Welcome to today’s slog. Eew, that doesn’t sound very appealing, does it? I was trying to think of a shorthand way to let y’all know when a song is included at the end of a post. Ya know, song + blog = slog. Hmmm. Let me know if you have any, uh, more eloquent suggestions.
Speaking of All Things Feedback, I’d also love to hear your thoughts on what's working well on this blog, and/or in what ways it could be improved. Feel free to leave a comment, or if you’d prefer, email me directly at lisavmusic AT gmail.com.
Enough of the admin hat, let’s get on to the fun stuff!
So I’ve been thinking about the many ways that we can get stuck in life.
Our choices.
The choices of others.
Hard circumstances.
Over- or under-inflated sense of self.
How we perceive others.
How we think others perceive us.
Guilt (real or imagined).
Fear (real or imagined).
Lack of forgiveness.
Acting without thinking.
Thinking without acting.
Leftover 'limps' from our past.
Unhealthy patterns in the present.
Lack of belief that true change is possible in the future.
The list could go on and on, couldn’t it? But for every challenge we face, why is it that sometimes we can find ourselves completely stuck…trapped…chained down…held hostage…while other times we’re able to navigate forward with relative ease? Is it simply a matter of the frequency and severity of the issue? Or our personality type? Or whether or not we are ‘spiritual enough’ to run into the future unhindered?
Perhaps this is too simplistic, but it seems to me that a critical factor is our fundamental belief about God’s heart towards us. No matter the situation, does God truly have our absolute best interests in mind? Or does God delight in pulling the rug out from under us when we least expect it?
And the answer is…
Wait. My guess is that most of us *know* the TC (Theologically Correct) answer. God loves us, right? But TCness, at least for me, carries its own set of problems. I could recite all the right answers till the cows come home. But until my *heart* knows the truth, there will be a continual disconnect between the ‘right answer’ and how I live and react to the world around and within me.
Fortunately, it’s not just up to me to transform my heart's ability to be steeped in God’s love. The Holy Love Letter speaks again and again of God’s active and merciful pursuit of us. We can’t free ourselves on our own. Only God’s love is powerful enough, persistent enough. And the sooner we rely on that truth in the core of our being, the sooner we can face the challenges of life with the confidence that God’s love is even bigger still. We may stumble, but we don’t need to remain forever trapped.
As Paul wrote to the Early Followers:
"None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us.
I’m absolutely convinced that nothing ~ nothing living or dead,
angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow,
high or low, thinkable or unthinkable,
[insert whatever challenge each of us may be facing] ~
absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love
because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us."
(Romans 8.38, The Message)
Pretty amazing stuff…and truth that I’m still trying to learn how to live on a day-to-day level.
The following song speaks to the captive condition of the human soul. For times when we're feeling trapped, may the truth of God's love bring both courage and encouragement to the deepest places of our hearts.
Thankful for the Liberator’s persistent love,
Lisa
EVERY HEART
Lisa Venkatrathnam and Keith Stacey Rowe (words)
Keith Stacey Rowe (melody)
Arranged and produced by Keith Stacey Rowe
(c) 2007, All Rights Reserved.
She lingers on the stairs to the basement of her soul
The air is cold and it smells of sin
Desperate for the freedom that the God of mercy brings
But she clings to the darkness deep within
Too scared to stop pretending
Too scared to face the truth
That every heart has got a shadow
A dark, deceptive, lonely place
Every heart needs the savior
Every heart needs grace
He wears a shiny costume of piety and praise
Behind a mask, acting out his lines
But he's trapped alone on his empty hollow stage
Trying to hide from demons deep inside
Too scared to stop pretending
Too scared to face the truth
That every heart has got a shadow
A dark, deceptive, lonely place
Every heart needs the savior
Every heart needs grace
Hostages to sin, God what have we done?
Emancipate us Jesus with your blood
Save us from our dungeons
Save us from our chains
Save us from our demons
Save us from our pain
Save us from our masks
Save us from our hells
Save us from our selves
‘Cause every heart has got a shadow
A dark, deceptive, lonely place
Every heart needs the savior
Every heart needs grace
And every heart has got a burning
For God to fill its greatest need
Every heart has got a longing
To be free
.