His Forever.

This morning we sang a song in church that hasn't come up for quite a while. I love it for many reasons... one being we tend to sing it in a range that is SO perfect for my voice. Yes, I know, that's one of the least important things to love about a song praising Jesus, but still, it makes it fun to sing. The melody is also very lovely, again not the most important factor, but still it's just another reason to enjoy singing it. Mostly, it's the lyrics and where they lead my thoughts that gets me every time.

Jesus, friend of sinners

Loved me 'ere I knew Him

Drew me with His cords of love

Tightly bound me to Him

'Round my heart still closely twined

The bond that none can sever

For I am His and He is mine

Forever and forever

Jesus, friend of sinners

A crown of thorns you wore for me

Bruised for my transgressions

Pierced for my iniquities

The wrath of God that I deserved

Was poured out on the innocent

He took my place, my soul to save

Now I am His forever

Jesus, friend of sinners

I love to tell the story

Redeeming love has been my theme

And will be when in glory

Not death nor life nor anything

Can ever separate me

Oh, love that will not let me go

Yes, I am His forever

by Pat Sczebel and Sovereign Grace Music

You really must listen to the actual song. It's so good. The melody just goes so well with the words and really helps your mind to settle into the calm joy that resonates in this song.

The line that really got me this morning was "Redeeming love has been my theme." Do you sense a theme in your life? God's provision maybe? His healing? Or maybe it's of miraculous rescue? 

I can't remember when, but during some training I was listening to, they recommended writing down every single prominent memory you could quickly recall in succession over the course of your life. Yes, that might take a while! But the woman encouraged us to do it without much thought, just quickly spending 20-ish minutes writing a bunch of things down. The woman leading this training was trying to help us get our "life theme" out in a rather simple way. 

If you sit and think about your life too much, it's easy to get bogged down by little things or get overly detailed about traumatic situations and miss the big picture. It's often easy to look at the lives of other people and see the big picture of what God has done in them, but often difficult to see that same zoomed-out image of our own. So with this tool I sat and wrote. I don't really remember where it led me, but it's not the point of what I wanted to share anyway. 

I guess I'm rambling a bit, but I wanted to encourage you to look at your life in this zoomed-out way, as much as you're able. There is something God is doing, some story He is telling with your life. It's His, and it will bring Him glory, and it's not our job to determine what that story will be. It's our job to live it well, to love God in all of it, and to point to His love and sacrifice as the anchor of our hope. Whether His glory is displayed through healings, through maintaining joy despite suffering pain, through keeping a commitment that feels unbearable, or through the blessing of beautiful relationships... it's all for His glory. 

I want to remember that His story is being written no matter what my ambitions are or what goals I desire to achieve. Remembering that I am His forever, and that the theme of my life revolves around what He is orchestrating helps me chill out and enables me to just enjoy what He puts before me, instead of resenting it or becoming jealous of others. If it's good enough for God's plans to glorify Himself through me, it's definitely good enough for me to enjoy.

Make sure you follow this link to listen to that song too... you won't be disappointed!