created to love Him...

I'm sitting in Starbucks today trying to get some work done. My intention was to sit down and write down my weekly worship musing to email out to my church family. But then this song came on and I've had it on repeat for about 45 minutes. I can't even write. I feel like my skin is coming unglued and any minute I'm going to do a glory run around the cafe screaming the name of Jesus. I have so many things swirling around me that feel...just wrong and broken. The enemy is so loud and unleashed. He's forgotten his rightful defeated place. This song is healing to my spirit and motivation for my stubborn heart to say, "Hell? NO! Get back and lay down at His feet where you belong." So, for my weekly worship musing this week, Redeemer family, speak Jesus. Oh, and be prepared to sing this song on Sunday. He is the name above all names!

If you are a part of any kind of ‘modern’ worship service (we are going to say that modern includes an actual drum kit, real live sub woofers, and any kind of creative elements via screens, lighting, etc), those words from Elisabeth Elliot may make you stop and think a minute. We could take that a step further and dare I say, question what you do as a leader of musical worship times. These words capture so much of my heart and focus as a worshiper and a leader of worship.  There are moments when we as ‘planners’ of those times can become so focused on finding that moment, even planning that moment, making sure our sets have a perfect flow, dialing in a particular setting, that we negate the fact that while all of those things are good, they are not the final dictation of how a congregation will receive a worship time. Why? True worship is not an experience. It’s not a once a week feeling or a twice a week meeting. John 4:24 says: ‘God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the S

 "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him"...Psalm 37:7 When I was pregnant with our daughter, Ellie, I strongly craved Mountain Dew. I would've mowed down a puppy some days if that was what it took to get one! I stayed away from caffeine during my pregnancy with her, but the craving never stopped! I craved Mountain Dew because I knew it truly existed. I had experienced it before- cold, sweet, fizzy. I wasn't craving something that wasn't real or I had never tried. Because I've known it, my body desired it.  God is drawn by hunger. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6). We were made to hunger and be satisfied. To hunger means that there is something more to be experienced that will bring that satisfaction. This is one truth that assures me that God is real. If I'm hungry for Him, just like the Mountain Dew, He must exist or else my hunger for Him wouldn't exist. He alone

I want to know Christ and Christ crucified. Christ and Christ crucified is the perfect display of submission to the sovereignty of God. It's more than that. But right now the sovereignty of God, His supreme and ultimate power displayed over, in & through my life is where my head is fixed. If He has supreme and ultimate power, then I have very little on my own, if any, as I submit my life to Him. He is the Master Artist, Creator and Upholder of this earth and all its inhabitants.  My girls LOVE art - drawing, painting, creating, cutting, nail polish - any form of adding color and imagination to their world. Often my 4 year old will hand me a picture she's designed with pride and fulfillment in her eyes. She's so excited when she shows off her finished product. Sometimes I've made the mistake to say something like, "Oh, Ellie! That is such a beautiful butterfly! WOW!"  To which she'll respond with eyes rolling, "Mom, that's me and Daddy riding o