My Current Song...

I'm a lover of music! It speaks to me like nothing else.

I love listening to praise/worship music. It's playing very softly in the background on my computer as I type this. It's playing on my car radio approximately 85% of the time that I'm in the car...it's on either KLOVE or a local Christian station.

But asking me to pick a favorite song or artist would be next to impossible. Especially considering what an indecisive person I am. I can be pretty indecisive sometimes...or at least I think I can be...I'm not sure... ;)

Although I love most of the music I hear, sometimes there's a song or verse that really grabs hold of me, and really speaks to me or what I'm feeling at the time. It becomes my temporary favorite...the one that I gotta hear...the one that, if it is on, I'll sit in the car after I get where I'm going, just to hear it or the part of it that I like.

Right now that song is one that I didn't like at first...until I actually listened to the words. The second verse has really grabbed me. It's from Mark Harris' song, "One True God" and the second verse is as follows:

"I don't have a thing that I got on my own,
And I don't have a care that I carry alone.
But I have a God, He's carrying me.

And I don't have a sin that He doesn't forgive,
And I don't have a heart that is worthy of His.
But I have a God, He still loves me!"

Amen.

Just wanted to share that with you all. Be blessed. Thanks for reading. Much love.

God Is Love

A couple of weeks ago, on a Wednesday night, our minister read to us the love passage from I John, which contains the statement that "God is love." When he posed the question, "What does that mean? What does that mean to you?" ...well, I've been thinking about it since then...and I couldn't help but remember something my mom once told me.

When I asked her what her favorite passage of scripture was, she said it varies, but one of her favorites is I John 4:8. She said that she loves it because in light of the fact that God is love, you can take the passage from I Cor. 13 and fill in that blank with God.

"God is patient. God is kind. He does not envy. He does not boast. He is not proud, He is not rude, He's not self-seeking......" and on it goes. This thought is just such a comfort to me, so I wanted to share it with all of you. We can sometimes tend to create God in our own image, imagining a God that is more like us, and that's not a good thing. I am not the most patient person in the world, and when I get irritated, I can be rude to others. Sometimes I look out for my own interests more than those of others. And sometimes I can think of God in those terms...I can imagine him becoming ever-increasingly impatient with me for all of the times that I mess up.

What a comfort it is to know that He is not like me, but that He's perfect. He's patient and kind towards all of us. He is Love. And He never fails.

The View From The Pulpit

Every day I discover new and exciting things in my Psalms study--I run across verses and passages that speak to me in an entirely new way! In this Beth Moore study, she spends two days per psalm...and at the end of the second day, she asks you to write the psalm in your own words. This is something that I'm not great at, because unfortunately, I am seriously deficient in the creativity department. But I've attempted to at least modify the psalms to fit me/my life/my current experiences. I may work up the nerve to post them here in the not-too-distant future.

But there's one in particular that I'd really like to share now...it's been on my heart ever since I read it/studied it/wrote my own version. It expresses the psalmist's desire for peace in the city of Jerusalem, their place of worship, the place where God's presence dwelt. It is found in Psalm 122, and Beth gives us two different verisons of it (she gives two different versions for each psalm studied):

A Prayer for Jerusalem
A Davidic song of ascents.

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, Jerusalem—

3 Jerusalem, built as a city [should be],
solidly joined together,

4 where the tribes, the tribes of the LORD, go up
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
(This is an ordinance for Israel.)

5 There, thrones for judgment are placed,
thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you prosper;

7 may there be peace within your walls,
prosperity within your fortresses."

8 Because of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be with you."

9 Because of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good.
--Psalm 122 (HCSB)

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

A psalm of David.

1 I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

2 And now here we are,

standing inside your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is a well-built city;

its seamless walls cannot be breached.

4 All the tribes of Israel—the Lord’s people—

make their pilgrimage here. They come to give thanks to the name of the Lord,

as the law requires of Israel.

5 Here stand the thrones where judgment is given,

the thrones of the dynasty of David.
6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem.

May all who love this city prosper.

7 O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls

and prosperity in your palaces.

8 For the sake of my family and friends, I will say,

“May you have peace.”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.

--Psalm 122 (NLT)

As we studied this particular psalm, Beth had us consider it in the context of our own places of worship...our own churches and our own communities. I can feel the psalmists heart for the place of worship...as I have such a heart for mine.

This psalmist rejoiced at entering to worship in the place where God's presence dwelt. I rejoice both at entering my place of corporate worship, but also at the idea that the veil is torn and I can enter His presence for worship at any time.

This psalmist had an appreciation for the city of Jerusalem and the fact that it was well-built, knit together as one unit, as a city should be. I have an appreciation for the fact that we, as the body of Christ, are knit together as one unit, as His church should be.

This psalmist recognized the place where the thrones of judgment were established. I am able to recognize that our God is a holy and just God...and that though I've sinned, I've been justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ, who now sits enthroned above.

Finally, this psalmist prayed for peace for Jerusalem and prosperity for those who love her. My prayer is for peace, not only for my own place of corporate worship, but for Christ's body as a whole, and my prayer is for prosperity for those who love Him and His church.

I actually went last week to purposely take some time to appreciate my place of corporate worship. On Friday nights, I, along with some of the people in my singles group, are accustomed to spending a large portion of the evening at our church building, down in our singles room, playing games, watching TV/movies, eating, or just talking. Sometimes...when we are just sitting there, not really doing anything...and it gets late...and I start to get a little sleepy, but am not quite ready to go home...I will go wander around the church building. Not to do anything or mess with anything, but just to walk around. I'll walk through the hallways, perhaps stop in the library to flip through a good book. There's something fascinating to me anyway about being able to walk through a ginormously empty building...and because this building is a place of worship for me, it holds a special place in my heart.

This past Friday night, though, rather than walk down the hallway, I went into our dark, empty auditorium. I walked all the way down the aisle to the very front, and I took a seat on the steps of the stage, in front of the podium. I sat there, letting my mind be flooded with all the memories of experiences that I have worshiping there over the past ~3 years. It was interesting, because I'm almost certain that particular view of the room, that view from the pulpit, is one that I'll not ever really see, when the room is actually filled with people, at least not in my fellowship of believers. But still...I imagined the place filled with my brothers and sisters, and wondered what it must be like to lead them into the presence of our Father in worship in some way or form. I prayed for those who are blessed with that task. I prayed for our ministers who preach the Word...for those who lead singing...for all those who share scripture with us...for our Shepherds who lead us to the Father's throne in prayer...and for all those who guide our hearts/minds in communion. I looked up to the balcony and thought of all those who might sacrifice by having to work a little harder at being engaged in our worship as they run sound and a/v equipment during our worship times together. My prayer was one of extreme gratitude for those who lead us in worship and for those with whom I am privilged to worship.

I reached out and took a Bible off the front pew, turned to this, Psalm 122, and read it, by the light from my cell phone. Then I took a cue, both from a friend of mine that I've seen in worship, and from Beth Moore, who suggests that we spend some time in prayer each day actually face-down before the Lord. I was able to kneel in prayer and lay prostrate in my place of worship, thanking the Lord, not only for our worship there in that place, but thanking Him for now making His dwelling among us, as His Spirit lives in us. Thanking Him for sending His Immanuel to make that possible, though we were unworthy. And praying for His peace to be felt by all who are His.

Less than 24 hours later, I was experiencing one of the best nights of worship I've ever had there at Pleasant Valley, with brothers and sisters from all over the city, as we gathered for a Saturday Night of Praise. We were able to lift our voices to God, and have Him inhabit our praise!

With all of that in mind, here is MY version of Psalm 122:

I rejoice with those who say to me,

"Let us go to the house of the Lord."

We stand at the front of this church,

this church that is knit together,

with Christ as the unifying thread,

the way His church should be.

This is where His people come, the people of the Lord.

This is where they come to worship Him together,

to learn to act justly and to love mercy as Christ did.

Pray for the peace of His church:

"May all who love her be secure. May there be peace within."

"May the Lord be our peace and prosper each of us,

as He makes His dwelling among us!"

Thanks for reading, and much love!

An Answer to Prayer!!!

I've written previously (here and here) about my brother Brent and the accident that he was involved in a little over a year ago. After a terrible dirt bike accident, he sustained numerous injuries, among which was a spinal cord that was almost completely severed. He was paralyzed from the waist down, and the doctors said he had almost no chance of ever walking again.

Check out the video Brent posted last night over on his own blog!

And PRAISE GOD!!!

This and That...

Seems the time between my posts just keeps getting longer and longer. Will try to do better. Lots going on lately...

The Beth Moore study that we're doing in our Monday night ladies' Bible study continues to be a blessing. I truly enjoy it...I'd heard before that she was good...I just had no idea how good she really was! Listening to her lessons is helpful because they just seem so practical! With this lesson series, she spends a week of video on each of the three main Jewish feasts. Unfortunately, I had to miss the one a couple of weeks ago on the Passover. But my friend Jenn assured me it was incredible. She said she'd bring her notes for me to look over sometime soon. Also, I may try to see if I can borrow that DVD to watch that lesson that I missed.

This past week, however, was the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. She talked at length about how this feast was a time for remembering former bondage. We also discussed the idea that it was a time for great generosity. It's interesting to me how the two of those go hand-in-hand. The phrase that Beth used that stood out in my mind was "Once you 'get' it, you give it." Once you realize the bondage from which you've been delivered...the GRACE that you've been given...then can you show that grace to others. So this Jewish feast was a time for both generous grace and generous giving.

Generous giving is a discipline that's been on my mind for awhile now. This past January, my church did a month-long study on giving, using Randy Alcorn's book entitled "The Treasure Principle". The book is divided into a 4-week Bible study that we conducted church-wide in our Sunday morning classes. Our minister also preached on the topic for the four Sundays in January. Towards the end of 2008...before I found out that we were going to be studying this topic in January...I'd already kind-of decided that this was something I needed to work on.

I know that there is not a place in scripture that commands us to give a certain amount. It is up to each person to decide in his/her heart what they can willingly and cheerfully give. I had decided long ago what I, personally, felt that amount should be for me. Confession time: I have NEVER in my adult life been able (willing) to do so. Part of the difficulty for me in this, I believe, is that as a single person, there is no accountability in this discipline, except to myself and God. There are many spiritual disciplines that we, as Christians should work on, and many of them, we can do with each other. I've got Christian brothers and sisters that I can study the Bible with and that I can pray with. Giving, on the other hand, is one of those things that is considered a little bit more personal and private...we don't talk about the specifics of what we're doing...and rightfully so. After all, Jesus Himself said "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." Even so...for those who are married, it's safe to assume that giving is something that you at least do with your spouse. For me...that's not the case. Not my parents nor my friends nor my family...nobody but GOD ALONE knows what I do with what He's given to me. So when the lack of accountability or any seemingly obvious consequences comes into play, the temptation becomes larger and larger to write that check for a little bit less....or to perhaps not put that check in there this week...it is a constant struggle.

But it's one that I've decided to tackle this year, with a lot of prayer and...well, giving! I've decided that being just a little bit more responsible with my budget will probably go a long way in helping me reach my goal. I started all of this at the very end of last year, when I made what I thought was going to be a small, one-time gift to a charitable organization of my choice. I followed that up in January by meeting my goal as far as what I wanted to give to my church. I've been able to do that...to give to my church what I've already purposed in my heart...every month so far this year. However, as I said, it's a constant struggle, and it's only March. So I continue to pray about this effort.

But also...above and beyond that...I've so far been able to continue to give a small monthly gift to that charitable organization of my choice. I'm not sure why, really. I just know that for me, there's an ever-increasing amount of respect for the godly people who run this organization and the work that they do. And there's an ever-increasing desire in my heart to help them accomplish their goals, which mainly involve reaching people who might need to hear God's message of hope in the midst of struggles. In all of this, I'm feeling an effect of what we talked about in Alcorn's "Treasure Principle" study. I was reminded of this last night, when I was watching the movie "Fireproof" with some of the girls from church. In one of the scenes, as Kirk Cameron's character is trying to save his marriage, the book his dad has written to him suggests to him that he buy something for his wife--spend some money on her. After all, "it's hard not to care about something you're investing in." Randy Alcorn would word it as such: "My heart always goes where I put God's money." This case with me would be no exception. I find myself visiting this organization's website a lot more frequently, just to see what's going on. I find myself praying for the success of this organization in accomplishing their goals. In short, my heart has followed where I've invested this money, and my desire is to do even more. There's something inside of me that is truly excited to be able to give to them and that can't wait to get that next paycheck in order to be able do so!

I'm not sure what all of this means for me or where it will lead...or rather, where He will lead me...but hopefully it is on a journey to being a more disciplined giver of His blessings. I just share all of this so that you may pray for me as I continue to work on this...constantly. And the line from "Fireproof" last night was just an incredible reminder of this. It was a great movie, even for us single girls, who had a little bit of a girls' night last night! If you've not seen it, I'd highly recommend it. We had a blast watching it last night while doing girl stuff...such as manicures, pedicures, facials, and makeovers, and even a bridal fitting for one of our friends who will no longer be single in a matter of weeks! These girls are incredible and I love spending time with them...and really with all of my brothers and sisters in my community of believers at PV. They're an incredible family of believers that God has given me.

Speaking of the family of God...I had the opportunity on Friday night to go w/some more incredible people from my church to the Gaither Homecoming concert here at Alltel. Seems this friend of mine ended up with a few extra tickets. He asked me if i knew of any other singles that would be interested in joining them. I called around, but had trouble getting in touch w/some folks last minute. Some were outta town. A couple were interested but just unable to make it. But I figured, "I love music...of ALL kinds...and I love Jesus...and I love the McClanahans..." It was a no-brainer for me! I had a wonderful time, listening to some GREAT, GREAT music with this great family that I adore!

So it's been a great weekend for me, full of worship music, movies that remind me of the spiritual disciplines that I am practicing, time spent with brothers and sisters that I adore, excellent worship this morning, and a Bible study class this morning that I am ALWAYS blessed to learn something new from! And now I get to prepare to go back to worship this evening! Hope you have a blessed week as well! Much love in HIM!

Developing An Appreciation For The Psalms

I don't like the Psalms.

It's no secret.

Really, though, I'm not a huge fan of...well, basically, the entire second half of the Old Testament.
You see, I'm very much NOT a creative person--I'm so left-brained it's ridiculous. It's not so much that I dislike the Old Testament. It's just that I don't enjoy poetry, in general. I've always felt this way, all the way through school--give me the chronological, historical facts all day long, thank you, but don't make me go through the artistic, poetic stuff--my eyes just automatically tend to glaze over sometimes. The Bible is no exception. Give me the history in the Books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Samuels, Kings, & Chronicles all day long, thank you. But don't make me go through all those poetry and prophecy books--my eyes just might accidentally glaze over.

Seriously...they're normally hard for me to study. I started reading Isaiah in January...as kind of a New Year's Resolution to read through and study the prophets this year. People read through the whole Bible in a year...surely I can make myself study the Old Testament prophets in a year, right?

It's kind of odd for me to say all of this, really, considering the fact that the verse that is my blog header above is from the Psalms.

HOWEVER...

I've taken a step towards overcoming this obstacle in the way I view scripture. I started attending a ladies' Bible study at my church on Monday evenings, which is currently studying Beth Moore's "Stepping Up...A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent." When I was working through the very first day's lesson in the workbook, I discovered a way to be more moved by the Psalms.

You see, all though I don't enjoy poetry, I absolutely LOVE music! I'm a 100% bonafide band nerd who played all the way through college and loved every minute of it. Music speaks to me like nothing else. And after all, isn't that what the Psalms were intended to be....MUSIC! This was not necessarily a new discovery to me. It was just something perhaps I didn't realize the extent to which it was touching me already. In the activity at the end of the first day's lesson, Beth asks us to just skim through the Psalms and write down some words to describe the Psalmists feelings when approaching God. I very randomly flipped through my Bible, stopping and just taking in whatever happened to be on the page in front of me. Of the five verses that I turned to, THREE of them are songs that I've heard/sung before to music!

"The Lord Is My Shepherd" (Psalm 23)..."Your Love, Oh Lord" by Third Day (Psalm 36)..."Give Thanks To The Lord" (Psalm 136)...

But even on a second look at those 5 verses just now, a fourth one, Psalm 83 reminds me of an Acappella song, "Your Love Is Better Than Life". Even Ps. 121...one of our main Psalms of Ascent that we're looking at...the first two lines of it are in the Casting Crowns song, "Praise You In This Storm". I'm just realizing how MANY of my favorite songs are Psalms...straight from scripture!!! I've always been fond of songs that are pure Scripture...whether Psalms or not. I know a couple of cute little songs for both Gal. 2:20 and Phil. 3:10. LOVE the Mac Powell (and friends) song "By His Wounds" from Isaiah 53. "The Steadfast Love of the Lord" (Lam. 3) "Teach Me, Lord, To Wait" (Is. 40). Just to name a few. But then you dig into the Psalms for some songs that are common, or songs that I love...older ones like "Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah!" (Ps. 148)...or newer ones like "Create in Me a Clean Heart" (Ps. 51). "Come Let Us Sing" AND "Come, Let Us Worship and Bow Down" (BOTH from Ps. 95). "Thy Word (Ps. 119). "Psalm 40" by NewSong (Ps. 40, of course!). "As the Deer" (Ps. 42). "Better Is One Day" (Ps. 84). Even my verse up at the top here from Psalm 19--yep, you guessed it, there's a song for that! Folks, I could go on and on!

So it's as though I've been hit anew by a ton of bricks by this not so new realization last week. Imagine my excitement to go into the Beth Moore study for a video session this past Monday evening...and our entire topic that evening was focusing on the Psalms as songs!!! She made some very relevant points, that reminded me of just why I love music so much, and perhaps of how I can manage to get a little bit more out of the Psalms!
1. Song originated with God and accompanied creation. (Job. 38:7)
2. In Scripture, singing is attributed to both God the Father and Christ the Son (Zeph. 3:17; Matt. 26:30; Heb. 2:10-12)
3. Emotions and experiences can be expressed through song in ways that spoken words can never satisfy.
4. A song greatly enhances the ability of the human mind to memorize (Deut. 31:19-22)
5. We can think a song is beautiful and memorize its words yet remain completely unaffected by what it says. Consider the relevance of Paul's words in I Cor. 14:15 in this present context: "I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind."
6. A song can change our entire perspective (Acts 16:24-26)
7. A song can also greatly affect the heart of God
8. In ways beyond our comprehension, the gift of song is not limited to humans and angels. (Rev. 5:13; Luke 19:39-40; Ps. 150)

It's been an incredible week, for me to study through some of the Psalms this week and be reminded why I love so many of the songs that I do...because they are His inspired Word.

Perhaps I don't dislike the Psalms as much as I thought, after all...

For the Fans...

About a week or so ago, I was told that "the fans were clamoring" for a new post from me.

I guess, more accurately, that would be "fan", singular. So for my dear friend, Ellen, here goes...

I've not written on here for awhile, mostly because I've been pretty busy since the beginning of the year. But, believe it or not, I've been wanting to catch up over here...so there's quite a bit to review over the past month or so.

I guess, first of all, with the coming of the new year, and a fresh beginning, is a chance to review the previous year's resolutions (or in my case, the ANTI-resolutions from last year!) You can find them here.

As for #1, I think I've strengthened my prayer life, at least a little bit. Unfortunately, I failed miserably at the possiblity of writing a prayer journal. Maybe I'll try that one again this year. Maybe not.

My #2 is fabulous! Although I still get nervous, I've truly LOVED every opportunity our singles group has had to host blood drives. The only time I didn't get to donate last year was in October. I sat in the room all morning watching/assisting others with their donating. I left for about 45 minutes to go to lunch, and when I came back, the nurses had already started taking everything down! :(

I'm still working on #3. Have had a couple of trims which, unfortunately, were a little bit more than I expected. So now, I'm hoping it'll be long enough by the end of THIS summer. We'll see.

#4--Wow. That's a big one for me. One that I've worked on for quite some time, and have gradually gotten a little bit better. But it wasn't until THIS year that I actually started going to Celebration, which is a singing class at our church on Sunday afternoons, where our worship minister gives out sheet music to some of the newer songs and teaches them! It is surprisingly fun, and I love it! It helps. As I've told a couple of others who have asked me about it, for someone who doesn't sing, it is relatively painless! :)

My #5 is one that I did okay on...for a little while. But it fizzled out in the end. I think I stopped sometime in September or October. But I've taken it up again, as kind of a New Year's resolution for 2009. So we'll see how it goes this year.

Number 6 was a piece of cake! I absolutely did not step on a scale at all last year. And when I got back on one on January 1, 2009--it was EXACTLY THE SAME as it had been the previous year.

I'm also desperately working on #7. I've discovered that I'm such an emotional/sentimental pack-rat. I've gone through the boxes in my closet, only to find little trinkets from a bunch of the trips that I took when I was in college. I can't think of any reason to keep these things, except for once every two years when I go through my closet, I can say, "Oh yeah, this was from the time I was in..." and then put it back in the box. So I'm gonna see what I can do about getting rid of some of that stuff. Here's another one that I just can't seem to throw away--church bulletins. "Hi, my name is Lacey, and I'm a bulletin hoarder..." I've got a drawer in my bedroom...every month or two, I will clean out my Bible and put the new bulletins in there. I don't have one for EVERY week, because we don't mail out our bulletin every week, so I don't have one for the weeks that I'm not there. (But if I really wanted to be OCD about it, I could go to our website and print out the ones I don't have!) But, seriously...I've got a stack of MOST of my church's bulletins from Feb. 2006 until now. I'm not sure why. But I'm not ready to throw them away either.

Finally, for #8--that's a hard one to measure. It's always a constant goal of mine to focus more and more on the things He would have me to, rather than on things of this world that don't really matter. I pray I can continue that in 2009.

That's all I'll bore you with for now.

Thanks for reading, and much love.