At church last Sunday, we were talking about how it’s important to worship and sing together as the gathered body of Christ. Naturally, I began to focus on the music when it came time to worship. I have a soft spot for the bass line because back in the day I used to play the bass clarinet. I always think of it as the anchor line, Its steady and constant and repeated underneath the melody in a piece. As I was listening to it, I was struck by how living in the body of christ is like music. There are many different instruments, they all have different parts, they all make different sounds, and play different notes. Some notes are more noticeable than others. Some are in the background and you really have to listen to hear them, but when they are all playing together they make a beautiful melody. It’s so beautiful that it can bring people to tears, it can make hearts burst, it moves people. I think that is how God intended the body of Christ to be. To all be playing our different parts and notes together as one, creating a beautiful picture of God’s word that moves the people’s hearts.I don't think that is how the world is seeing believers. They might be hearing a harsh, off key sound clash that is making them cringe and cover their ears. That way they can’t hear it anymore. 

We weren’t meant to play our parts alone. Do you know what the bass line sounds like by itself? Bump, bump, bump…or some variation on that. No fun to listen to all by itself or even play by yourself. It only gets interesting and exciting when you join the other instruments and hear your sounds blending together. I used to get goosebumps when I played my clarinet during band practice because the sound was rich and beautiful that my body couldn’t help responding. I wish that the body of Christ could unify under the mission of spreading the gospel like that.  Then, we could give the world goosebumps instead of making them cover their ears. 

I leave you with this gem. You're welcome. 

Praying for Your Marriage

Getting married was a bit of a reality check for me (I wrote about that HERE.) As a newlywed, I took my complaints and whining to a wise friend and she recommended that I read the Power of the Praying Wife and that the best advice from that book was to shut up and pray. A lot easier said than done but I decided to give it a try. I needed a place to start so I looked up every verse in my Bible’s concordance that mentioned wives, love, and marriage. Then I created this list to pray over my marriage.

-Be one.

Genesis 2:24

-Honor my marriage bed and be faithful to my husband.

Hebrews 13:4

-Know the enemy of our unity, not each other but the devil.

1 Peter 5:8-9

-Rejoice in each other.

Proverbs 5:18

-Use my actions instead of words. Be free from Fear.

1 Peter 3:1-6

-Do not nag.

Proverbs 27:15

-Love.

1 Corinthians 13

-Work Hard and take care of home & children.

Proverbs 31

-Give my body freely.

1 Corinthians 7:3-5

-Be excellent.

Proverbs 12:4

-Submit as I do to Christ.

Ephesians 5:22-24

-Respect my husband.

Ephesians 5:33

1 Peter 3:1-6

-For This Life.

Romans 7:2

1 Corinthians 7:10

Matthew 22:30

I can honestly say that God has answered so many of these prayers for my marriage, that I forgot to keep praying for them. I recently found the original page I made with this list of verses and it reminded me that I need to keep praying for my marriage and my husband. Hopefully this can be an encouraging list for you as well. 

Maybe grab some friends together and make fun bookmarks for your Bibles with these verses on it as a reminder to keep praying for your marriage. It might spark some great conversations! I know it did for me and my friends. 

Not Waiting for Perfection

There is this beautiful teal wall near my house and every time I drive by it, I think about how I want to take pictures there. I have planned many photo shoots in my mind. I kept putting it off, even though I really wanted to do it. I was forcing myself to wait until I deemed the circumstances (and kid’s outfits) perfect. Then one day, I decided to just do it, to go take some pictures of the girls by the beloved teal wall. 

And the pictures turned out precious and darling. They are some of my favorites of the girls and they aren’t even wearing perfectly coordinated clothes! This got me to thinking about waiting and the reasons I wait. 

I usually am waiting until things are lined up just how I want them to be. I scramble around trying to make things perfect: my kids, my house, my schedule, my body. It’s exhausting trying to keep up because sometimes no matter how hard I try, things still fall apart or don’t happen how I want them to. My kids still fight and disobey me, there is still laundry, and I am still late to some event. 

Waiting is hard enough as it, {as I mentioned here} that we don’t need to add more waiting into our lives. The bible says in Isaiah 40:31, 

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.

When we are waiting on God, he gives us strength to endure, to become the people He created us to be, to do the things He has called us to do. BUT, when we wait on ourselves, on trying to be perfect and in control, we get weak and exhausted. Have you ever felt that? When I wait for everything to be perfect, most of the time I am mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausted. I can’t keep up, I can’t control everything. Now, that I have realized that I am weak and that I have limitations, I am able to tap into God’s strength to act on what he has placed in my heart even though it might not be my plan or in my timing. 

What are you waiting for? Go do that thing that he has called you to do, that you can’t stop thinking about. Don’t wait until you think everything is perfect to act. Do it in spite of the imperfections and it just might turn out better than you imagined. 

What’s keeping you from pursuing those things in your heart?