Sunday, January 9, 2011

Dear God,

Finally I was able to participate in worship after being sick for two weeks. My, how I missed being in your house.

Our choir sang a song that I just learned this morning. A line from the lyrics especially touched my soul, "embrace another year of grace." During the worship I kept thinking about grace and how deep and loving it is, how many times it was offered to me especially in the last year and the ways it blessed so many.

You love out of a bottomless well, O God. Overflowing, you pour your grace on every living soul whether we want it, realize it or accept it. It is always available, accessible 24/7 even though we do nothing to deserve such a priceless gift. Yet, by faith you give eternity's best. As I listened to the scripture being read and the message preached, I was aware of the awesomeness of faith, the beauty of love lavished upon us, and the goodness of God to enrich human lives, all of which is overwhelming to the human mind.

As I sat in the choir loft overlooking the congregation, pastors and musicians, I felt that I was sitting in the middle of grace stretching out in every direction. This is what heaven is like, I told myself. At the conclusion of the service, we sang one of my all-time favorite songs, It is Well with My Soul. Every time I sing that song, I stand with composer Horatio Spafford on the bow of the ship looking out at the place where all his children perished in a storm. I know that kind of strength to overcome life's great difficulties. I know hope that rises out of faith. So when I sing the song, I sing it as a testimony to your work in my own life. And when I do I feel such overwhelming joy.

There is
no love
greater than yours.
There is
no grace
like yours.
There is
no faith
like faith
that you fashion
inside us.
Gracious and Living God,
let my heart
always beat
in rhythm
with yours,
I pray.
Make me
an instrument
of your grace,
I pray.

Love, Andrea