting seeds talk) he can accomplish something so big. We too can embrace the process, the work and toil and labor-expecting the great growth and accomplishment we know will come as the payoff to not giving up. Or, we can soil the soil with defeat and self doubt, laziness, weakness and unwillingness-whatever it is that is exactly allowing that "blue Play-doh lid" to sit there in our lives unmoved, un-worked, un-thrown off, un-rid of. (I know that's totally not a word!)
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
So, back to the blue Play-doh lid. It still sits on my floor, by the way, as I write. (I'm most certainly going to go pick it up and throw it away-where it surely belongs at this point-after I finish writing these thoughts) But anyway, to me, this lid represents our sin, our struggles, our destructive behavior choices, that small seed of bitterness, those idle words that seem small but are eating away at your marriage, your self worth, and those lies that are robbing your family of trust etc... Left unattended, ignored, and alone, lazily we walk on and we neglect those ugly little buggers that just create messes in our "house". We may not even notice them, we may "feel better" ignoring them, we may feel too weak to address them, we may even want someone else to clean up for us. But nonetheless, we can't deny the mess they make.
When we choose to lift those weights, little by little, time after time, we'll be amazed, we'll be proud, and we'll stand stronger and more aware of our beauty and ability than ever before. When we do the "work" it takes to clean up and get rid of the small blue Play-doh lids in our lives.
This week as I ponder several of those dearest to me struggling with deep and intense addictions, struggles, weights, and my own weights and sin, I consider the body builder. His chief desire is growth, strength, ability beyond common and power unmatched. While he lifts, the muscles tear. This tearing is what creates the deeper growth. It hurts. It aches. There are moments that thrill and moments that disappoint. Moments that feel like the pain and struggle and work is too much; accomplishments feel impossible, or maybe unreachable, unattainable. But little by little, small right step by small right step (thanks Jason Mitchell for the planting seeds talk) he can accomplish something so big. We too can embrace the process, the work and toil and labor-expecting the great growth and accomplishment we know will come as the payoff to not giving up. Or, we can soil the soil with defeat and self doubt, laziness, weakness and unwillingness-whatever it is that is exactly allowing that "blue Play-doh lid" to sit there in our lives unmoved, un-worked, un-thrown off, un-rid of. (I know that's totally not a word!)
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
So, back to the blue Play-doh lid. It still sits on my floor, by the way, as I write. (I'm most certainly going to go pick it up and throw it away-where it surely belongs at this point-after I finish writing these thoughts) But anyway, to me, this lid represents our sin, our struggles, our destructive behavior choices, that small seed of bitterness, those idle words that seem small but are eating away at your marriage, your self worth, and those lies that are robbing your family of trust etc... Left unattended, ignored, and alone, lazily we walk on and we neglect those ugly little buggers that just create messes in our "house". We may not even notice them, we may "feel better" ignoring them, we may feel too weak to address them, we may even want someone else to clean up for us. But nonetheless, we can't deny the mess they make.
When we choose to lift those weights, little by little, time after time, we'll be amazed, we'll be proud, and we'll stand stronger and more aware of our beauty and ability than ever before. When we do the "work" it takes to clean up and get rid of the small blue Play-doh lids in our lives.
Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.
Embrace the process of pruning, ripening, tilling, and be joyful and excited in the process that will lead you to the fruit of your labor!
Much love and prayers,
Abi
Abi
Saturday, February 7, 2015
My Exodus prayer...
The more I read in Exodus the more I am amazed at the thought,
--What exactly made Moses Gods man?--
And
--What exactly made the Israelites Gods people?--
He was broken, he often felt weak and inadequate of flesh and heart, he questioned his ability, he even got angry and lost his temper at times...
They were weak and easily led astray, yet "stiff necked" and stubborn also, they grumbled and complained, they doubted and faltered, they were chained physically and in many other ways, as well-emotionally, mentally, spiritually-they were captives.
Mess after mess-yet, they were chosen by God. They were favored, he was called, they were His chosen!
I long for God to lead me out of my chains. Out of captivity, into freedom; for His favor to rest on me, though I know I am undeserving.
The Exodus-meaning-the journey... From captivity into freedom... I am gaining vision to see the areas the enemy has captured me for many years. God is opening my eyes to see so that I can pray and be more aware to this prowling lions attack--no longer will I be his easy prey. So, in my weak messy state today, I find myself asking God humbly...
God would you please rest your favor upon me? I know I am but dust, weak and faltering. Yet I know your greatness can overshadow my weakness and empower me to be your woman. God, may You be glorified in me! Lead me by your merciful hand and forgive me in my failures and sins. Keep me from the tempter and strengthen my weak and feeble heart to stand victorious in any battle I may face. You know I've purposed to invite you into my emotions this year and you've seen me struggle. Please shine your glory into my heart, mind, emotions and life and lead me victorious! Be my victory Jesus-God!
In Jesus name I pray, amen!
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