The Follow Up Talk

Here’s a song that’s been through many evolutions and iterations in my mind and on paper. After worshipping and reflecting on this song, hearing the melody of the saxophone, and the voices from a chorus playing this song in my heart- I realized it didn’t need any other special words. The simplicity says everything. Haven’t recorded it, but drafted it to share. Satisfy My Heart   Verse Lord please come and satisfy my heart Satisfy my heart Lord please come and satisfy my heart Satisfy my heart {repeat} Refrain Lord please come and satisfy my heart (Like the dew in the morning) Satisfy my heart (Let Your Spirit renew me) Lord please come and satisfy my heart (Like the cool in the evening) Satisfy my heart (Let Your Spirit refresh me) {repeat}

Slowly, I've been working my way through Lysa Terkeurst book,  It's Not Supposed to be This Way  and would highly recommend reading it. I love the concept of dust  that is discussed to describe our lives and how God is a Master Potter and works with dust -- works on us and our brokenness to make something new and better! Today I was reading my Bible and Moses' prayer in Psalm 90 was a very cool connection to most of what I have been reading. I wanted to share a short segment that I highlighted and my prayer that goes with it. Psalm 90:3, 12, 14-17   3: You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” 12: So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. 14: Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15: Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16: Let your work be shown to your servants, and your gloriou...

This morning I was reading Job 42 and a series of other scriptures that gave encouragement to trust that God will restore you after your period of suffering. Job, of course, is a pinnacle example of this. After Job suffered, God blessed him with more wealth and with a lot more children and allowed him to live 140 more years- allowing Job to see the next 4 generations! While reading this chapter I was struck by verses 10-11 . 10: And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.  11: Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. After reading this I thought: "Where were these siblings and others, before the Lord restored Job's riches?" Did these people...

Have you ever read a passage in the Bible and get totally blown away? That was me this morning as I read Revelations 7:13-17 . This passage describes how the people who washed their robes in the blood of Jesus were able to enter the throne of God. Their robes were white and now they had protection, shelter, food, drink, and peace. I was blown away because of how it confirmed my earlier reading of Revelations 22 and how the words about washing our robes and the scenery surrounding God's throne inspired me to write the song in my post, Washed my Robe . I want to copy here the words of Revelations 7 for you to bask in too. 13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, an...

After Thanksgiving dinner I escaped for some quiet time and reflected on a song I dreamt about a few months ago. In this dream I or someone else (you know how dreams can be funny and confusing) was singing a song that said, "The power of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and their enemies fall down".  It ended with a series of repeated hallelujahs. When I woke up I wrote the words down and realized that those words are basically from Proverbs 18:10 . I was already in an inspired mindset after writing yesterday's song, so I asked God to help me put words to what he's allowed me to hear. Today, I remembered a dream from months, or even a few years ago, that was completely awesome. I dreamt that I was either in or watching a heavenly choir sing to Jesus. All they said was, "Sing Hallelujah, to the Lamb," but it was the way the sang it and the harmony that they used that made the song so moving. I could never forget this memory! I sat ...

Today I opened my Bible app to find a chapter to read. There was a lot of friend activity and I was drawn to a verse highlighted by my brother-in-law. I turned to Revelation‬ ‭22 where it read: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations...  Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. ( Revelation 22:1-2, 14 ) I looked at these verses and thought - there is a song here! So, I decided to write it. Here are the words to this song I named, "Washed my Robe". Washed My Robe   Verse 1 Here I carry my robe Dirty with holes I heard of this river Clear as cry...

I read Ecclesiastes 7 today and it related to conversations I’ve had with several people lately about feeling uncomfortable with where we are in life and dealing with the waiting for what we think is “perfect” to come along and satisfy us or reward us for our endurance. Chapter 7 describes sorrow and adversity as fundamental experiences that are equally made by God to make us rich in wisdom. It is a powerful concept! Right now I’m reading a book by Lisa Terkeurst about hardship and disappointment. It discussed how our heart longs for perfection and the garden of Eden. Here on earth, in between the first Eden and the second Eden- where God brings heaven to earth, we experience hardships. The verses in Ecc. 7 state so clearly that there is good in the hardship. Wisdom can be found there. I go on further to say wisdom can be found because we end up looking for and leaning on God more and more. It’s in the development of our relationship with God that we receive wisdom and are better ...

Yesterday we had a discussion about offenses, specifically about how we react to them. We discussed the purpose behind offense, which we saw was a tool the enemy used to turn us away from God. This morning I read Psalm 51 - David's plea for God's forgiveness. Verse 8 struck me as interesting. It says, "Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice." The bones which God has broken. This phrasing was so curious to me because here I am thinking, what did God do? How did he break David's bones, or rather, how did God cause David to suffer? Does God allow us to suffer? My mind went to the story of Job and how God allowed the enemy to break Job down. God allowed Job to lose his wealth, health, and children. What was the purpose behind this? I believe the purpose was to show us how to respond to hardship. No matter how much hard stuff comes our way, we should never allow our hardships to turn us away from God. God went to the extremes to...

This morning I read Romans 12 and it reminded me of our study group's conversation last night about our individual need for approval. Our pastor talked about this last Sunday and we reflected on who's approval was most important to us. Romans 12:2 says: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." We were asked a seemingly simple question - How do we respond when people engage us in ungodly conversations? Do we participate to gain approval, or do we disengage and by doing so demonstrate godliness? The honest answer to this shows how much value we put on external opinions. If I'm honest, I can point out times when I have not demonstrated godliness because I wanted to fit in and create a sense of camaraderie. I placed too much value on the opinions of people and in doing so, was swayed away from God's will for me. Romans ...

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Friendship and accountability go hand in hand. True friendship will tell you when you're wrong, or at least make you feel inside that you've missed the mark. That's what we want in Christian friendships. As believers, we want to keep growing in our knowledge of and walk with God. We want the fruits of the Spirit to be increasingly felt and seen in us. Most of all, we want to grow in our faith of God so that we can withstand the pain and hard realities of being humans in a fallen world. For this, we need our Christian community. We need brothers and sisters who will do life with us and become one "fold" in our cord. The image of verse 12 brings to my mind a mythical story that describes how everyone's life is represented by a golden cord. In the story, when the supposed right time comes, a mythical being cuts a person's cord, and that person dies. I forgot where this myth comes from, but the imagery popped in my mind after reading th...

Ecclesiastes 4:4 says, "Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit." (KJV) I just want to share some thoughts that came to me as I read this verse. This verse points out a truth that is part of our basic human nature. Do we look at the exciting things happening in the lives of others and automatically say, "Whoo hoo, good for that person! They work hard and deserve it!" Or do we automatically wonder, "What about me?" I believe our basic human inclination is to look at the situation of others and compare it to ourselves and how we are doing. My son had a playmate at daycare who made me laugh a lot because she was a perfect example of this "what about me" mentality. If I told my son, "Let's go, we're having friends over tonight," this playmate would say (in a soulful 3 year old voice and huge puppy eyes), "I don't h...

Here's another song that I've created. I had technical difficulties with the sound and volume, but as I've said before, I'm no professional. So please take me as I am, and this song too! 😅 Below are the lyrics for "Your Covering". I hope you enjoy it! --> Your Covering Chorus 1 I don’t need a miracle, just to know I’m loved I just need to feel your shadow covering me I don’t need a marvelous message in the stars I just need to feel your spirit covering me Chorus 2 Singing hallelujah when my heart is breaking Singing hallelujah when my soul is hurting Offering my praise you will bring me through it Offering my praise you are still deserving Vamp You cover me, cover me, cover me (4x) Verse 1 Lover of my life, Lover of my soul To you I bring my burdens, The heaviness I hold I open up my hands I open up my heart You are the only way to make me whole Chorus 2 Vamp Verse 2 You see every moment, You see each fear I...