Garment of Praise!

Sometimes I wish that God would shelter us from all of the hardships of this life; in the moment it is so difficult, so painful. Yet looking back, I see the hand of God. I see the master potter shaping me for his purpose. I am reminded of the verse Isaiah 61:3, "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified." God turns all those sorrows into joy. He turns our bondage into freedom! And he deserves the glory for that. He is so worthy of it!

And he does not do this just for our benefit, oh no! He has a far greater purpose in mind! Isaiah goes on to say,

"And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations" (9-11)

He does it to bring blessings to the world! we are blessed to be a blessing! Our salvation, our deliverance, our dependence of Christ, our joy, our peace, they are gifts from God not only to glorify him in us, but to glorify him to all the world!

That is how I think of counseling. I was blessed of God, now I have a marvelous opportunity to bless others--to bring them the garment of praise!

Alive Fest

Alive Fest last night was amazing! I couldn't help but think as I walked down into that natural ampitheatre/hillside setting of Jesus feeding the five thousand. Wow what a miracle that must have been. I couldn't imagine feeding that many people with plenty of food, let alone one little lunch. There were so many people sitting and standing everywhere, all gathered in one heart, for one purpose... to worship Jesus! While we were waiting for the music to start, Reggie Dabbs had us laughing all the way to the most sneaky presentation of the gospel and of Christians getting right with God that I've ever heard. Wow! He was amazing. I was crying, and if there was a dry eye in the place I'd be amazed. A ton of people went forward to be prayed over. Here's this guy, just cracking jokes and having a good time with us and then "Bam!" the knife of conviction plunges into the heart and twists... OUCH! At one point I coud have sworn he was speaking directly to me, looking directly at me, despite the thousands of people there. That's the Holy Spirit, Baby! We saw Thousand Foot Krutch and TobyMac. What a great night of high energy rocking out and singing! The love of Christ was tangible all around, the excitement, the passion, the fervor. Here was a whole crowd of Jesus freaks dancing and shouting as one to their Saviour! I was blessed. I was convicted. I was in awe. Music is powerful, and as I listened I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me of so many things. (It was truly overwhelming!!) Of course, I also did my fair share of dancing and shouting (way up front by the band of course!) and hand raising, but in those last few TobyMac songs, I couldn't help but raise my hands to the stars in gratefulness with heart so full of love it could burst. I definitely plan on going back next year! (and thanks Shannon for taking me! It was a great birthday present!!)





http://reggiedabbsonline.com/
http://www.thousandfootkrutch.com/
http://www.tobymac.com/