A Page In The Story

I need to get motivated and write more frequently.  But sometimes I come across another writer who says it so beautifully and so in hopes of sharing the encouragement, I borrow.  I have just discovered my new favorite music artist....Matt Hammitt.  Every song I've listened to so far has an amazing message, and you can tell that this guy is for real and living the tough joy of the life that is continually being surrendered to God.  I've been so touched by the back-story I found on his song, All Of Me.  This and some of his other new songs have come out of the journey that he and his family have been on with his now two-year old son, born with a serious heart defect.  If you're looking for inspiration through a dark time, I highly recommend checking out their story.  You can find a lot of it at www.bowensheart.com.

But the song I want to share with you today is the first song of Matt's that I heard.  It speaks so candidly to the place my heart is in right now.  I'm fighting a lot of uncertainty and anxiety about my future, and I constantly have to come back to my Father and lay these burdens on Him.  I have so many questions about why He has me here and now and what His intentions are in the story of my life.  But He is gently teaching me that this is His story, not mine.  My life is all for Him.  It's all about Him.  And the more I see Him as He is, the more I focus on seeing and naming the thousands of gifts He pours out on me, and the more He opens my eyes to His work around me, the deeper my desire grows that all of my life be a song of praise recklessly poured out on Him.  I want to be like water.  Like a mountain stream that starts out on the heights and joyously pours itself down and down and down, always lower, into the deepest valleys and through canyons, always seeking to join itself to the sea.  That water doesn't cling to its own identity.  It gives and gives, merging with countless other waters on its journey, and that first tiny stream becomes so much more than it could have ever been by itself.  Its destiny is to lose itself in the vast depths of the ocean.  Oh, that we might lose ourselves in our God, allowing our identity to be swallowed up in His! 

Philippians 3:8-9 echoes this heart-cry:  "I count EVERYTHING as loss because of the SURPASSING worth of knowing CHRIST Jesus my Lord.  For His sake I have suffered the loss of ALL things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found IN HIM."
Colossians 3:2-3 gives us the focus of a redeemed heart: "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  For you have died, and your life is HIDDEN WITH CHRIST in God.  When Christ WHO IS YOUR LIFE appears, then you also will appear WITH HIM in glory." (emphasis mine)

I love the way Matt puts it in the song: "The story is Yours; I'm just a page."  One page in a novel is like one drop of water in the ocean.  But that one page has value and meaning, because God wrote it.  He doesn't need you or me to complete His story, but He CHOSE us!  Isn't it amazing, that the Author of everything chose you to be part of His story?!!!  With that in mind, read these words, and let God speak to you.  This is what I want to do with my life.

Let It Bring You Praise

by Matt Hammitt

 

Lord, You created me, perfectly shaping me
I know my heart is safe in your arms
Lord, You know everything so when I feel afraid
I put my faith in You

This life is Yours to give so with each new day
Let every breathe that I take

Let it bring You praise, bring You praise
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made
When You choose to take let it bring You praise
Reminding the world that heaven awaits
Let it bring You praise

Before I even speak You know my every need
All that I am is because You are
You know my heart, You know my heart

Let it bring You praise, bring You praise
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made
When You choose to take let it bring You praise
Reminding the world that heaven awaits
Let it bring You praise

Before I was born You numbered my days
The story is yours, I'm just a page
With every word I want to proclaim
Let my life proclaim

Let it bring You praise, bring You praise
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made
When You choose to take let it bring You praise
Reminding the world that heaven awaits
Let it bring You praise
Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/matt-hammitt/let-it-bring-you-praise-lyrics/#ZpYLCAYm7WQ3PeGw.99