May 30 & 31, 2009 "Praise God On Purpose"

Triumphant Victorious Reminders
Inspired by the Holy Spirit
By: Teresa Criswell

"The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our sins. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our trasgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more."
~ Psalm 103:8-16 ~ Amplified Version

Today, the first Saturday I 'planned' on sleeping in; of course this did not happen as I woke up this morning with my smooth fox terrier pawing on my head at 6:22. I turned over as I groaned pushing him away for a moment. After a series of irritating 'nasally' whines I slowly got out of bed.

As I slowly walked down the stairs, he quickly led me to the back door, I was quite grumpy to say the least.

As my dog relieved himself, I waited impatiently as I was headed right back to bed. I let my dog in and went back upstairs with my dog excitedly following me. I said with an irritated tone, "Jack! Night, night!" As I laid my head on that pillow, all I know is that I was asleep within a matter of seconds.

My heavy sleep was interrupted again, by none other than my dog 'pawing' my head, along with his infamous whine. This time I was beyond irritated, there was no praise to God even wanting to flow forth. I got up again, now it was 8:20 am. As he led me to the backdoor I let him out. Suddenly, all I could hear is my dog on a Saturday morning barking the most irritable sounding bark. I knew that my neighbor was in the backyard trying to ignore the most irritating whiny bark that my dog so famously has.

I'm frantically looking for my sunglasses to hide the 'beautiful' bloodshot, tired eyes before I was about to grab my dog from the backyard. As I'm looking for my sunglasses I hear my neighbor say, "Jack be quiet!" Of course, I'm even more irritated with my dog and embarassed. Needless to say I couldn't find my sunglasses so I ran out to the backyard and thank God my neighbor's back was facing me as I yelled at my dog, pulled the leash in, picked him up and brought him into the house.

I tell you this story because my whole attitude was definitely in need of great adjustment. I remember saying, "Lord, I'm sorry for my attitude and for not allowing the first thing on my lips to be praises to You of how awesome You are." This is when I felt like never before this forgiveness that so lavishly covered me and saturated me. I just felt this love as though I could hear God say, "Teresa, I never expect you to be perfect. I remind Myself the fraility of man. I love your heart to want to make Me first."

As I felt this forgiveness, I could hear the KLOVE radio station that we usually have playing in our home 24 hours a day with praise music was not coming in clearly. At this point, I truly believe I was led to turn it to the Message XM radio station on our television. This is when I heard the following words sung by Avalon.

I pray that you are blessed by these words. This is my heart's cry and this is what I want to say to myself, to others and ultimately to my God. I know when you hear the words, you will feel the same.

'Everything To Me'
Songwriters: Cates, Chad; Smith, Sue
Sung By: Avalon

"I grew up in sunday school
I memorized the Golden rule
And how Jesus came to set the sinner free
I know the story inside out
I can tell you all about
The path that led Him up to Calvary
But ask me why He loves me
And I don't know what to say
But I'll never be the same
Because he changed my life when He became...

Everything to me
He's more than a story
more than words on a page of history
He's the air that I breathe
The water I thirst for
And the ground beneath my feet
He's everything, everything to me

We're living in uncertain times
And more and more I find that I'm aware
Of just how fragile life can be
I want to tell the world I found
A love that turned my life around
They need to know that they can taste and see
Now everyday I'm praying Just to give my heart away
I want to live for Jesus
So that someone else might see that He is...

Everything to me
He's more than a story
more than words on a page of history
He's the air that I breathe
The water I thirst for
And the ground beneath my feet
He's everything

And looking back over my life at the end
I'll go to meet you saying you've been...

You're everything to me
You're more than a story
More than words on a page of history
You're everything to me
You're more than a story
More than words on a page of history
You're the air that I breath
The water I thirst for
And the ground beneath my feet
You're everything to me
Lord, you're everything to me"

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

God's Royalty Revealed In the Midst of A Verbal Slap

December 15, 2010, "Connecting Bridge"

Another Story of A Penny...