trading tv for worship

i love having background noise. while doing homework.chores.cleaning.cooking.crafting. lately my background noise has been tv shows on netflix...episode after episode has been playing the past few weeks while i go about doing whatever needed to be done around the house. a couple days ago i came home from work to the boy playing 'how he loves us' on his guitar. i felt a tug on my heart. a thought popped into my head, 'now this is background noise'. he continued to play while i cooked dinner and i reflected on these last weeks. there has been a difference in my attitude.thoughts.perspective. i decided to substitute my tv shows for worship music for a week...it's been four days now, and i can't even begin to say how much of a blessing it's been. i've added david crowder band's 'how he loves us' with the lyrics...i can seriously have this song on repeat for hours.

my world in Your hands

there has been so much uncertainty in our lives lately

trying to make decisions based on 
what we want, our future and what is expected of us

feelings of unfairness, frustration and no control

for a girl who loves planning, her to do lists and being prepared

uncertainty and the unknown is really difficult.

but while praying this song came on

You hold my every moment

You calm my raging seas

You walk with me through fire

and heal all my disease

i trust in You

i trust in You

i believe You're my Healer

i believe You are all i need

i believe You're my Portion

i believe You're more than enough for me

Jesus You're all i need

Nothing is impossible for You

Nothing is impossible for You

Nothing is impossible for You

You hold my world in Your hands

healer by hillsong

You hold my world in Your hands

i'm not sure if it can get any more powerful than that.

then God tugged on my heart and i was reminded of the verse

"...when i was woven together in the depths of the earth,

Your eyes saw my unformed body.

all my days were ordained for me were written in Your book

before one of them came to be."

psalm 139:15

this lead me to another favorite passage

"look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in the barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

are you not much more valuable than they?

can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

...but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, 

and all these things will be given to you as well.

therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will worry about itself."

matthew 6:26, 33-34

God knows what will take place every day of my life

i may not know, there will be uncertainty

but God knows, and there is such a comfort in that.

it's not my job to be worrying about these things

but to live righteously through him

when that happens, God's plan will unfold.

september eleventh

Ninth grade had just started a few weeks prior and I was getting back into the routine of waking up extra early to take care of my horse before zero period. After showering I turned on the local radio station, but there was no music playing and the usually comical dj had a different tone to his voice. He was repeating the phrase, the twin towers have been hit. Being a west coast girl, I thought twin towers? I wasn't sure what to do with the information. I continued to listen to the broadcast and soon realized the weight of what had happened. I found my parents and relayed my findings. The news was turned on and my dad began to talk about terrorists. Terrorists? In my sheltered fourteen years of life, I had never heard that word and had it relate to me. 

We didn't make it to zero period that day. Classes did not teach the planned material because our eyes were glued to the television screens that played in each classroom. At home, we awaited the President's Address to the Nation. We had all heard predictions of what the response would be, but couldn't believe or begin to deal with it until we heard it from his mouth. 

We all knew our lives would change. My mind was overwhelmed with images and thoughts of what humans were capable of. My heart was going out to loved ones and family who lived so close to ground zero. My prayers going out to our friends and their families who were currently enlisted. 

Many of us grew up from that day forward. Some of us felt terrorism on a whole new level, experiencing it for the first time. We have lost loved ones who were fighting for OUR freedom and the freedom of OTHERS. 

Ten years later, our troops are still have still fighting for that same cause and representing what this country believes. I am so honored and proud to be a country who stands for freedom.