It was a long night last night.

First of all- start this video before you read. Listen to the song as you read.  There is only music and no video, so you won't miss anything while you read the post.


I will warn you, I am so very tired writing this post and there will probably not be complete thoughts or cohesive ideas. Yet, as I write, I'm happy I'm this tired because I'm filled with energy from the Holy Spirit. These last few days have been crazy. Last night I got home at 3:30am from a night where God was moving.

"There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or
locality that didn't begin in united prayer…"  Dr A.T. Pierson.

This quote was in an email I received earlier this week from the Coleraine House of Prayer(CHOP). The subject line read "There has never been a spiritual awakening..." and I was hooked. As I mentioned in another post,  the word Awake or awakening, has been significant this year to me. Seeing that the focus of this week's Friday night meeting at CHOP was spiritual awakening, I decided it was time to make another visit there. It also fell on the same evening that Night Light was scheduled. Night Light is an outreach from CCV where we go out and stand outside local bars and offer patrons tea and coffee and watch the Holy Spirit meet with people.

I'm not good at staying up late. However, I'm finding myself doing just that a lot more lately and it's taking its toll as I have been distracted from everything. This evening of late night activities was gonna be worth it though. I just knew it.

I went down to CHOP with a friend and God met us for sure! The focus of the night was spiritual awakening. It was dedicated prayer for 1) Spiritual awakening for ourselves 2) For the community 3) For Northern Ireland 4) For the World. All I can say is that I was wrecked. I couldn't move from where I was sitting and it was as if my lungs were being filled with something amazing and my breath was not my own. God's speaking. He's listening and he's moving. I want to shout that! He's working in my life and in yours. I didn't want to leave CHOP, I just wanted to keep worshipping.

Ah, but I was still off to worship but in another way...

Around midnight I gathered with the team for Night Light at CCV. This would be my first night out with Night Light and I wasn't sure what all to expect. I mean we're heading off to meet people who had likely been drinking which means anything could happen. We were heading to Portstewart, which is a beachfront community. Knowing it was going to be really cold along the water, I layered up in clothes, praying that it didn't rain. The team prayed, grabbed the hot drinks, some sweets, and we loaded into the cars and headed off.

We chatted with a 18year old who was out celebrating his birthday. 18 is the legal drinking age here. Putting two and two together he was pretty much gone at 1am. He kept saying, "this isn't good. We shouldn't want this feeling of being so drunk we should want what is better." And he wondered why we were out there. Well, we were there to offer the better alternative to that bad feeling.

Then there was two guys who didn't come out of the bar we were in front of, they had just been passing by. They were quite cheeky at first, but they asked why we were out giving tea and coffee. As we explained that we were from a church, they were baffled. Yet they wanted to know more about this church that served rather than preached. One of the guys said "You know, I think the Bible is just a load of S---. It is regulations to keep people under control. But I want to believe there's more than just going to work and going to the bars. There's gotta be more out there." His friend was very bothered by the Bible comment and immediately said to take the comment back. He said he didn't believe that and that the Bible was good. He made it clear that he didn't go to church but that he held everything at high value. They asked us about times and locations we met. First we handed the info card to the one who made the bible comment. He took the card, said thanks, and slipped it in his pocket. Then something happened that I'm still shaken by. We handed the info card to the other man, and immediately he began bawling. So much so that he had to walk away. Clearly he was being effected by something. We asked if he was ok, but he pulled away his friend and said he needed to go. I'm not sure what was happening but I know the Holy Spirit was on that street with him.

There were several other people we chatted with and served and prayed for and it was so awesome. I really can't wait for the next night to go out.

Earlier this week was crazy too. I was at a small group gathering from CCV and we began the evening with worship. The song that I linked in this post was the last song of the worship set. I've only learned this song in the last month or so but I really think it is powerful. As the 10-12 of us sang it, there was something happening we were all getting louder and singing it stronger and stronger as if we were about to be yelling not singing. The words— God I look to you, I won't be overwhelmed. Give me vision, to see things like you do— man! It's been my cry this week. After we sang that song, we paused to give space for the Holy Spirit to move and speak. I saw the image of an orchestra that was warming up, each instrumentalist preparing for what was to come. Then the conductor rose, tapped his wand and cued the orchestra that it was time to begin.

I've been in the midst of a lot of changes over the last year and a half. But guess what, I think there's still a lot more to come. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is gonna look like. I don't know who it will involve. But God is moving. I'm excited.I'm praying for more nights and weeks like this. I'm praying for an awakening of God's Kingdom.

Now, play the song again since you're done reading. Sit and listen and really let it sink in. I've had a playlist on my iPod for a while titled Awakening.  Listen to the playlist and enjoy:

Christmas Music. Love.

I'm always on the hunt for Christmas Music. I know Thanksgiving hasn't even happened, but I look for Christmas music year round. Seriously I created a playlist in August. There are decorations every where now, and its cold, and I'm in the Christmas Spirit already.

This is a new leading favorite from Hillsong.

 

Then there is an old classic that has a newer twist by Casting Crowns- I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day.

 

And Joy Williams - Here With Us

Patience is ...

I saw this quote this morning at the most awesome time.

8:10ish. A few minutes after I sat at my desk at work. My computer had booted up, and I was logging into to my email, facebook, and other social media sites. As my GMail loaded I was praying. "Lord, please let there be a good email this Friday to make up for last Friday." Last Friday, my inbox had the letter that my visa to enter the UK as a student was at risk of being revoked. Scanning the list of new emails I recognized an email address. The address.  The UK BA Visa Office.

My visa has been approved! It's 5 hours later now, and I'm still full of energy. (OK, 5 cups of coffee is adding to it). God answers prayers. Eeeek! He's so good and faithful.

He asks us to be patient and wait on Him. It is such hard work to do that. For me, I am a planner, a go-getter, a "let's move" type of person, so I find it extremely difficult sometimes. Yet, over and over again he's told me to slow down to wait on him.

I switched over to Facebook to post a new status that my visa had been approved so all of those who've been praying with me would share in the great news. As I looked down in the newest feeds, I saw the above quote from Audrey Assad, a singer and songwriter that I inspires me. It was a gentle reminder that when we wait on the Lord, it is infinitely worth the work.

If you've never listened to Audrey, take the opportunity now.

I love music. My tastes are all over the board. But these songs have been on repeat for me so I thought I'd share with you.

Enjoy!



Mat Kearny one of my favorite artists, hands down. This, his new release, makes me happy.


I'm a sucker for piano, so I was sold on the beginning of the song. When the words sunk in, it grabbed my heart.


I've only just heard this for the first time a few days ago but wow! It packs a punch for me.

I was able to go to the Railroad Revival Tour back in April, where this video was shot. After the concert this song stuck in my head for weeks. If you can see Mumford & Sons in concert, do it!

Standing outside the fire

I grew to love country music as a young child. My love of it grew, not because my parents enjoyed it nor because of any outside influence, but because I liked the videos I saw on CMT(Country Music Television) more than what I saw on MTV. Choosing CMT was the safer (I would get into less trouble) option of the two stations I wasn't supposed to be watching at all. This decision shines light into who I am quite a bit. I push boundaries, but always holding back on an undefined something.

My brother and I were latch key kids – unsupervised children at home in the hours between school letting out and my coming home from work. Really, there are so many things that you may expect to happen when kids are left alone, but I will admit that I was most often a goody-two-shoes and followed most rules. But I liked to push some limits. I would do things that were safe but not what was condoned OK by my parents. For example, watching TV when I supposed to be doing homework and chores. Or I would wander all over my small little town of Marlborough, NH making sure I was home before my parents were so they wouldn't know I left at all.

But country music? That's serious rebellion. Um...not really. OK. I just wasn't always the biggest cartoon fan. We all like what we like.

I would spend hours watching the videos of these country songs. Among the first songs I ever remember falling in love with were Standing Outside the Fire, by Garth Brooks, and Any Man of Mine, by Shania Twain. To this day, I love these two songs, and have them committed to memory. But I'm going to ignore Twain's song. Standing Outside the Fire has a chorus and bridge that says:

Standing outside the fire
Life is not tried it is merely survived
If you're standing outside the fire

There's this love that is burning
Deep in my soul
Constantly yearning to get out of control
Wanting to fly higher and higher
I can't abide standing outside the fire

I would sing this out at the top of my lungs. It was me. I was constantly yearning to push limits. I didn't want to be OK with the mediocre. This is something I knew when I was eleven. How far was I going to be able to go?

But as I said before, I pushed limits but played it safe. I didn't hide things from my parents. I didn't do illegal activities. There were no major daredevil injuries.

Country music was my go-to choice most often, but in the last year or so I've stopped listening to it for one reason or another. But I've started listening again in the last few weeks or so. Going through some old cd's and I found a mix cd that said "Country Mix 1." There was no indication of what songs were on it. I grabbed it one my way out the door, loaded it into the cd player in my car and was hit with the familiar chords of Standing Outside the Fire.

This time it's hit me differently. The song plays on the idea that people don't push themselves, or that we give a hard time those who do. Now, when I hear the song it's not just a desire in my heart to push myself, and to achieve more out of life. But it's a burning desire to see the Kingdom of God move through out. I want it in my life. I want my family to experience it. I want it to pour into my friends and the strangers on the street. I don't want to hold back on that undefined something just to be safe. Jesus' ministry isn't always safe.

"Life is not tried, it is merely survived..." I'm sorry. Come again? Merely survived? No. That's not acceptable to me. I have come to the point that I can't just survive my life. I want to actively participate.

In Exodus, chapter 24, Moses was called up to Mount Sinai.

15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

While he was there, the Israelites’ stood at the bottom. They proceeded with life as best they could, but they grew anxious. When was he coming back? When were they going to receive from God? Yet, they didn't wait.

Lately I see myself in comparison to the Israelites’. I want to be in that fire. I am walking that way. I see God moving and doing some absolutely incredible things that proves to me that he is the I AM. However, my heart grows anxious.

This morning I finally sat down to read through two devotional series I've been working tackling in the last year. God met me as I read some passages. Mind you, I feel like I've run from Him in the last 3 days out of crankiness and pain and my own weakness. Nevertheless, I opened up to Psalms 84 that reads:

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God 

And then I read Isaiah 40:

28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

"There's this love that is burning, deep in my soul" that the Lord has placed there. He's working it out in his unfathomable understanding. Though I want to move forward and move fast, I have to sit and wait.

My plans for Northern Ireland– not going as smoothly as I would hope for. My ear– excruciating pain lately. My time– it seems wasted, a lot. But in my waiting God is there.

Listen to the song. What does it conjure up in your mind? What is the fire that you can't abide standing outside?

Love Rain Down

I think I have played this song at least 7 times today. And I think more is to come.


Love Rain Down from Vineyard Records UK on Vimeo.

When the Saints

My mother recently gave me the Freedom: Artists United for the International Justice Mission CD and I have been playing it on repeat for days. One song on the CD is resonating in my head. When the Saints by Sara Groves. I listen to the words about the passionate people who've gone before me and I can't help but agree with her lyrics "And when the saints go marching in. I want to be one of them." 

Take a moment to listen.

David Crowder Band - SMS [Shine]

I seriously love stop motion videos. The creativity in designing them and shooting them is awesome.There has to be so much patience to create them, but the output is usually worth it. David Crowder Band just released their new video for SMS (shine) and it may be my favorite stop motion video yet! I heard David Crowder on the radio this morning talking about this video. It took over 700,000 lite bright pieces/ 2,100 hours / 80 people and patience to create this video. Check it out!

Tears

I was driving home the other day. The day when I was super anxious and I heard this song on the radio. God has perfect timing.