free to sing

Music is the one passion I've carried with me since I was able to walk. I was the always singing, always talking toddler and that didn't change much. Singing is a great way to express myself and to use the gift that God has given me. Sometimes people do something just because they're good at it, or at least decent, but I sing because I love it and it makes me happy. It humbles me to know that when we sing praise to God, He
doesn't care what we sound like. When we sing for Him, we don't have to worry about sounding perfect. We can block out everyone around us and focus on Him and sing to Him and no one else. When I worship the Lord through singing, I think about just the two of us being in a room together and I focus on the lyrics and the meaning behind them. Singing to God is the best type of singing because we are not judged and because He is given glory. God wants to hear our voices, not only through prayer, but through singing! Ephesians 5:19 says that we should sing and make melody to the Lord with our hearts, giving thanks to God. If you don't think you have a good voice, sing anyway because He loves to hear your voice and He thinks it's beautiful! If you do have a good voice, don't think about letting other people hear it-- just think about sharing it with God, because He has blessed you and we should praise Him for our blessings. Sing out to the Lord, and have fun with it. I'm not a big fan of metal or rap music because I believe it can be dishonoring to God. I listen to it sometimes, but I usually feel a little bad about it. When I sing songs and don't agree with what the artist is saying through his lyrics, I feel guilty because I am enjoying the song when I actually completely disagree with what it's saying. Therefore, I often catch myself driving and switching the station to a CD after the song is halfway over-- I might like the beats and be tempted to listen and sing along, and I may or may not do so. However, as far as that goes, I guess I just sometimes feel like a hypocrite, and I really should try to change that. I love listening and singing to worship music in my car, and it's something I do a lot, especially when I'm alone. It's great to just know that God is always watching and always listening, and that you can spend time with Him anywhere and everywhere. Praying and singing in the car gets me through long car rides. I'll never stop singing, and I can't imagine not being able to sing. Singing used to be solely for enjoyment for me, but now it makes me even more happier because it's something I can do to be with God. We can never fully please God, but we can bring Him glory through music and singing. :)

free to run

Running always makes me feel good. It energizes me and brings me joy to run, and it is something I could do everyday for hours and not get tired of it. I wish I had the time to do that because it would be wonderful. When I run, I'm able to block out the rest of the world and enjoy nature (of course with my iPod shuffle on and upbeat music playing through my headphones), and it always leaves me satisfied and feeling good about myself. When I ran track and cross country in high school, some of the running was enjoyable, but often, I would just want to get to the end of the race. Isn't life sometimes the same? I feel like we are so often just pushing through everything we do in order to meet deadlines and goals we set for ourselves or society sets for us. We are all about getting things done and being successful, which is not always a bad thing, but it is if we are not focused on the most important race and the reward that will come with it. The race I'm referring to is one of great faith, one that ends with the greatest reward of all--eternal life. In 1 Corinthians 9:24 it says to "run in such a way as to get the prize." I think this verse is encouraging us to live like Christ and do everything for His glory. We can only do so much, but God uses what we have and adds to that so that we can accomplish things we may have thought we never could have accomplished. With Him, we can do anything, but without Him, our lives will only result in failure and disappointment with ourselves. Yes, as Christians, we will sometimes be disappointed with God, but if we look deeply into the situation, we will see that there is good that comes out of the bad--always. I mean doesn't Romans 8:28 say that all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose? I think so! That should make us want to run even faster toward the loving, gracious, neverfailing God whom we serve. Running the race with God will not always be comforting, but we will always end up feeling good about ourselves and learning a lot along the way. Psalm 16:11 says "In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures evermore." Running with God is rarely disappointing, and only good can come from it. God wants us to run with Him so that He will be given glory, and we should want to run with Him to learn more about His character and to experience the unconditional love He has for us. We should run to Him because His arms are wide open, and we should have the picture of eternity in our minds as we run, because it is the best reward there is! Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we could coexist with God in Heaven! This is only our temporary home, and we don't think about that enough. If you trust and follow God, you will be rewarded with eternal life and unity with Him, and I couldn't look forward to anything more. Don't think about those deadlines and goals, but set your mind on what really matters, and that is running the race with Christ, not with the world. I'll end with a quote from C.S. Lewis: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

free to speak

"So shall the word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve for the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

This verse was one of our Summer Beach Project memory verses, and I was reading through Isaiah 55 last night and it really caught my eye. This semester especially has been one of the busiest times of my life, and sometimes I feel like I'm unable to be as intentional as I would like to with people. The Lord commands for us to love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind and to love others as we would want to be loved. I believe in order to do this, we need to show Christ to other people in everything we do-- through our words and through our actions-- and they will see Christ through us. I pray that I can do that, and that the distractions of life don't get in the way. The Lord is so good, so faithful, and His name should be glorified in my life and through my life. So will the words come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They shall do the work I sent them to do, and finish the assignment I gave them. May my words and actions mirror Christ to others, to the world.

free to live

Hi!
This is my first post, and I'm so excited about finally having a blog. This blog will probably be a random combination of songs, writing, verses and encouragement, and I hope everyone enjoys it! Here are the lyrics to the song that inspired the title of my blog, "free to live." It's really a beautiful song about being set free by Christ. I have been set free, and it is amazing!

"Free" by Ginny Owens

Turning molehills into mountains,
Making big deals out of small ones,
Bearing gifts as if they're burdens,
This is how it's been.
Fear of coming out of my shell,
Too many things I can't do too well,
Afraid I'll try real hard and I'll fail -
This is how it's been.
Till the day you pounded on my heart's door,
And you shouted joyfully,
"You're not a slave anymore"
You're free to dance-
Forget about your two left feet
And you're free to sing-
Even joyful noise is music to me
and you're free to love,
Cause I've given you My love,
and it's made you free
Free
My mind finds hard to believe
That You'd become humanity
and changed the course of history,
Because You loved me so.
And my heart cannot understand
Why You'd accept me as I am,
But You say You've always had a plan,
And that's all I need to know.
So when I am consumed by what the world will say,
It's then You're singing to me,
As you remove my chains
You're free to dance-
Forget about your two left feet
And you're free to sing-
Even joyful noise is music to me
and you're free to love,
Cause I've given you My love,
and it's made you free,
Free from worry, free from envy and denial
Free to live, free to give, free to smile
You're free to dance-
Forget about your two left feet
And you're free to sing-
Even joyful noise is music to me
and you're free to love,
Cause I've given you My love,
and it's made you free
I've given you My love,
and it's made you free
I have set you free