“God wants to hear you sing when the waves are crashing around you, when the fiery darts surround you, when despair is all you see. He wants to hear your voice, when the wisest man has spoken, and says your circumstance is as hopeless as can be. That’s when God wants to hear you sing.”
These are the lyrics that ran through my mind as I sat in class on Friday while we talked about Habakkuk, & how even though the circumstances didn’t change, his heart towards the circumstances changed, & in the end he chose to praise God. It made me ask myself: when do I sing? Do I sing when I’m in times of plenty, or times of scarce? Do I sing in the sun or in the rain? Joy or sorrow? Healthy or sick? Strong or weak? In my short 17 years of life, I’ve never faced a looming wave, or braved fiery darts. But I know for certain that in the coming 17 years I will, & when I do I want to be found singing. Singing doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll still be standing. The wave might pull me under for a time, & the storm will leave me cold & wet. The illness will leave me weak, & the fire may leave me burned, but when I'm found in Christ even the darkest despair or strongest winds won't take away my song. I want singing to be a way of life, a constant state of mind. A state of mind that doesn’t let the sorrow drown out the joy or the fear overcome the hope inside of me. That when I find myself annoyed with a situation I’m found singing. That when I feel insecure & discouraged I’m found singing. That when I’m utterly confused & beyond frustrated I’m found singing. The circumstances may not change, but my attitude towards them can, & like Habakkuk, I want to be found standing out in that rain, singing. “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” –Habakkuk 3:17-18
1 Comment
"Why a blog?" you may ask, & that's a question I asked myself even as I designed & created this page. For years I've done personal journaling...first just of the facts of what we did that day, but over time it became an outlet of my feelings, emotions & struggles, & I found so much healing as I recorded my life in the pages of a notebook. I have found there is so much beauty to writing down life because life is beautiful, & there are so many memories & moments that I would have long forgotten if I hadn't written them down. I have also found it is such a good way to record my growth in my walk with Christ, & one of my favourite things to do is go back through old journals to be reminded of what God has done in my life & how great He is.
In the Old Testament God is always telling His people to remember what He has done for them, & I think the same is helpful today. As humans it's so easy to forget how He has worked in the past & how greatly that affects our future. So why a blog? For so long my writing has been in a private book kept in my room, but I feel like this is something that can be used to bless others. As I've been here at Legacy Bible in Wooster, Ohio, one of our assignments is to write a journal entry every week to record growth & for our instructors to read. The more that I write out the things God is impressing on my heart the more I've thought of the value of sharing this with others, because maybe something that God is telling me is something that is helpful for others to hear too. So here I will be sharing my thoughts & some will be from my entries at Legacy & what I'm learning here. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my blog. Even if you only read one post I hope that some part of it blesses you, & that it will stir you to sit back & remember all the things God has done in your past so you can go share it with someone too. |