singing

  • Cause and Effect

    sing for joy“…you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD…The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.”
                                                               Isaiah 51:1,3 NIV
    Have you ever gone through a time in your life when you couldn’t imagine ever having joy or feeling glad?   It’s horrible! I remember going to church and not even being able to sing because I feared that if I sang it would bring on a tidal wave of emotions that I couldn’t control. I read this verse and struggled to believe it was possible. How could joy, gladness and singing come back into my life? These verses gave me hope to know that there were things I could do to place myself in line with God’s promises. A kind of “CAUSE AND EFFECT” principle that was offered to the people in Isaiah’s time worked for me and is applicable for your life today!
    If you want to see a big turnaround in your life from deserts to gardens, Isaiah says you need to “pursue righteousness” and “seek the LORD”. You don’t have to fix yourself, anyone or anything else up. It’s simply out of pursuing and seeking after God, who is our righteousness that we gain joy, gladness and start to sing again. When you begin to set your focus on building your relationship with Him and start over looking your desert wastelands that you will start to feel the joy and gladness surging through your heart.
    My experience has been that when I have decidedly spent time enjoying my relationship with God that the negative hard stuff doesn’t affect me as much. The more I spend time pursuing a relationship with God, the more refreshed I am and able to experience the joy He has for me. It’s been a process that was set into motion by following this “CAUSE AND EFFECT” principle; I seek, HE restores! How good to know that our God doesn’t change. His promises were just as effective yesterday as they are today! Why not take advantage of them?
    Prayer
    Father, I thank-you that Your promises are true, even when I don’t feel like they are. I ask you to help me to pursue You alone. I set my focus on building relationship with you so that You can apply this promise to my life and fill me with Your gladness to the place where I will sing for joy!  In Jesus name…Amen.
     

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  • It’s A Wonderful Life!

    I know this may be hard to believe, but last night I watched It’s A Wonderful Life with my daughter for the first time in my wonderful life!  Shelby and I had never seen it before.  I now know why it’s a Classic.  I love the story!  There were so many lessons to be learned about God’s love and His plan for your life.  Too often we think that our lives are not amounting to much, like we’ve missed out on “the big thing”.   We can get so defeated and discouraged when things don’t happen as quickly as we would like them, or how we thought they would happen.  In the movie, George Bailey was ready to give up on life.  It was interesting to me how when the angel Clarence asked if George was sick that the other angel said “No.  Worse.  He’s discouraged.”  Discouragement is a dangerous emotion.  It can bring people to do crazy things or give up and do nothing.  It was amazing to see how rejuvenated George became when he realized that his life was making a difference and he did get to fulfill his dreams of building.  It was priceless when he saw the town sign said Bedford Falls, not Pottersville. You can see the confidence in his heart through his eyes and the way he cheered.   He finally saw his accomplishments!  He knew his life was making a difference.

    pottersville sign george realizing he made a difference
    I saw this same confidence in my friend Kevin Pauls’ eyes at his Spirit of Christmas Event last week.

    For years Kevin has put his heart and soul into singing.  He has seen some good times, but nothing like this before!  I was overjoyed to see my friend’s dreams come true, right before my very eyes.  You see, Kevin and his wife Wendy are lifelong friends.  He’s more like a brother than a friend.  We have all been there for each other’s triumphs and heartaches.  They helped me to not give in to discouragement by their words of encouragement and by the example they live.  Kevin has never given up.  I remember at a monumental birthday party (the big 4-0), Kevin’s brothers and cousins were “roasting” him and teasing, telling him to “get a real job”.   I was thankful to be at the concert and see the pride in his siblings faces as they bragged on Kevin’s excellent performance!   There are even talks of next year’s Christmas special being televised!   I felt like I was at a Bing Crosby Christmas Special with better music!  Kevin, Sharon Riley and The Faith Chorale, Tenore, Michelle Wright and the huge choir were all amazing!

    I’m so thankful that Kevin never gave up in times of discouragement.  I’m thankful for the example he is of moving forward and choosing to see the great possibilities that God has ahead!  I’m thankful that God has the same potential in ALL of us for A Wonderful Life…if we don’t give up!

    Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.                  Galatians 6:9 NIV

    Here are some photos from THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS event.  To check out more about Kevin Pauls and next year’s event, click on the links below:

    Kevin’s website      Kevin’s Blogsite

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