Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

I'm in a good place these days. But this wasn't always the case. Life was hard, very hard, for a very long time; almost unbearable.  So much so that I started to doubt that God loved me.  As i type these words, I'm not very proud to admit this.  But it's true. During this long spell of trial after trial, I wrote this song, "The Love of God."  Go figure. I still believed that God was love, that He loved the world.  I just wasn't "feeling the love" from Him personally. Been there?  If you have been a Christian for any length of time, I'm guessing you've been there.   Stuff happens.  We live in a fallen world.  And trying to take comfort in God's Sovereignty can only magnify our soreness.  Why?  Because if God is Sovereign (and He is), then why does He allow horrible stuff to happen to us?   It's easy to believe that God loves me when I feel that things are going well.  But I have also believed and felt God's love when I have fac

Is it easy for you to receive God's personal love for you?  Maybe you see Him as far off, or His love as all-encompassing but not for you personally. Yet Jesus suffered unimaginable pain and agony on the cross not only to make a way to heaven for all of us, but so that we can enter His Presence here and now, in this broken, on-its-way-out world! I admit I have struggled with accepting how much God loves me personally.  Why?  Because I know how unworthy I am of such a vast, deep, permanent, and unconditional love.  When we are honest with ourselves, we know that we can never earn God's love in and of ourselves.  We are all way too sinful for that!  This holds true for even the "best" of us.  We have all  sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, from Mother Theresa to Hitler!  All we like sheep have gond astray, every one to his own way.  I don't make this stuff up!  This is the Word of God. But in His great love for us, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Chr

  Day 4 of playing/practicing through my song catalog. They say parents are not supposed to have a favorite child.  But we all know they do!  This song that I wrote, one of my "babies," is one of my favorites. I wish I would have kept a better record of how I was inspired to write my songs.  I wrote this one so long ago that I honestly don't remember.  But from my sentiment, I will venture to guess that I was seeking God more, wanting God more, needing God more, wanting Him to capture my heart with Himself and His love. Some things never change. I am still seeking God, wanting God, needing God, and desperately want Him to capture my heart with His love. He has done this work in my heart through the years.  But because our relationship with Christ is inexhaustible, there is always more intimacy with Him to seek.  More of our hearts that we let Him into. And though His Holy Spirit filled me the day I was born again, it is a process to allow  Him to fully invade and live in

  Dear Lord, I pray that whomever listens to this song would come to know and believe that You love them.  Always and forever, truly and deeply.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

To be found in Christ is to be known.  Fully.  But how many of us can stand being fully known?  We know all of our dark sides, our worst moments, our deepest insecurities and longings.  We know the seemingly unlovable parts of ourselves. No matter how much, if any, unconditional love we have received from others, the fact of the matter is, no one knows and loves us as Christ does.  Fully. Intimately. Truly. Christ knows everything we've ever been through, everything we've endured, all the ways we've been treated and mistreated.  No one else on the face of the earth knows us as well - not even we ourselves. He knows why we react the way we do - our conditioned responses.  He knows how much and when we hurt inside.  He knows that He alone can fill our hearts, love us, and fulfill us.   When we realize this - that only in Christ we are truly found and known, it does several things. First of all, we are relieved!  Finally, we can be ourselves with the One Who knows everything a