What images come to mind when the word "worship" is stated?
For many, the image that appears has something to do with music, singing, instruments, etc. However, this was not the case for a second grade girl at my church. When asked "What is worship?" This young girl did not say "music!" or "singing!" As her hand bounded into the air she replied "PRAYING!"
prayer.
conversation with God.
being still and listening.
this is her idea of worship.
I am often frustrated with those my age who say "Worship was awesome tonight! The music was incredible!" Yes, music is a part of what worship is, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. We are called to worship God with our lives, not just with our songs. We worship God with our actions, words and even thoughts. It's about a lifestyle, not a moment.
One definition of worship that Webster offers is this: extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem.
extravagant respect.
admiration.
devotion.
These can be shown through music, but it doesn't stop there. We must show extravagant respect with our lives.
Another concept of worship that was brought by a 1st grade girl was that we can "help our parents out around the house." We are honoring our parents and showing them respect. As a result, we are honoring God and showing Him respect because He first commanded us to honor our parents.
Music has and will always be a very important part of my life. I worship God through music, connect to Him through music, hear God through music, etc. But if I were to say, "Music is THE way I worship," I can guarantee that in that moment I would be breaking the Father's heart.
Worship is more than just a Sunday morning thing.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some unfinished "worship" left to do with the dirty dishes in the sink. =]
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
hooray, it's a beautiful day in LA
(title credit: Blindside)
note: the following may seem a lot like rambling. however, this post means a lot to me anyway.
So this week I went on a mission trip to so cal as a sponsor for New Hope's youth group. I won't give you in depth details of the whole trip, but rather a highlight for me (BUT if you would like to hear about the trip, let me know and I'd be more than happy to share with you =]). So when we were in so cal we worked with the Dream Center who focuses on reaching out to the homeless in the LA area. The whole trip was incredible, but more than anything I LOVED working with the Hispanic communities. My heart's passion is Hispanic ministry. Every time I do it, God reminds me that He is not only the God of middle-class white girls from OK (uh, me? haha) but rather that He is EVERYONE'S God. I also love that despite the fact that my life is nowhere close to the type of life that these people live, we have the commonality of God, which brings us together. The day that we worked with the children I made a new friend named Carlos (about 5 years old). We began to play ball and I spoke with him in Spanish. We went over to hear one of the leaders give a short message (only after I promised him that he would receive a free hot dog after it was over). The woman was speaking in English so I translated her message to Spanish for him. It came to the time when the woman gave an invitation to accept Christ. I told Carlos what she had said and he looked at me with a smile and simply said that he knew Jesus. My heart nearly melted. This wonderful child, with so little, displayed such great happiness and delight in the Lord. The next day we gave out food to the homeless in two other Hispanic communities. The first stop we made I spoke with some elderly Mexican women. As I spoke with them I said "God bless you" (in Spanish, of course). The women's faces lit up and said that I'm a beautiful, wonderful young woman and they pray that God pours blessings into my life. And quite honestly, the fact that it was said to me in Spanish meant more to me than it would have if it were in English. It's just amazing to me that these women who barely know me blessed me in that way. After that we went to the next community to pass out food. After everyone had received food we all joined hands and prayed. All at once everyone began praying aloud in Spanish. I nearly cried-it was honestly one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard. And the amazing thing is this-while everyone was crying out to God because of hunger, homelessness, deaths, and other tragedies, they NEVER ceased to praise Him. I loved the spirit of Job that all of these wonderful people had. In everything, good and bad, they praise the Father. This trip was such an amazing experience and I loved serving God's people. I love the way that God chooses to use me for His glory, even though He really doesn't need me. I'm so grateful that I have a God who loves all of His people =]
note: the following may seem a lot like rambling. however, this post means a lot to me anyway.
So this week I went on a mission trip to so cal as a sponsor for New Hope's youth group. I won't give you in depth details of the whole trip, but rather a highlight for me (BUT if you would like to hear about the trip, let me know and I'd be more than happy to share with you =]). So when we were in so cal we worked with the Dream Center who focuses on reaching out to the homeless in the LA area. The whole trip was incredible, but more than anything I LOVED working with the Hispanic communities. My heart's passion is Hispanic ministry. Every time I do it, God reminds me that He is not only the God of middle-class white girls from OK (uh, me? haha) but rather that He is EVERYONE'S God. I also love that despite the fact that my life is nowhere close to the type of life that these people live, we have the commonality of God, which brings us together. The day that we worked with the children I made a new friend named Carlos (about 5 years old). We began to play ball and I spoke with him in Spanish. We went over to hear one of the leaders give a short message (only after I promised him that he would receive a free hot dog after it was over). The woman was speaking in English so I translated her message to Spanish for him. It came to the time when the woman gave an invitation to accept Christ. I told Carlos what she had said and he looked at me with a smile and simply said that he knew Jesus. My heart nearly melted. This wonderful child, with so little, displayed such great happiness and delight in the Lord. The next day we gave out food to the homeless in two other Hispanic communities. The first stop we made I spoke with some elderly Mexican women. As I spoke with them I said "God bless you" (in Spanish, of course). The women's faces lit up and said that I'm a beautiful, wonderful young woman and they pray that God pours blessings into my life. And quite honestly, the fact that it was said to me in Spanish meant more to me than it would have if it were in English. It's just amazing to me that these women who barely know me blessed me in that way. After that we went to the next community to pass out food. After everyone had received food we all joined hands and prayed. All at once everyone began praying aloud in Spanish. I nearly cried-it was honestly one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard. And the amazing thing is this-while everyone was crying out to God because of hunger, homelessness, deaths, and other tragedies, they NEVER ceased to praise Him. I loved the spirit of Job that all of these wonderful people had. In everything, good and bad, they praise the Father. This trip was such an amazing experience and I loved serving God's people. I love the way that God chooses to use me for His glory, even though He really doesn't need me. I'm so grateful that I have a God who loves all of His people =]
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
beloved.
"I am the beloved. I am God's chosen one."
This was the premise of Jeff's (one of my church's teaching pastors) sermon on Sunday. He spoke of how despite the fact that the world may try to tear us down, we are God's beloved ones. He is well pleased with and delights in us. This initial message alone struck my heart with a hammer.
Then later that afternoon I continued to ponder this idea of being God's beloved. All of these thoughts led to the realization that no boy has EVER loved me the way God has (nor will they ever be able to). Furthermore, no boy has ever even thought as highly of me as God has. Despite the fact that this is hard to admit, I feel I need to share this openly, otherwise the wounds only grow deeper-I feel that I have never truly been a boy's first choice girl. If a boy were to confront me today and tell me I'm wrong, I'll gladly take his word for it. However, I feel I have never been treated this way. There's always something "wrong" with me or there's a girl that they wish I could be more like. They wish I could play this instrument instead of that one, compete in some other sport or dress differently than I do.
side note: all of this is not to say the guys I've dated are not GREAT guys! They just aren't the guys for me, nor am I the girl for them.
The fact of the matter is, I am who I am. As far as I'm concerned, that should be good enough. For God, that IS good enough. In fact, to Him I'm wonderful.
After processing through all of this I realized even more so how important it is that I have given my heart to God to hold until it's ready to be given away. I want only God's best for my life.
I know that I deserve this. I know that ALL of us deserve this.
WE are His beloved. WE are His chosen ones.
=]
This was the premise of Jeff's (one of my church's teaching pastors) sermon on Sunday. He spoke of how despite the fact that the world may try to tear us down, we are God's beloved ones. He is well pleased with and delights in us. This initial message alone struck my heart with a hammer.
Then later that afternoon I continued to ponder this idea of being God's beloved. All of these thoughts led to the realization that no boy has EVER loved me the way God has (nor will they ever be able to). Furthermore, no boy has ever even thought as highly of me as God has. Despite the fact that this is hard to admit, I feel I need to share this openly, otherwise the wounds only grow deeper-I feel that I have never truly been a boy's first choice girl. If a boy were to confront me today and tell me I'm wrong, I'll gladly take his word for it. However, I feel I have never been treated this way. There's always something "wrong" with me or there's a girl that they wish I could be more like. They wish I could play this instrument instead of that one, compete in some other sport or dress differently than I do.
side note: all of this is not to say the guys I've dated are not GREAT guys! They just aren't the guys for me, nor am I the girl for them.
The fact of the matter is, I am who I am. As far as I'm concerned, that should be good enough. For God, that IS good enough. In fact, to Him I'm wonderful.
After processing through all of this I realized even more so how important it is that I have given my heart to God to hold until it's ready to be given away. I want only God's best for my life.
I know that I deserve this. I know that ALL of us deserve this.
WE are His beloved. WE are His chosen ones.
=]
Sunday, March 8, 2009
self.
thoughts:
It occurred to me this morning as we sang in church a song that includes the lyrics "He is mine" that we as humans are soo self centered. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with calling God "mine," "ours," etc. But how often do we see ourselves as His? Sure, we say we're God's servants, but in terms of seeing ourselves as God's possessions, what does that even mean to us? If we truly belong to God, and God is Lord above all, wouldn't it make more sense to celebrate the fact that we are His rather than the fact that He is ours? We as humans don't own anything. And I do mean absolutely nothing. God owns all and allows us to take care of His possessions. Knowing this, that we own absolutely nothing, I feel like the focus should be that we are God's people. The other side of this is that when we do claim God as our own, I feel that it should be done in a manner of reverent awe. The fact that almighty God allows us to call Him our own is so amazingly significant. To realize the importance of it makes all the difference.
It occurred to me this morning as we sang in church a song that includes the lyrics "He is mine" that we as humans are soo self centered. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with calling God "mine," "ours," etc. But how often do we see ourselves as His? Sure, we say we're God's servants, but in terms of seeing ourselves as God's possessions, what does that even mean to us? If we truly belong to God, and God is Lord above all, wouldn't it make more sense to celebrate the fact that we are His rather than the fact that He is ours? We as humans don't own anything. And I do mean absolutely nothing. God owns all and allows us to take care of His possessions. Knowing this, that we own absolutely nothing, I feel like the focus should be that we are God's people. The other side of this is that when we do claim God as our own, I feel that it should be done in a manner of reverent awe. The fact that almighty God allows us to call Him our own is so amazingly significant. To realize the importance of it makes all the difference.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Prom
So I'm going to take a moment to be totally lame and say how STOKED I am for prom! =]
It's one of the three events (the other two being Spring Break and graduation) that I'm looking forward to for the remainder of my high school career.
Who else is going? =]
Monday, February 23, 2009
untitled.
Lately God has been teaching me and revealing to me so many things. I would write about them all, but I wouldn't even know where to start. I feel nervous, excited, anxious and glorious all at the same time. More than anything God is constantly showing how wonderful I am to Him. I often remind myself of the fact that God is romancing me every day. When I look around at the flowers, the beautiful sunsets and wonderful people He's put in my life, it makes me realize why I chose God as my bridegroom in the first place.
I don't have much to say as of late (mainly because I don't exactly know how to express it in terms of words and sentences), but I'm going to end with a villanelle I wrote for Contemporary Lit.
fitting the mold
beautiful in the eyes of the Master
beauty that’s missed most often by peers
who all want to fit in a mold made of plaster
individuality overlooked by a conformist by passer
only observing the flaws as to you he nears.
but we are all beautiful in the eyes of the Master.
the woman down the street will cast her
glance-at your imperfection she sneers.
she only wants to fit in a mold made of plaster.
you become aware of your own ugliness and your heart beats faster
your tear-stained face reveals your utter fear
but then you remember that you are beautiful in the eyes of the Master.
the world shouts and screams and tells you you’re a disaster
they don’t understand that you won’t listen to their jeers
they all want you to fit in a mold made of plaster
this eternal beauty is sure to last your
whole life and fill your whole being with cheer.
though the world may try to shove you in a mold made of plaster
you will always be beautiful in the eyes of the Master.
I don't have much to say as of late (mainly because I don't exactly know how to express it in terms of words and sentences), but I'm going to end with a villanelle I wrote for Contemporary Lit.
fitting the mold
beautiful in the eyes of the Master
beauty that’s missed most often by peers
who all want to fit in a mold made of plaster
individuality overlooked by a conformist by passer
only observing the flaws as to you he nears.
but we are all beautiful in the eyes of the Master.
the woman down the street will cast her
glance-at your imperfection she sneers.
she only wants to fit in a mold made of plaster.
you become aware of your own ugliness and your heart beats faster
your tear-stained face reveals your utter fear
but then you remember that you are beautiful in the eyes of the Master.
the world shouts and screams and tells you you’re a disaster
they don’t understand that you won’t listen to their jeers
they all want you to fit in a mold made of plaster
this eternal beauty is sure to last your
whole life and fill your whole being with cheer.
though the world may try to shove you in a mold made of plaster
you will always be beautiful in the eyes of the Master.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
"I'm gonna love you with my life"
So lately I've been waking up earlier than usual (which doesn't seem possible considering the fact that it's impossible for me to sleep in) and until this morning I was pretty upset about it. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then it hit me: a bit ago I kind of complained to God that I didn't have enough time for quality quiet times with Him. Well He definitely fixed that problem (be careful what you pray for...)! So yesterday I opened my Bible to Psalm 63. There really wasn't a reason, I just happened to land there. The verse is about David's thirst for God like someone in a dry, empty land with no water. At first it seemed to me that this was just like every other Psalm-desperation, God's perfect love and God defeating the enemy. Then I read the "daily devo" (I have the Revolve Devotional Bible which I highly recommend to girls of all ages) next to the passage.
(taken from the Daily Devo)
"Do you desire God? I mean really, really want him? There's a big difference between the kind of true, deep desire for God that David talks about in Psalm 63 and the shallow 'wanting' that some people experience...the first step in truly wanting God is realizing how much we need Him...once you see that you're totally lost without God, you're on the right track."
It was at that point that I realized that lately I haven't been truly desiring God. Of course I always claim Him as my Savior and say that I love Him, but what does that really mean to me? The fact alone that I'm typically not even willing to wake up earlier so that my quiet times with God are able to be of greater quality says it all to me. I felt so lame after coming to this realization. I am nothing without Him and lately I've been acting as though I can do it all on my own. Thankfully I have a God that cares for me enough to show me otherwise through miracles I have experienced throughout this past week (ask me about them if you'd like to know). All of this to say, how often do we really stop and take the time to thank God for who He is? How often do we acknowledge that God is the only reason we live, move and breathe? And how often do we thank God for the miracles He performs in our lives?
I am happy to say that I am a terrible, confused and hopeless mess because I have a Savior who loves me all the same and covers my sins with His beautiful grace.
(taken from the Daily Devo)
"Do you desire God? I mean really, really want him? There's a big difference between the kind of true, deep desire for God that David talks about in Psalm 63 and the shallow 'wanting' that some people experience...the first step in truly wanting God is realizing how much we need Him...once you see that you're totally lost without God, you're on the right track."
It was at that point that I realized that lately I haven't been truly desiring God. Of course I always claim Him as my Savior and say that I love Him, but what does that really mean to me? The fact alone that I'm typically not even willing to wake up earlier so that my quiet times with God are able to be of greater quality says it all to me. I felt so lame after coming to this realization. I am nothing without Him and lately I've been acting as though I can do it all on my own. Thankfully I have a God that cares for me enough to show me otherwise through miracles I have experienced throughout this past week (ask me about them if you'd like to know). All of this to say, how often do we really stop and take the time to thank God for who He is? How often do we acknowledge that God is the only reason we live, move and breathe? And how often do we thank God for the miracles He performs in our lives?
I am happy to say that I am a terrible, confused and hopeless mess because I have a Savior who loves me all the same and covers my sins with His beautiful grace.
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