I am so glad that God just asks us to make a joyful song. This morning as I laid on the couch out of respect for my sleeping husband I began to sing a song that I learned as a small child. I couldn't sleep last night due to the fact that my nose decided to turn into a faucet. As I laid on the couch I remember a time, being about 11 or 12 and I was sleeping in my Pappy's den on the floor. I used to suffer terribly with strep throat and seemed to get it every time I turned around. I remember waking up in the middle of the night that night and asking the Lord to heal me. I remember singing this song that night and waking up in the morning with no soreness in my throat.
It's such a simple song but one that I have turned to in my times of need. I used to sing it to my kids when they were babies. I remember a trip from Florida to NC that I sang the song for ever because there was no radio in the truck and it was the only song that I could think of to sing. I love to worship the Lord. I love to be intimate with him. I love to lay my heart in his hands and watch him perform miracles. I have seen so much and drug him through so much since that night in my Pappy's den, but even as he heard me then he still continues to hear me now.
I lost my Pappy a few years ago. This time of year always seems to bring him to my mind. I have a great picture of he and my grandmother with my husband and I at Thanksgiving the year before he went home to be with the Lord. That man played a huge role in my life. He was my father's step dad. He didn't have to love me. He didn't have to participate in my life. Yet he chose to love me. My mind is full of memories of he and I being buddies. He used to pack me up and take me anywhere he went. I have fond memories of the summer we toured the state of Florida. We loaded into my grandparents little Volkswagen Rabbit, with both of them being over six feet tall there wasn't much room for me in the back seat but that wasn't going to stop me from going. As we would pull out of the driveway he would always sing, "Off we go into the wild blue yonder". We were on the hunt for the best seafood in the state. He loved to find the dive places. The little local seafood restaurants and we would critique the food. It was his passion.
My Pappy called me Pookie. I would get mail from him as I got older and married. He would send birthday cards addressed to Pookie with my last name. My husband and I would joke that he didn't remember my first name. The greatest lesson he ever taught me was to love unconditionally. When I think of God and the unconditional love that he gives it is in reference to the man that didn't have to love me but did so wholeheartedly.
The first time I stepped into a pulpit it was at Pappy's Memorial Service. I felt such a peace. I knew then what God had called me to do. Pappy had always been my first call. When something happened in my life, when I was thinking about college, or jobs, or when my husband decided to start his business. He was the first one to know. What I have learned through my loss of him is how to turn to God first. My Pappy was my savior for the first 30 years of my life. It didn't matter where I was or what I needed he was there. I have had to learn to put God in that place now. Oh there are still times that I pick up the phone 4 years later to call and talk to Pappy about something. My husband is gentle in reminding me that he isn't going to answer on the other end. I am thankful to have had him as long as I did and I am thankful that through him I am able to find God. That all of those years, that God allowed him to play that role in my life to prepare me for today.
My grandfather always had a song in his heart. He often walked around humming a joyful tune. He often sang to me. I know how loved and protected I felt in those times. How much more precious is it to know that Jesus rejoices over me.
Zephaniah 3:17 "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Jesus sings a song over me. He is singing to me. In the stillness of night I sing back to him. As I walk around doing my duties I sing to him. As I drive in the car, as I do laundry. I sing back to him. It seems that at all times there is a hymn or a song in my head. It's almost like the commentator in my life. The song in my heart changes as moments pass, as circumstances happen. The songs give me hope, give me focus and give me a renewed sense of peace. I know that it happens to my eight year old daughter as well. Yesterday she walked around singing, "There's not God like Jehovah". All day. It is precious, if it's precious to me, I know it's precious to Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit that surround her.
Lord, today even given the circumstances I choose to praise you. I choose to call upon your name and to sing to you today Father. I will sing your praises on the good days, and I will sing your praises on the challenging days. You are all sovereign. You are always right, never wrong and always love me. Thank you Lord for the music that you have placed in my heart. Thank you for the ones that taught me to turn to you. For the unconditional love that you showed me through them. The mercy and the grace. Father, I can understand because of the love you poured into them that overflowed onto me. I can have a small glimpse of your immense love for me because of them Father. Thank you for the people you have put in my life. To grow me up, to love me and to wrap their arms around me. Lord, let me love out of the overflow of that. Let there be comfort in my arms for others. Lord, let me be a conduit of your love for your children Father. The ones that know you and the ones that don't. Lord, thank you for your anointing on my life, thank you for my heart to worship. Thank you for letting me see the buds of that in my own children. You are all powerful, amazing and righteous in all things. I give you all the glory, the praise and the honor Lord. Thank you for the overflow, thank you for your Son and thank you for my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
The song I love to sing.
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