For what breaks yours

Oh Lord. As I spin in circles, my eyes fall upon the brokenness.
My heart weeps for the state of this world.
I cry out to You to redeem Your creation God. Make all things new Jesus.
Be my shield God. Flow through my lungs to bring oxygen to my veins as the hurting stings my soul.
I see Your children suffering, smacked about by the world around them God. They are in need of healing Jesus only You can provide.
Lord, they are in need of hope, in need of Your majesty to coat their eyes, and awaken their hearts to the place where they were meant for in Your arms one day.

You weep with us God.
You cry out in pain as You see the deepening wounds, the darkness closing in. Jesus, Your light is brighter, stronger, more powerful than the darkness than swings like a curtain over our eyes.
Your perfect love drives out the heaviness of our guilt, our shame, our desperate cries for help in storms that are raging around us Jesus.

Let us not grow complacent God. Let us not detach ourselves from Your children all around us.
May we extend the touch  of Your grace, extensions of Your heart, words that flow from purified hearts, and arms that wrap around this world to join in the melodious sonnet of Your abounding love.
God, break us down. Bring us low in the dirt to find ourselves immersed in the wounds of others to bring them into Your healing waters. Bring us deeper into their hurt to hand them the keys to the freedom that exists inside of Your beautiful Kingdom.
Jesus, be the healing that extends through the chapters of every single day that we breathe so that Your glory would be seen and known in greater and more magnificent ways.

Break our hearts Jesus for what continually, day after day, minute after minute, is shattering Your heart so that we may live into this love that covers our lives, so that we may live into the vision of Your kingdom breaking its way through the doors of this world.

Revive

On the outside, it wasn't a dramatic shift.  

By the world's outward standards, the way I lived was not a problem.

"Scratch the surface, skim the depth of this life," they say.  Center on your comfort, center on your own peace, center on your own needs.  I bought into it. Merely passing through, a heart locked in the depth of my own selfishness, I stepped forward.

Moving forward into the world, slowly reversing my steps away from Jesus.

Filling the hungry pit of my soul with the empty gifts of a world that would never satisfy, I was only a shell intent on seeing the immediate reality in place of the eternal.  Intent on fixing the outward status of my life and being, I left the internal state of my heart guarded, locked, and ignored.

What could I be missing? I seemingly had what I thought I wanted. The warmth of comfort, friends who supported me, the promise of a successful future after college.  Progressing forward, my eyes were blinded.

What more could there possibly be? I had been living dead to God and seemingly "alive" to myself.  

Alive to my own dreams, my own desires, my own hopes, my own love of this world. Then I caught a flame that shifted my heart. You, Lord, put Your heart and spirit within me.

No dramatic change in appearance. That's what the world would expect for change to be brought.

No not this, Lord,

but a radical change of heart. A revival. 

Lowered into the depth of emptiness and distress, the beauty of promise now echoes in my soul.

Cracking a hard exterior to unveil a new creation in Christ,

Opening my eyes to the conviction of a calling so beyond my small existence,

Busting the heaviness of locked chains to release my soul into Your freedom,

Touching my heart and lifting me from the brokenness, I now fly with You alone.

You revive. 

Breathing the fullness of abounding love, filling my cup to overflow with the treasures of a Kingdom of beauty.  

Turning my eyes upon the mission of Your heart, I find new desires to fulfill.

To love this world with every breath that I breathe, 

to raise my voice to praise You on Your throne high above my life yet close to my heart, 

to pour out the glory of Heaven's treasures dwelling within my spirit into this world that You so dearly love.

God, it's all for You. 

I owe it to this world and to every single person around me to proclaim Your name Jesus. To show them the God whose love shakes the ground, whose heart breaks for each hurt we face, who so deeply desires for every one of you to know Your love. 

Lord, revive us. 

Breathe peace into the core of our being to guard us from the arrows that threaten.

Plant words of grace in our mouths to send out for Your children.

Piece our broken hearts together and unify our spirits to sing of Your works.

Break through our chains to reflect the freedom that abides only in You God.

"You revive me

            You revive me Lord
And all my deserts are rivers of joy
           You are the treasure I could not afford
                         So I'll spend myself till I'm empty and poor, All for You
                        You revive me Lord."

                    -Christy Nockels

Faint lights

"Our hearts are all barricaded and the poisons will decorate it. I want to know love, I want to be where you are ..."

I was searching for You all along.

My hands clenched tighter as I prepared myself to face the world alone.
The light in my eyes flickered, constantly searching for a light strong enough to hold my gaze.
My arms were outstretched, looking for someone strong enough to hold me up.
Broken confidence left me shaking with fear.
My heart cried out for the hole to be filled,
for the emptiness to finally be brought to an end.


And passing through, I missed You.
So blinded by Your light, I was unaware.
Motionless steps, words emptied of truth, unsuccessful striving.
I chose the faint lights Lord, for they were all that I knew.

Skimming the surface, 

I drowned out your melodious song with the noise of my own.

Driving through,
I passed the signs hidden beneath the obvious.
I moved through creation never stopping to question the Creator.

I trailed after the world.

Buying into the idea that I wanted to fit into this brokenness, 

the jagged edges tore.

So desperately wanting a place to belong, 

I smoothed my wrinkles and cracks to appear worthy.

Continuously striving, I never found rest until You.

Blasting the dim lights off my path, You came.
Your rays shone into my weary heart and I arose to strength.
A shield wound its way around my heart,
defense from the world yet a door open for Your majesty to enter.


Distant lights are but a memory,
for the true Light of my heart has broken through.
Destroying strongholds,
cradling a heavy heart,
restoring a center of peace tossed to the wind,
solidifying the honor I stand for,
You hold me now and forevermore.


Light leads me.
Love guides me.
Angels protects me.
You, Lord, heal me.


Driven by a love for the Light,
my mission is set:
To bring Your brilliance to life in this heart tonight,
to stand abandoned to the Light who calls me by name,
to proclaim the Light who has stolen my heart is my only desire.


Faint lights are shut up in darkness, 
You are the only Light burning brighter.


[ At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, 
     which is true in him and in you, 
because the darkness is passing away 
            and the true light is already shining]
                              - 1 John 2:8

                                                                 




"Cause all the faint lights, they left me stranded and lost. Reaching through empty pockets trying to pay my cost, I put up a fight but now it's taking it's toll. I'm waiting for something to set fire, wake up my soul.." -Steve Moakler

Vision

Closing my eyes, I get chills in my bones.


Clasping a hand to my heart, 
I can feel my heart beating towards true purpose (Matthew 28:19)
Lifting my hands in praise, 
I am astounded at the work of Your hands (Habakkuk 1:5)
Turning my eyes to the sky, 
I envision God's Kingdom rising up amidst this land (Luke 17:21)


You have given me a vision.


You have given me the eyes to see people through a different lens, for their immense potential in Christ.
You have given me experiences that reaffirm my trust in Your will will above my own.
You have blessed me with the sharp confidence to enact change.
You have gently led me to the path of life that trails into Heaven above.


You have awakened the unspeakable fire deep in my soul to set fire to the world around me.  This passion cannot be kept within the confines of the ordinary but will only be released by setting this dream to fly free and spark a change in the air.  Your glory lies quietly beneath the surface of the everyday details and I choose to unearth it Lord. I choose to draw this beauty out of my relationships, out of Your word, out of each and every day of my life.


I stand in awe of You.
The God who appoints someone as broken as myself to carry Your name, to bring forth Your glory with my small story. I whisper Your praise quietly on my lips and proclaim it on the highest of hills, knowing You hear every word of praise just the same.  My heart smiles as I look at the ways I have doubted You. The times I have secretly pushed my will and doubted that Your plan is so much better than my own.  The times that I secretly mourn over the slammed doors that have only brought me deeper understanding of who You are and How unending Your love is for me. And the times when I have been slow to release someone from my life for You to bring someone or something so much more. 


Lord, You always know.  Your ways, God, are always higher.
Even when I don't understand, I will choose to place my trust in You.
Even when I don't get what the world says will fulfill me right now, I know that true joy comes from looking forward at the unbreakable hope of a tomorrow in Your arms.
I know that my days are nothing if not drawing near to You and bringing others closer to Your heart.  Even when my heart is tricked into believing You are not enough, I will trust You are using my life to bring glory to Your kingdom with every day I place my heart within Your hands.


Jesus, I choose You.
I choose a life driven by the vision of the King who has brought me to walk a path of true beauty.  To accomplish this short stretch of life You are laying before me, I will live in love with who You are, falling deeper into the plan You illuminate with every passing day. For you are worth every hardship, every moment, every challenge or roadblock, every breath I have to give. 


Never ceasing to stop singing the songs You have planted in my soul, Lord, 
I will bring this vision here and now with my story.  


 ^"I glorified you on earth, 
having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.  
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence 
with the glory that I had with you before the world existed." 
-John 17:4-5