Safe in his arms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzhuirT74VU

So I literally just finished reading the book of Nahum like 5 minutes ago and then the song "Safe" by Phil Wickham started playing on my grooveshark.

For those of you who don't remember, the book of Nahum is all about the destruction of Nineveh because of how evil the nation was and how despicable the sins they committed are to God. In the book of Nahum, the Ninevites were doing all sorts of nasty things, but the only sin mentioned in the book of Nahum is the worship of idols. While I was reading about it I was thinking about how God is such a jealous God and powerful God full of wrath for sin, and even in my life, there are times when I put other stuff before God and it is so wrong. And I was realizing the depth of the effect of my sin, so my soul started to cry out to God in anguish asking for forgiveness. And then this song started playing. Ironic right?

Not really.
Look at these lyrics:

"To the one who's dreams are falling all apart
And all you're left with is a tired and broken heart
I can tell by your eyes you think your on your own
but you're not all alone"

"You will be safe in His arms
You will be safe in His arms
'Cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart
This is the promise He made
He will be with You always
When everything is falling apart
You will be safe in His arms"

This song reminded me that, despite my sin and my evilness, as I repent of this sin God's mercy rushes over me like a fountain and cleanses my heart and washes it away. I no longer have to face the wrath of God and the consequences of my sin. God has forgiven me and I am truly safe in his arms. The sin that was separating me from God is no longer there and he is holding me safe in his arms, never to leave me alone to face this world and all it entails. God already paid the price for my sin. I don't have to face the wrath of God that the Ninevites had to face, even though I deserve it just as much as they did. God's grace completely covers me and I am so free and safe in God's arms. God can love me and be in community with me and hold me in his arms because of what Christ did. I forget this so often, but it's so incredible and so amazing and so true. I am so thankful of what God's done for me, and I'm so excited to be back in a place where I am so overwhelmed by God's grace.

street kids

Pain and Suffering

Fear and Sorrow

Hold me back

Can't see past tomorrow

Hope and Peace

Meant Nothing to me

Love and Joy

Was something I couldn't see

Fear and Hate

Dominate this world

There's nothing pure

Except in His Word

Grace is the only thing that pushes me on

Love and joy are things I must learn

It's time for the church to do something more

It's time for war

Evil rules the world everywhere I go

Even in the church it's got a tight hold

Why aren't we fighting the evil in this world

And bringing glory to the one that we serve?

Why don't we care about the things that really count?

Instead we tend to sit around and doubt

In the power of God and the extent that he cares

Then we wonder why we don't see him answer our prayers

It's because evil is blinding our eyes

Binding our hearts and weakening our lives

It's time to fight back and fight suffering

And bring grace and hope to those who are hurting

There are people lost and dying

And Christians are falling far and hard

Why isn't God first in our lives?

Why is all this evil so easy to disregard?

We can't just sit back

And let stuff happen

We've got to stand and fight

We've got to do something different

Our lives need to change

We need to stop and pray

We need to fight

And spread God's light to those around us everyday

We've said things are going to change

We've promised to do things in a different way

But we haven't changed the way that we live

We haven't done anything different; we don't even know how to forgive

We need to follow God no matter what he asks

We need to be willing to risk everything we have

We need to let God take complete control of our lives

Before we can fight

With his power we can fight this evil

We fight to bring him the glory that he deserves

With God we have the power to move mountains

With God we have the power to change the world

But we have to trust God and his perfect plan

We have to learn his Word and hold it in our hands

We have to fight with wisdom and strength

We have to fight with prayer and faith.

Who are we to take God for granted when there our children who need God so desperately, yet no one has told them of him. There are children who have no hope and no chance unless they find God. Without God, these kids are doomed to die, on the streets, in jail, from aids, drugs, murder, and disease. Why are we comfortably sitting in our rooms and going to our churches and letting these kids die without ever telling them about Christ? God is the only one with the power to save this kids, not only from hell, but from the demons that haunt them, from the people that abuse them, from the men that rape them, from the drugs that are eating them alive. What the heck are we doing, going to our rich white churches Sunday morning and work every day and ignoring the problems and the people who need to know about God? Why are we taking God for granted? Why aren't we sharing our knowledge, we have nothing to lose, but withouth this knowledge,these kids lose the only hope, and their only chance for a better life.

Power to Change the World

So I often get frustrated when I look around and see people (including myself) doing nothing. I also get really frustrated when I see pain and there are people like me sitting around and doing nothing about it. I want to change that, and I know how to. It is something I am working on. (Although sadly, right now I am in this waiting period where God is showing me all this amazing stuff and teaching me and changing me and if I went out to change the world right now I would get shot down) But still I am very antsy so I wrote this. This is how I feel right now and once I am out of school I can do something about these feelings, which makes me very excited. Anywho read poem below.


Pain and Suffering
Fear and Sorrow
Hold me back
Can't see past tomorrow

Hope and Peace
Meant Nothing to me
Love and Joy
Was something I couldn't see

Fear and Hate
Dominate this world
There's nothing pure
Except in His Word

Grace is the only thing that pushes me on
Love and joy are things I must learn
It's time for the church to do something more
It's time for war

Evil rules the world everywhere I go
Even in the church it's got a tight hold
Why aren't we fighting the evil in this world
And bringing glory to the one that we serve?

Why don't we care about the things that really count?
Instead we tend to sit around and doubt
In the power of God and the extent that he cares
Then we wonder why we don't see him answer our prayers

It's because evil is blinding our eyes
Binding our hearts and weakening our lives
It's time to fight back and fight suffering
And bring grace and hope to those who are hurting

There are people lost and dying
And Christians are falling far and hard
Why isn't God first in our lives?
Why is all this evil so easy to disregard?

We can't just sit back
And let stuff happen
We've got to stand and fight
We've got to do something different

Our lives need to change
We need to stop and pray
We need to fight
And spread God's light to those around us everyday

We've said things are going to change
We've promised to do things in a different way
But we haven't changed the way that we live
We haven't done anything different; we don't even know how to forgive

We need to follow God no matter what he asks
We need to be willing to risk everything we have
We need to let God take complete control of our lives
Before we can fight

With his power we can fight this evil
We fight to bring him the glory that he deserves
With God we have the power to move mountains
With God we have the power to change the world

So yeah. I know this sounds cheesy, but let's go change the world. We are Christians, we are designed to bring God glory. We aren't bringing God glory by sitting around on our butts doing absolutely nothing but going to church on Sunday(please excuse me for being blunt). We gotta do something; we gotta fight for God. So when God says go we gotta go no matter how much it hurts or what he is asking you to risk. (Trust me, I learned that from experience, that is why I am about 2,000 miles away from my favorite place in the world, my friends, family, my home, that is why I am so far away from where I want to be. God told me I had to leave and go so I did.) We gotta do something more then what we are doing now. God has given us power and resources so lets use them.

Ps I apologize for my fail at consistently blogging. I have no creative excuses that you haven't heard before,so I am just going to say, I am sorry, but I don't think it will change anytime soon.

peace out,
zoe

Turn to God FIRST

Why is it that we want God to be Lord of our life and we ask him to break us and change our heart, but when it comes to actually making a decision or dealing with pain, we turn to God only after discovering that no one else can help us? First we try to figure it out on our own. Then, we turn to our friends. Our friends try to help us solve our problems and make decisions, but normally they can't do anything about the situation and turning to them ends up being a complete waste on time. Why don't we just get smart, after trying this a thousand times and automatically turn to God for help? I mean after all he allowed the pain to happen, he gave you the choice and the freedom to make this decision, so wouldn't it make sense to turn to God before we turn to other people? I have heard so many times the cliché phrase “People will fail you, but God never will”. I think it's about time I stop trying to get my answers and solve my problems through people. I always feel so dumb, when I finally turn to God and the answer becomes so clear. I think my life will be so much easier once I start automatically turning to God first.

Valentine's Day Love

So it's valentine's day. I do not have a significant other, and my best friends are over 2,000 miles away so today I decided to celebrate my love affair with God. I am so incredibly overwhelmed and excited and thankful for his love for me. I don't understand why he chose me, or why he loves me so very much. Sadly, I know that I will never be able to love Him to the extent that He loves me. His love is perfect, pure, holy, unconditional, and never ending. What more could I ask for? I don't need a guy in my life. God can do everything that a guy would do for me and so much more. He is my protector, my comforter, my counselor, my best friend, he is always there, and he cares for me more then any guy ever could. I don't need anything or anyone but God.

So this valentine's day this is my prayer:
God,
there is no one that I love more then You. God there is no one that I ever will love more then You. Father, I am going to take this day to think about and celebrate our love for each other. Father, I want You to be my valentine. I want to think about You all day long. Father, I pray that You will help me fall in love with You again. Father, I pray that my faithfulness toward you is greater then the faithfulness of a couple who has been married for over 50 years. Father, I pray that my passion for you would be stronger then that of a newlywed. I pray that my love for you would be greater then the love a child has for his tender and caring mother. I pray that I would be more excited about our relationship then a couple who has just gotten engaged. Father, I pray that I would be more open to You then I would be to my best friend, whom I tell everything to. Father, I pray that You would renew my love for You. I want to love You will all of my heart. I want to love You with all that I am. I want to be obsessed with You. I want to think of You and pray unceasingly to you 24/7, every moment of every day. Father, all I want is more of You in my life. Draw me close and show me who You are.

So I was messing around on the internet and i came across this article and I became completely overwhelmed by God's love.

http://bible.org/seriespage/god-love

Check it out and let God speak to You as You learn how much he loves You.
Also a great movie to watch today is Veggie tales: "Sweet Pea Beauty. (You can find it on Netflix if that helps)

Just remember that whether or not you have a significant other that you are celebrating today with, you have a Father in heaven who loves you more then you can ever understand. So take today to celebrate your love affair with God after all, he is the perfect Valentine.

Despite my imperfections

One thing I have been learning lately is my identity in Christ. I was listening to grooveshark (woot woot) and this song came on and i had to stop and think. The song is entitled "True Story" by Ginny Owens:

"I am a gifted artist
I've learned to paint this canvas well
I work until I've finished
An ideal image of myself
But you know better

I am a storyteller
Quite brilliant, if I do say so
I tell them tales they want to hear
And they believe it's me they know
But you know better

Chorus:
You see my imperfections
Still You say I'm a masterpiece
A marvelous reflection
The image of Yourself in me
You paint with strokes of grace
Undoing my disguise
You say beauty lies in the true story

The world might think me foolish
If they could see beneath my mask
They might find my dreams laughable
Or be embarrassed by my past
But you know better

(Chorus)

Of where I've been
And where you've brought me to
Of who I am
All because of you (4X)

(Chorus 2X)"

It's so weird to think about how God views me. I mean, in reality I kinda fail at living life the way God wants me to. There have been times when I got distracted and I tried to be someone I'm not. For several years, I hid behind a mask.There are several times in my life when I mess up.

God knows me better then I know myself. He knows everything about me, yet he loves me anyway. Isn't that incredible? He knows every ugly thing about me, yet he loves me.

I am completely overwhelmed at how much God loves me despite my imperfections.

Who I'm supposed to Be

So Christmas break was crazy and now I am back at school. I live in a dorm and I have a lot of friends that have given me nicknames ranging from grandma to zuzu. I think at this point in the world, in my culture, identity is a very important thing. I don't know if it is that way in other places, but even at my school people focus on identity way too much. First and foremost, I find my identity in Christ. I was thinking about the names that people call me and I was writing in my prayer journal and this is what I cam up with. It is not very polished or anything but I think you will get the point. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions on my blog or anything you want me to talk about. I am super tired and i have to get up in 4 hours, so if this paragraph didn't make sense I'm sorry. And I apologize for the fact that I am too tired and lazy to add punctuation at this point in my life.

All these people telling me who I should be
Telling me who I remind them of
And how I should live my life

After talking to people all day long
I sit in my room all alone
Wondering who I am and who I should be
Wondering how to live this life that was given to me

I look at the girl that I have suddenly become
And I wonder what in the world went wrong
This is not how things were supposed to be

The world and my friends have given me different names
Names that are supposed to identify who I am
I don't know if I want to agree
With the names they have given me and the comparisons they have made

I come to the realization that I have no clue what I am doing
I have no idea where I am going
And I wonder what I was thinking

So humbly I wonder what I was thinking
Trying to control my life
Trying to make everything right
Now my pride is shrinking

Man I gotta go to God for everything I do
I gotta live for Him and Him alone
Cuz I got no clue what i'm doing on my own

I gotta give Him time to teach me what's right
Teach me how to live every moment for his glory
And teach me how to love God and all those people in my life
I need God to change my life daily, wholly, and completely

Oops I messed up again
I tried to change everything on my own
God, give me hand, I want to live for You alone

I want to live and love the way God would
I want to bring Him the glory He deserves
I want to spread His love all throughout the world
Whenever and However He chose for me even before I was born

Lord, I don't deserve to know Your name
I know I deserve to die as I hang my head in shame
Somehow Your grace still shines through and sheds its light on me.

I have no clue what You are doing
Or why You picked me
But as I bow humbly at Your feet
I pray that you will choose to teach me, change me, and use me.

peace out,
zoe