Lord, I Need You

Lord I need You, when the sea of life is calm

O Lord I need you when the wind is blowing strong

Whether trials come or cease, keep me always on my knees

Lord I need You, Lord I need You

Sometimes when life seems gentle and blessings flood my way,

I turn my gaze away from you, and soon forget to pray

But when the sky grows darker and courage turns to fear

My anxious voice cries upward with words You long to hear

Lord I need You, when the sea of life is calm

O Lord I need you when the wind is blowing strong

Whether trials come or cease, keep me always on my knees

Lord I need You, Lord I need You

Lord help me to remember, I’m weak but You are strong

I cannot sing apart from You, for Lord You are my song

Although I’m prone to wander and boast in all I do

Lord keep my eyes turned upward, so I depend on You
(Ron Hamilton)

Singing this song many times over in the past 6 months has spoke to me. I realized my constant need for the Lord in my daily life. Not one days goes by that I do not need Him. Recognizing my weakness without Him has drawn to my knees to ask Him to come by side, because I need Him!

Blessings! 

The Apple Tree

Just yesterday as I listened to some CDs that had been stored away for some time. And I was filled with joy and peace as I heard an old gospel song that has meant so much to me over the years. A song of invitation and reconciliation. A song of surrender to the Lord. A song that the Lord used to speak to me to prompt me to "come home"  and into His arms of love.

Coming home means so much to an individual. Maybe having spent time away on a trip, studying away from home. Coming home has a feeling of comfort and a sense of being. A place where one can be just who they are meant to be. 

In a spiritual sense, coming home is a feeling of joy and peace. A feeling of being completely surrendered to Jesus and His will for my life. No matter what I may have done, He is standing there with open arms, waiting for me. Waiting for you. 

Day after day I would listen to this song and I sensed a feeling of conviction. The Spirit continued to nudge my soul until one Sunday morning, the Lord called and I answered. I came home! Oh, the feeling of peace and joy that flooded my soul that morning, as I recognized the love of God for a soul such as mine. 

Four years later as I dealt with issues and struggles in my personal life, inwardly I slipped away from serving God and being completely surrendered to Him. At a meeting, the Lord used the song leader to lead this invitational song at the close of revivals, calling me back to Him.

And just as He saved my soul that first day, He was waiting for me with open arms, willing me back to Him. And He is waiting with arms outstretched for you! He loves you with an immeasurable love! 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Just like Ma and Pa were waiting for their son with open arms, Jesus is waiting for you. His arms are wide open, calling you home to Him, fully surrendered to Him, filled with peace and joy that only He can give.

Daily seek Him! Daily surrender your life to Him! Lord, I'm coming home to the peace and joy that only you can give!

Come home my child, come home! Find rest in the arms of Jesus. He is waiting for you!

Finding rest. Part of a series of "Finding Spiritual Whitespace Blog Tour." Find more out here.

Finding Spiritual Whitespace - A Book Review

Several months ago, I came across an email invitation to be part of a book launch team. The name of the book was what really caught my attention - Finding Spiritual Whitespace: awakening your soul to rest. I accepted the invitation to be part of this exclusive group and embark on this journey of rest. 

To be honest, I really wasn't sure what to expect as I opened the book. Not even past the introduction, I was struck by the vulnerability that Bonnie Gray expressed. In allowing her vulnerable moments to be penned out and shared publicly, she expressed her need for rest and gently coaxed others on this journey with her. Each story gave yet another glimpse into a soul seeking rest, followed by thought-provoking questions that opened the reader to find rest. 

The more I spent time using her experiences as a guide to rest, I identified with questions that she penned. Bonnie Gray, also known as the Faith Barista took life experiences, creating "whitespaces" and applied them to a simple, yet complex concept known as rest. 

Bonnie is not asking us to do something extraordinary; no, not at all. Rather she is prompting us to do something that even our Lord and Savior, in all His perfectness, yet fleshly body, needed to do as He walked this earth - REST! 

"And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into

a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening had come,

he was there alone." Matt 14:23 KJV

If Christ as a Supreme Being needed to rest, how much more do we as sinful creatures, saved by grace, need to step apart and find rest?

I encourage you to join us on this journey of finding spiritual whitespace, seeking rest!

Reviewed by 

I Love to Steal Awhile Away

As I have shared this Spiritual Whitespace journey with many individuals, one of my favorite songs of calling me to rest is the following song:

Just to steal awhile away, amidst the hustle and bustle of life to seek rest and spend time with the Master of rest - we all need such moments. Take time today, how little or how big to just steal away and rest!

Join us on this journey!

You Are Mine!

As I sat, seeking rest, waiting, an empty page. Longing for soul rest, a song came to mind - a song I have sung many times since January. A song that the youth chorus sings and today that song ministered to me. A whisper that this was for me.

You Are Mine - David Haas

I will come to you in the silence
I will lift you from all your fear
You will hear My voice
I claim you as My choice
Be still, and know I am near

I am hope for all who are hopeless
I am eyes for all who long to see
In the shadows of the night,
I will be your light
Come and rest in Me

Chorus:
Do not be afraid, I am with you
I have called you each by name
Come and follow Me
I will bring you home
I love you and you are mine

I am strength for all the despairing
Healing for the ones who dwell in shame
All the blind will see, the lame will all run free
And all will know My name

Chorus:
Do not be afraid, I am with you
I have called you each by name
Come and follow Me
I will bring you home
I love you and you are mine

I am the Word that leads all to freedom
I am the peace the world cannot give
I will call your name, embracing all your pain
Stand up, now, walk, and live

Chorus:
Do not be afraid, I am with you
I have called you each by name
Come and follow Me
I will bring you home
I love you and you are mine

Finding soul rest today!

Participating in "Whitespace" community by Faith Barista!

The Beauty of Whitespace

Whitespace - a term I had heard only a few times before. What was it? 

This week I began a journey in learning of Spiritual Whitespace as I started reading a book by Bonnie Gray - the author of Faith Barista. 

So what is whitespace? Untouched, unmarked space, but not blank. It has beauty! A canvas longing for quiet, beauty, rest. We have been instructed to rest.

[Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God). Six days you shall labor and do all your work, But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it [set it apart for His purposes]. Exodus 20:8-11 AMP

Even God in all His holiness rested after He created the earth. He, who was all-knowing, all-powerful, Supreme, needed to rest. How much more do we as fallen creatures saved by grace need to rest? We even find Jesus, amidst His calling here on earth, stepping away from His task at hand and retreating to the mountains for some time alone. He, who came to earth as an individual to die for our sins when He himself was sinless, recognized the need to step back and find that spiritual whitespace - that place of beautiful rest.

And He said to them, [[a]As for you] come away by yourselves to a deserted place, and rest a while—for many were [continually] coming and going, and they had not even leisure enough to eat. Mark 6:31 AMP.

I encourage you to find your place of rest - your spiritual whitespace. A place where you can lay aside the daily weight and find God, as He waits for you. As He desires for you to rest in Him.

I have just began my journey through this book. Join us as we take this journey of finding Spiritual Whitespace.


The beauty of whitespace!

WHY? a heart's cry

WHY?

The question continued to tumble through my head this week. Various recent happenings played over and over:

The news of young boy who was snatched from this life unexpected. 

Reading the experience of a young family as they dealt with the father's cancer.

A young expecting mother left behind after her husband passed on.

Two little children taken suddenly in a vehicle accident.

The list went on and on. But as the question continues to tumble, there is a sense of peace that God gives. True peace that this world cannot give. The peace that only one can find in God and God alone. 



Why we ask? We don't understand. We question what happened. We are not at fault for questioning what has happened. We remain at fault when we allow our questions to turn to bitterness. The bitterness is what the devil uses to trip us and have us doubting God and His goodness.

But God is GOOD! We are reminded that these happenings have happened so that God might be glorified. The following Scriptures affirm this:

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. John 9:3

When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. John 11:4

If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11

We wonder why? but we see in the verses above that the works happen for the glory of God and that God might be glorified. These experiences and the individuals affected by the experiences display the peace that only God gives. The peace that comes from accepting the circumstances and acknowledging that God is glorified through it all...



Blessings!