Raising Worshipers

It is so easy to worship the Lord when everything seems perfect. But what about when everything is falling apart? What about when we've lost all hope? How are we supposed to give God praise when we can't find anything to sing about? At times like this I have a few songs that help me cry out to Him in worship, even when it hurts the most. The way of this world is to crumble when we are faced with something difficult. When things are impossible to handle most people give up. What makes us different from everyone else is that when we are at our lowest we give God even more praise. It helps us realize that we are not alone, that someone is carrying us through our darkest times. And as we praise Him, it opens our skies allowing us to not only view our situation with a joyful spirit, but it brings us through to the other side. When The Tears Fall- Newsboys I've had questions without answers I've known sorrow, I have known pain But there's one thing that I cli

I usually don't buy every song that I like, mainly because I don't have the unlimited funds to stock up on music as much as I would like. But when I heard this song on the radio a few times I had to get it. It truly brings out the true meaning of worship. We are given so much and there is no possible way that we could repay Him for all He has done. He deserves everything we could possibly give Him and the least we could do truly is falling on our knees to worship Him. We owe Him so much, things we can't even hope to Give. all we can give Him is our worship and Adoration. And he LOVES it! (I apologize that I could not find a link for this song, it isn't online and I'm not sure why!) The Least I can Do- Mark Roach You sent Your Son so tender mild The King of all Kings, the face of a child The Savior who'd typify our wildest dreams come true The least I can do is worship You The portrait of selflessness you serve You lavishly give grace undeserv

I was listening to this song the other day as a possible choice for a new song for our worship team when my husband turned to me and said "that was my grandmothers favorite song". I had to share it in memory of "Mema" who was a great woman, even though I only had the privilege of knowing her for a couple years. She truly lived out the lyrics of this song, praising God for everything He had given her. A beautiful family, A beautiful home built by her husband, and most of all a wonderful Savior who loved her. She is truly missed. When I Think About The Lord- Hillsongs When I think about the Lord How He saved me, How He raised me How He filled me with the Holy Ghost How He healed me to the uttermost When I think about the Lord How He picked me up and turned me around How He placed my feet on solid ground It makes me wanna shout Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus! Lord You're worthy of all the Glory And all the Honor and all the Praise

God's love and faithfulness endures forever. Forever for us as Christians is quite a long time, considering we are going to spend eternity with the Lord. There is nothing that could change His love for us from now through forever. Sometimes it's hard for us as humans to grasp the concept of forever, because as far as we know everything has a beginning and an end. But God is above everything we know. He always was and will always be. Forever. With all that in mind, let's sing praise to the one who is for us forever. Forever- Michael W Smith Give thanks to the Lord our God and King His love endures forever For He is good, He is above all things His love endures forever Sing praise, Sing praise With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm His love endures forever For the life that's been reborn His love endures forever Sing praise, Sing praise Sing praise, Sing praise Forever God is faithful Forever God is strong Forever God is with

I find that I just can't get away from how amazing His grace is towards us! Maybe it's just because of where I am right now, or maybe it's simply because His grace is truly amazing. This is one of my favorite songs because it combines a familiar song with something new. It expands on the true meaning of the song. His grace is truly amazing and through that grace we find our salvation. The chains of sin no longer have a hold of us and we are free! This version is so beautiful and takes me back to a Thursday night back in 2009. The "Michael W Smith: A New Hallelujah tour" came to our town and my father and I had the privilege of being a part of the local choir with him. It was such an amazing experience, not only to be able to perform in a concert with such an amazing worship leader, but also that we got to meet Him personally. We were standing in our formation rehearsing the afternoon before the concert and out on stage comes this guy in jeans and a cowboy hat

Our God is amazing! When you think about how often He is patient with us and steadily working on our hearts it's unimaginable. I know how hard it is for me to be patient with someone who makes the same mistakes over and over again and it leaves me speechless to think that God does this for us daily. It's only by His grace that we can even contemplate being with Him for all eternity. Your Grace is Enough- Matt Maher Great is Your faithfulness oh God You wrestle with the sinner's restless heart You lead us by still waters and to mercy And nothing can keep us apart So remember Your people Remember Your children Remember Your promise oh God Your Grace is enough Your Grace is enough Your Grace is enough For me Great is Your love and justice God of Jacob You use the weak to lead the strong You lead us in the song of Your salvation And all Your people sing along Your Grace is enough Your Grace is enough Your Grace is enough

I had some internet problems this weekend so I am a little behind on my little lessons on Worship. I hope to get caught up today, we shall see. Here is today's and I will continue working to back-post the rest of the week's. Fall Fall is my favorite season as a whole. The air is crisp and clean (or is supposed to be, until yesterday we have had quite the second summer here), leaves are changing colors, the scents of Fall are everywhere (and they smell so good!) But I also like to view fall from a spiritual aspect. It's actually the beginning of our spiritual cycle. The Bible says we as Christians go through seasons too, and the first season we go through is that of laying down our problem areas and allowing them to die. This prepares us for a still, quiet season of prayer asking God what we need to change and allowing Him to help us (winter). Then our new life begins to blossom (spring) and we find ourselves blessed with the fruit of our labor and harvesting the seeds

There never has been nor will be a day when we can say "I've got this, I don't need God's help today". And if we have, we are certainly lying to ourselves. He is our everything. He's our defender, our healer, our savior, and our hope. With Him we can make it through anything. There is no temptation that we cannot resist, there is no fight that we cannot win. There is nothing that can make Him love us less and there is nothing that can take His place in our lives. Every day that we open our eyes is a day when we need to say "Lord I need you!" And he'll be right there beside us. Lord I Need You -Chris Tomlin Lord I come, I confess Bowing here I find my rest Without You I fall apart You're the one that guides my heart Lord I need You, Oh I need You Every Hour I need you My one defense, My righteousness Oh God, how I need You Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more Where  grace is found is where You are And where You are Lord

There are times when life is beyond hard, and sometimes it is impossible to remember that God is greater. When the bills are growing and the paychecks appear to be shrinking, God is greater. When relationships seem to be falling apart when you know they're supposed to work, God is greater. When a loved one loses their fight for life, God is greater. When everything you knew was sure for your future disapears and leaves you hopeless, God is greater. When you have no hope, no strength, nothing left to give, God is greater. He picks us up and places us back on our feet, gives us strength to carry on, mends what was broken and heals what was hurt. No matter what we go through, no matter how hard things become, our God is ALWAYS greater. Our God- Chris Tomlin Water you turned into wine, opened the eyes of the blind There's no one like you, none like You! Into the darkness you shine out of the ashes we rise There's no one like you none like You! Our God is greate

 Worship is much more than mere music. It is a way to communicate with God. When we worship, we are pouring our hearts out to Him, singing songs of thanks and adoration and spending time in His presence. One of my favorite worship songs is by Matt Redman. Every time I listen to the lyrics I find myself enveloped in worshiping Him. Here are the lyrics to that song. It is such a wonderful start to a month full of worship, finding 10,000 reasons to bless Him. 10,000 Reasons -Matt Redman [Chorus] Bless the Lord, O my soul O my soul Worship His holy name Sing like never before O my soul I'll worship Your holy name The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning It's time to sing Your song again Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me Let me be singing when the evening comes [Chorus] Bless the Lord, O my soul O my soul Worship His holy name Sing like never before O my soul I'll worship Your holy name You're rich in love, and You're slow to

I love my little ones, as every parent does, and for some reason they have chosen this week to both begin major changes again. My little boy, who has been quite the mockingbird these past few months, is really becoming consistent with certain words that we repeat back and forth and is now saying them on his own, without any prompting from Momma. We say "thank you" and "hey" constantly, and in the perfect context as well. Also he is learning to say "Diaper" when he needs to be changed, rather than just screaming in anger. He loves to sing and gets extremely excited when we turn on something that has music or dancing in it. Every morning he wakes up calling his "good girl", making sure she is still here and is OK. He is such a good big brother, protecting her and giving her hugs and kisses, and she loves it! Little girl has found her fingers and is very excited that they move when she puts her hand in front of her face. Today we started playing w

"Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must  do" ~Colossians 3:13 We have all found ourselves stuck between the paths of hatred and forgiveness. There are many times when the world would tell us that we have "every right" to hate that person for the situation that had been created, but in God's eyes we have no  right to hate anyone. Instead we are commanded to forgive them. Now, I'm not saying we need to remain naive and allow a pattern of repeated mistakes and situations destroy our lives, but that we are not to be consumed with the wrongs done against us. And many times we find ourselves in the moment and can't imagine how we can forgive that person, again, and find a way to trust them, again, and yet we expect that daily to be done for us. We as Christians are called to strive for perfection in our walks with God, however there is no human on this earth

I want you to see what I saw this morning. I had just finished my breakfast, my one year old son finishing his earlier and being set in his room behind the baby gate to have his morning playtime. I slowly peeked my head around the corner to see my little boy looking not so little. We had a train table given to us for Christmas last year and while the trains and tracks are still in the storage bin, with him being a little young to appreciate the whole effect, he uses the table for many different purposes. It has been a percussion board for new rythms he has found, a display case for his favorite toys and books, a quick and easy spot to place toys when it's late at night and we don't want to trip on the way to his crib, you name it. But the newest job description for this marvelous table is "stage". Many times have I looked in to find him trying to climb on top of it, or sitting quitely looking at a book up there. But today he took it to a new level. Not only was he sta

"Once Upon a Time...." In honor of the upcoming season of love, I decided to do a series on how my little family came to be, in my own little fairytale of a story. I suppose I should begin this tale as all good fairytales begin.... "Once Upon a Time, there was a young girl who dreamed of herself as a princess...." I was homeschooled from age four through high school, and the homeschool community around where I live generally organizes a graduation ceremony for those graduating that year. My parents had been the head of organizing the ceremonies for many years, and it happend that the year I was to graduate there were no other graduates interested in participating. So, while I really wasn't too terribly excited to have the entire ceremony center around me, I thought it would be good to continue planning the ceremony and leave it open incase there were any late-comers. About a month before the ceremony, a family contacted my parents and asked if we still had

This is one of the great moments in our family's life.... Alex learned to eat! Today, I had a visit from my very good friend Kati and her mother Cheryl to learn how to do special things with our blogs. We learned many things that can be done to enhance a post and the blog itself.I am so inspired now to do more with my blog, I just wish I had a more reliable laptop so that I could use it daily. That is one of the things I have on my dream list, along with a nice digital camera to help me capture and document all of the great things in my family's life.