And on that day...

And on that day when my strength is failing - the end draws near and my time has come.  Still my soul will sing Your praise unending.... Ten Thousand years and then forever more!!

I love these lines from Matt Redman's 10,000 reasons.

No matter how weak and strengthless we are or are feeling, we can still sing God's praises.  And what joy that one day we can sing those praises for ten thousand years and then forever more.  We just can't get our heads round this idea of eternity and when you sing or hear lines like 10000 years and then forever more, I know for me it just blows my mind.

What a wonderful glorious future awaits us.

And when we hear that we have ten thousand years and then forever more to come, it completely changes our priorities for our 80 or so years here.  Suddenly all the things that seem so important to do, complete, achieve don't seem so pressing.

We have a glorious 10000 years and then forever more awaiting us where we will be able to see Jesus in all his glory and give him the praise he deserves!

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger

Your name is great, and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

And on that day when my strength is failing

The end draws near and my time has come

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name

Lord, I'll worship Your holy name

Yes he walked my road, and he felt my pain

From the squalor of a borrowed stable,
By the spirit and a virgin's faith;
To the anguish and the shame of scandal
Came the Saviour of the human race!
But the skies were filled, with the praise of heav'n,
Shepherds listen as the angels tell 
Of the Gift of God, come down to man
At the dawning of Immanuel

King of heaven now the Friend of sinners,
Humble servant in the Father's hands,
Filled with power and the Holy Spirit,
Filled with mercy for the broken man
Yes he walked my road, and He felt my pain,
Joys and sorrows that I know so well;
Yet His righteous steps, give me hope again -
I will follow my Immanuel!

Through the kisses of a friend's betrayal,
He was lifted on a cruel cross;
He was punished for a world's transgressions,
He was suffering to save the lost
He fights for breath, He fights for me
Loosing sinners from the claims of hell;
And with a shout, our souls are free -
Death defeated by Immanuel!

Now He's standing in the place of honour,
Crowned with glory on the highest throne,
Interceding for His own beloved
Till His Father calls us to bring them home!
Then the skies will part, as the trumpet sounds
Hope of heaven or the fear of hell;
But the Bride will run, to her Lover's arms,
Giving glory to Immanuel!

As I sit here as the clock strikes midnight and we enter into 2014 I cannot help the tears flood me and stream down my face, another year of pain.  I have had an awful few weeks filled with pain and I have been trying to hide that from everyone at all costs, I am scared, I am tired beyond tired.  I'm tired of being tired, I am tired of being in pain, I am tired of feeling ill, I am tired of not sleeping, I am tired of my limitations, I am tired of feeling like this.  I am fed up.  I am hurting and I feel alone.  God feels far away, distant, irrelevant.

Then I remember these words… yes he walked my road, and he felt my pain, joys and sorrows that I know so well; yet his righteous steps, give me hope again - I will follow my Immanuel.

And then I realise Jesus walked my road and he felt my pain.  He has been here, he has done it and so he knows what it is like to be me.  He knows what it is like to feel pain and to feel sorrow, he knows what it feels like to be abandoned, rejected to feel awful beyond awful.

He did that all for me.  For the awful wretch I am.  So I can have life in him, so I can despite my broken sinful self one day stand in heaven face-to-face with my loving saviour in all his wonderful glory pain free forever!

And so I enter 2014 knowing that even if it brings more pain, more tiredness, more illness that whatever I face Jesus has faced it too - he knows exactly what I am going through and exactly how I feel. 

Immanuel, God is with us.

All Right

I love the quote in the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel "Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not yet the end."

I think that this quote is relevant for the Christian life.

Whatever struggles, challenges, difficulties or hardships we may face in the day to day of life we can be sure that in the end everything will be all right.  Not alright in the sense that it will be ok but everything will be all right.  One day everything will be restored to what it was meant to be and everything will be completely right.

We have the comfort that although things may not even be alright now, one day they will be all right, forever.

Do not be afraid, for it is I.

I was reminded this morning of one of my favourite stories in the bible, one which I am most encouraged by.  It is where Jesus walks on the water.

Matthew 14v22-27

²² Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³ And after he had dismissed the crowds,he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Whenevening came, he was there alone, ²⁴ but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. ²⁵ And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

The disciples are in a storm and are terrified.  It often feels as though we are in a storm, like life is getting too much, too big, too heavy and it is all about to come crashing down around us.  It can feel like we are barely still afloat and like we are about to be pulled under any second.  Jesus walks on water.  He is over it, reigning it and ruling it.  The storm is not too big for him.

He doesn't say 'O Heck, this problem's a bit too big for me to handle.'  No the words he says are such a comfort and encouragement when in the midst of the storms in our lives.

"Take heart; do not be afraid.  For it is I."

It is him, it is Jesus.  The same then, today and forever.  We do not need to be afraid, we can take heart for He is with us.

Endless Hallelujah!

I love the lyrics of Matt Redman's song "Endless Hallelujah".  The first time I heard it I cried at the beautiful lyrics (happy tears, of course!)

When I stand before Your throne
Dressed in glory not my own
What a joy I'll sing of on that day
No more tears or broken dreams
Forgotten is the minor key

Everything as it was meant to be

And we will worship, worship
Forever in Your presence we will sing
We will worship, worship You
And endless hallelujah to the King

I will see You as You are
Love You with unsinning heart
And see how much You paid to bring me home
Not till then, Lord, shall I know
Not till then, how much I owe
Everything I am before Your throne

And we will worship, worship
Forever in Your presence we will sing
We will worship, worship You
And endless hallelujah to the King

No more tears, no more shame
No more sin and sorrow ever known again
No more fears, no more pain
We will see You face to face
See You face to face

And we will worship, worship
Forever in Your presence we will sing
We will worship, worship You
And endless hallelujah to the King

And endless hallelujah to the King
We'll sing
And endless hallelujah to the King


Heaven is going to be such an outstandingly jaw-droppingly indescribable place.  I think it is so helpful to be looking forwards to Heaven though as a correct view of eternity will completely change the way we live now.  It is really hard though to imagine and look forward to something that is so unimaginably great.  I love finding songs etc that other people have written that beautifully say a picture of what Heaven will be like and help me to have a glimpse into it.

I love the picture of 'everything as it was meant to be'.  I think that so often in life things feel so wrong, they hurt and they don't feel right.  Things feel unfair and they don't seem like they should be.  Natural disasters, cancer, disease, war, death.  What a comfort that these things aren't right, they aren't natural but they won't be like this forever - everything will be as it was meant to be, as it was created.  Happy, happy days!

The picture of seeing Jesus as he is, in all the fullness of his glory makes my heart sing.  We will see the price that it was for us to be forgiven and then realise just how much we are loved.  A totally unconditional, completely undeserved yet overwhelmingly great love.  Bliss!

'No more tears, no more shame.  No more sin and sorrow ever known again.  No more fears.  No more pain!' These words speak for themselves and maybe the ideas are very familiar - when we think of Heaven maybe we do think of no more tears or pain.  Knowing that some of the things that may plague us and eat us up day in day out will be no more is wonderful.

Having an eternal and Heavenly perspective means whatever this life may bring, whatever we may face we can go through it full of hope.

No more tears.  No more shame.  No more sin.  No more sorrow.  No more fear.  No more pain.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!

Death has now been swallowed up in victory!

Whilst I was at contagious last summer as part of one of the seminar's we were looking at death.  It is a hard topic to look at and think about because socially it is such a taboo subject.

Me and the precious little boy

Some people may argue that death is just a natural part of life and that everyone dies and it is normal - it just happens.

Taken just two days before he died

A very special little boy who was very precious and dear to me died just over a year ago aged just 12 years old.  Is death natural?  No.  I can tell you it is not and I think the same would be said of anyone who has had a close friend or family member die.

It feels wrong.  That's because it is.  Death was not part of creation and it will not be part of the new creation.  I long for my friend not to be dead.  I long to see his smile, hear his laugh, just be able to spend more time with him.  What a comfort to know that through Christ death has been swallowed up in victory!


















What a fantastic truth to hold onto.

Death feels so 'stingy'.  It feels so permanent.  It feels so definite, so inevitable.  Like there's no point fighting it as it is going to win eventually, no matter what we do.




Death does not reign victorious, Jesus does!

Weakness

Suzy was on crutches,

Suzy was weak,

Suzy was a cripple,

Suzy was exhausted,

Suzy was in pain.

This has been circulating around Facebook and a lot of my friends have shared it (a while ago now because I have had this post in my drafts for months!).  I thought it was a really good reminder of how God uses the weak and it is certainly a comfort as I feel so weak and as though God could never use me.  I added my own few to the bottom of the list and there are so many more I could have put.  It is so encouraging that God doesn't choose the strong and powerful and problem free perfect people.  He uses ordinary people with weaknesses and flaws.  It is so encouraging to know that God's grace and power doesn't rely on us being strong but is totally down to him.  No matter how weak, insignificant, useless and flawed we may feel God still uses us and can even use these weaknesses to show his power perfectly.  Amazing!