Or two :) I was supposed to post a story but I'll do it tomorrow, I think. Supposed to be working on my assignment now but feel type-y. :P As this will be a songpost first and foremost, other non-song insights may be subsumed... or maybe I shall just type them later when I feel like it. :P ("It's My Blog")
Yesterday I was thinking about some Mandarin Christian songs for a friend's mum. This morning my dad was whistling one of them. I *break out into huge grin* :D
shen ming you xian
shi guang ye hui zhou
ru guo ni bu zhen xi
ji hui nan liu
li wu sui ran hao
ru guo ni bu yao
ni ze me neng gou de dao
ze me neng de dao
(Pardon my horrible hanyu pinyin. It sounds a lot better than it looks here, honestly. :P)
Last night I posted about "My peace I give unto you". This afternoon at Contemporary Worship we sang it. 0_o Isn't God cool :D
Also during Contemporary Worship, we sang Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace. I was sortof adding that into my prayer yesterday, so it was a nice surprise :)
Make me a channel of Your peace
Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love
Where there is injury, Your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt, true faith in You.
Make me a channel of Your peace
Where there's despair in life let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there's sadness, ever joy.
O Master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of Your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
In giving of ourselves that we receive
And in dying that we're born to eternal life.
And we also sang Still. It's a beautiful song at any time (it's one of my favourite "cry to the Lord" songs :P) but I was looking at the lyrics and re-appreciating them in the context of my flood of stress and emotions this past week, and how God has shown time and time again (at least 5 times this week, I am certain :P) that He has control over everything, EVERYTHING, even things I think are nearly impossible. And this one line struck me: "I will be still / Know You are God". I think partly this struck me because I was telling a dear friend yesterday that I think when I get to God's throne I will just have started to comprehend God's awesome goodness and glory, and this comprehension will probably take forever to fully finish dawning so I might just be standing there gazing at God in awe forever. :P Well, nobody can predict what we'll really do when we get there. But to me these two lines of lyrics just express the spirit of that image so well. Also, they're good reminders that I haven't exactly been very still the past week. A bit hard to do so in the harried pace of life, at least here in Singapore! But well, as said in the sermon today, "Hurry is the key enemy of tenderness" and I think so too. :)
Anyway since I'm talking so much about yesterday I might as well blog about it too. :P Ever since yesterday's worship practice I've been loving Shepherd Of My Soul.
Shepherd of my soul
I give You full control
Wherever You may lead
I will follow
I have made the choice
To listen for Your voice
Wherever You may lead
I will go
Be it in a quiet pasture
Or by a gentle stream
The Shepherd of my soul
Is by my side
Though I face a mighty mountain
Or a valley dark and deep
The Shepherd of my soul
Will be my guide
For Offertory, we sang one of my favourite ever songs (Adrian knows this one :P), This World Is Not My Home. I used to like it coz of its expressed desire for Heaven and it's the kind of song that catches the kid in me, but when I actually went to go find and memorise the other verses I realised just how very meaningful it is.
This world is not my home
I'm just a-passin' through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me
From Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home
In this world anymore
Chorus:
O Lord, You know
I have no friend like You
If Heaven's not my home
Then Lord what would I do
The Saviour beckons me
From Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home
In this world anymore
They're all expecting me
And that's one thing I know
My Saviour pardoned me
And now I onward go
I know He'll take me through
Though I am weak and poor
And I can't feel at home
In this world anymore
There's a third verse but nevermind. :P Also maybe one of the reasons I was reminded of S yesterday was that I taught her to sing Did You Ever Talk To God Above so that she wouldn't be lonely because she would have God as her Friend... And I saw how much she clung and clung to that song on the last day.
Did you ever talk to God above
Tell Him that you need a friend to love
Pray in Jesus' name believing that
God answers prayer
Have you told Him all your cares and woes
Every tiny little fear He knows
You can know He'll always hear
And He will answer prayer
You can whisper in a crowd to Him
You can cry when you're alone, to Him
You don't have to pray out loud to Him
He knows your thoughts
On a lofty mountain peak, He's there
In a meadow by a stream, He's there
Anywhere on earth You go
He's been there from the start
Find the answer in His word, it's true
You'll be strong because He walks with you
By His faithfulness He'll change you, too
God answers prayer.
I truly believe that my childhood and upbringing has had a great impact in founding my life on the Solid Rock of Christ Jesus :) I may seem childish at times but it is returning again and again to these simple songs -- simple in the sense that they are not complicated, easy to sing and to cling to, and simple in their expression of faith and great truth -- that I find my faith is made ever-stronger through trials. "With faith Like A Child", anyone? :P
To end this really long songpost (:P), I think I'll put up the lyrics of He Never Sleeps by Don Moen. I first heard this song at FOP this year (the more worshipful second half that I liked :P) and I bought the Hiding Place CD hoping it would have it, and also because I fell in love with the title song. I can't remember now whether the CD had this song, because I can't find the CD. *sad* And one day I want to go and get his Thank You Lord CD too. I am really inspired by Don Moen's example as a songwriter and worship leader, really. But anyways yeah I mention this song because I heard it on the way home in a friend's car today, and found that it speaks to me in the way that I was looking for when I said I wanted a song about how "God is faithful, even when I am faithless". :)
When you've prayed every prayer that you know how to pray
Just remember the Lord will hear and the answer is on it's way
Our God is able
He is mighty
He is faithful
And He never sleeps, He never slumbers
He never tires of hearing our prayer
When we are weak He becomes stronger
So rest in His love
And cast all of your cares
On Him
Do you feel that the Lord has forgotten your need
Just remember that God is always working in ways you cannot see
Another reason why I really like this song is that it has a really nice piano intro. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment