One of my favorite little devotionals is, "His Princess- Love Letters from Your King" by Sheri Rose Shepherd, which I know I've mentioned before.

One of the topics I just read was about how God wants us to be completely up front with Him. It's amazing how we sometimes try to hide things... considering He knows everything! :-) But just the knowledge that God wants us to be open and real with Him. To put away religious jargon, the fancy church clothes, the Sunday face and replace it with a come just as you are attitude.

I like the verse that went with it...

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
~2 Corinthians 3:17

Where the Holy Spirit is there is freedom. That's pretty stinkin awesome! :-) It reminds me of Chris Tomlin's Chorus of Amazing Grace. "My Chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, My Savior has ransomed me. And like a flood His mercy reigns. Unending love, amazing grace." This imperfect person is pretty thankful for grace.


"Come and listen,
come and listen to what He's done."


What has God done in YOUR life lately??? (This is the time when you click comment and make a response! ;-)

For me, I've seen God somehow provide me with the motivation for my classes and actually being a little ahead of schedule. I've been working pretty hard the past couple of weeks to keep on top of things. It's been the reminder of His love for me through people, through nature, through comfort and peace in difficult times. He's provided me with a couple of precious moments last weekend to see my grandfather open his eyes, and look into mine and say, "oh my sweetheart." I treasure the moments when he remembers who I am. It's been in celebrating 6 months of dating my boyfriend who I continue to love more each day. God has been teaching me so much about myself, how I learn, how I teach, how I interact with others. I also felt God show up in the service last Sunday as we focused on what I think is one of the main, if not THE main theme of the bible... love. I continue to recognize how blessed I am to be apart of a church family who I can't wait to see every week, and knowing that we are on this journey together. I'm thankful for friends :)
"Some friends don't help, but a true friend is closer than your own family."
~Proverbs 18:24

So I went to Todd Agnew's Myspace to hear Grace like Rain, and the next song that came on was called, "My Jesus." It was really intense. He uses pretty strong language and pictures to set the tone for his message. It reminded me of back in the day (not that long ago :-) When Derek Webb used some language that the church wasn't accustomed to. One of the lines that really struck me was when he said, "My Jesus would never be accepted in my church." It's something to truly think about. Are we honoring God as a church? I'm so thankful to be at a place I love for the past seven years! To be apart of a church body that isn't afraid to go across the world to get dirty and messy and spend time with those who have been shut out. A church that is known for it's love for people, no matter what. Like the song says, and more importantly like the bible says, Jesus did not come for the strong. He came for the weak. He came for the sinners.

So I will post the lyrics here, and the song is the first one on my playlist so you can give it a listen and let me know your thoughts:

"Which Jesus do you follow,
Which Jesus do you serve
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ,
Why do you look so much like the world

Cause My Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars,
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
or do we pray to blessed with with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sands

My Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars,
He loved the poor and accosted the rich,
So which one do you want to be

Who is this that You follow,
This picture of the American dream,
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side,
Or fall down and worship at His holy feet
holy
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion,
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins,
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part,
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him

My Jesus bled and died He spent His time with thieves and the least of
these,
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable,
So which one do you want to be,
Cause
My Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet,
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
And,
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud

I want to be like my Jesus
I want to be like my Jesus
I want to be like my Jesus
I want to be like my Jesus

Not a posterchild for American prosperity,
but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus
but I'm not sure what that means to be like
You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You,
love like You but then
You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I wanna be like you Jesus
I wanna be Like my Jesus"
~Todd Agnew