In Christ Alone

This song by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend is one that was made famous (at least to me :-)) by the Newsboys. I heard it this morning and am amazed how it moves me--my soul rejoices, my eyes tear up--each and every time I hear it. If you haven't heard it, please check it out. But for now at least, the lyrics will do. Amazing...


In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my
strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights
of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when
strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in
the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took
on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of
love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to
save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath
of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the
ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He
rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's
curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is
mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of
Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of
man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He
returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ
I'll stand

Amen.

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today is our third anniversary!! We have been so blessed these last 3 years. We were married, took the job at our church and found out we were pregnant with Gabe all within 2 months of our wedding day. Since then we have watched not only our baby boy grow, but our high school youth group has quadrupled in size. God is so faithful to us when we are faithful to Him! I praise the Lord for giving us these "kids" whom we love and love us in return.

We had such a fun day! Since Roddy and I spent the weekend in Edisto, we decided to just have a normal Wednesday instead of him taking the day off like he normally does on special days. Our day started at Chick-fil-a at prayer breakfast. Then we went to Riverbanks Zoo. Gabe loves the zoo now! Just six months ago he thought the purpose of going was to run around. He now really enjoys looking at the animals and we get such a kick out of him getting excited!

At youth group last night we were playing around with our new AWESOME camera we bought each other as an anniversary present. Our old camera went bye-bye accidentally at a soccer game last month--hence the lack of pictures posted. We are going to really try and compile more pictures of our youth than in years past. iPhoto even has this cool program where you can take your pictures and they'll make a yearbook looking thing. We're hopefully going to have enough good shots to sell them as a fundraiser for mission trips at the beginning of the summer! The couch picture is a surprise that they set up in the youth room. The "love couch" was decorated and came with flowers, a card and 3 different gift certificates!! They rock!!!

Here I am to worship

I have started going to the Lexington High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) meetings on Thursday mornings. It gives me a chance to see our youth as well as meet other teenagers in the area. This past Thursday I was thinking about pride during my drive to the church where it is held. I don’t consider myself a prideful person until I start thinking about it. I am incredibly prideful, and my I-don’t-ever-want-to-be-embarrassed, please-stop-looking-at-me-I’m-really-not-a-huge-dork personality plays into that a lot. (I am a big goober, FYI.) Little did I know that I would be tested in this area in the coming hour.
Fast-forward through breakfast and the message… We are singing praise and worship and one of my favorite songs is up first. “I love you, Lord. And I lift my voice, to worship you…” The girl that leads the group has an a-ma-zing voice and truly does a fantastic job. During this song, however, she took some artistic liberties that I wasn’t counting on, so when she paused, I was still belting out the words. Just me--no music, no anything. Multiple people turned around to look at me. Ahh! I was quite embarrassed. Unless I’m with a group of friends where I can let all of my quirks and dramatic expressions come to life, I normally try to back out of the spotlight.
I was telling myself, “It’s all for Him, who cares what they think?” over and over again, trying to make myself feel better. In hindsight, it’s really kind of silly, but then I was really struggling.
Two songs later, the worship leader says something to the effect of, “Isn’t it so cool that God is so big He can hear us each individually? He’s up in Heaven saying ‘Matt, I can hear you. Thank you, Jane, I hear you too.’” My perspective totally changed. It really is all for Him. I have an audience of one no matter how many people can hear me. John 3:30 popped into my head. “He must become greater; I must become less.” I am so thankful that my God is worthy of all the praise! "Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that You're my God. You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me!"