Empty but Filled

Having seemingly nothing
yet everything to give
waking this weary heart
full of vibrancy to live
wanting to simply get through
no, but to be soberly alive
You always win in this chasm
between You and I

Wanting to do all
but nothing will I earn
Hoping to gain my reward
yet one I do not deserve
In pressing onward, forward
may in surrender myself I find
Your mercy is always enough
and within Your arms I will lie

Hungry I come
I am empty but filled
Longing for Your presence
but within You still
Fully unaware
yet amazingly aware too
I lift up these tired eyes
and look only to You.

Redemption Revealed

It is painful to revisit difficult times in your life. They are usually times that are so vivid in your mind and heart that every effort has been made to dull it and push it aside. It’s part of our coping mechanism to move forward.

But so much beauty often comes out of pain…and often in the least expected ways.

When I am journaling, I have the habit of often looking back to journal entries of the same week a year ago. I find that similar time frames within a year offer a great framework to gain an easy perspective on things over time.

This week and the next two weeks of last year are three weeks of my life that I seldom wish to remember or especially revisit. But, it’s been that time to do so.

And tonight, I find myself in utter streams of tears of humbleness and thankfulness for God’s redemption…

In response to what was going on a year ago now, I wrote these words then:
I see these glimpses of glory
little fractures of light on the edge of brokenness
The picture of beauty that I see
makes me wonder just how and when
this broken world before us
left standing in the glass that shattered
can finally allow the redemption within

I see these glimpses of glory
little fractures of light on the edge of brokenness
The picture of beauty that I see
gives me hope and makes me wonder
when this broken world that lays at my feet
and my heart that lies within
can be bound up and healed

I see these glimpses of glory
little fractures of light on the edge of brokenness
The picture of beauty that I see
is what carries me through
in my hope in a God who redeems
Because though the world is broken and shattered
it’s not what it was intended to be
and what carries me through
is my hope in a God who redeems
The pictures of beauty that I see
little fractures of light on the edge of brokenness
I see these glimpses of glory

These were God-given words in a time where my heart ached and longed to cry out to Him, desperately trying to cling to the hope that He redeems. I remember singing this alone, in my car, over and over again…expressing the cry of my heart, the desire for hope in a time where hope no longer made sense. And these words resounded as not only a chorus from my mouth, but in my head and heart over that time of some deep lows.

I see these glimpses of glory, little fractures of light on the edge of brokenness. The picture of beauty that I see, is what carries me through, in my hope in a God who redeems

There were times in which I needed tangible reassurance from God in that He redeems. He granted those through small glimpses of glory and fractures of light on the edge of brokenness, helping me to see a picture of beauty that would carry me through in the hope that He redeems.

Because though the world is broken and shattered, it’s not what it was intended to be

We live in a broken world. Every day. It was especially poignant to me at that time in my life.

and what carries me through, is my hope in a God who redeems, The pictures of beauty that I see, little fractures of light on the edge of brokenness, I see these glimpses of glory.

Yet, what carried me through was my hope in a God who redeems. I saw pictures of beauty, fractures of light in the midst of brokenness, all revealing glimpses of glory.

And oh. How he REDEEMS.

Never, oh, never shall we doubt or lack faith, even when we cannot see…His glory will always be revealed.

The process can be seemingly unbearingly painful…

But it yields something of God’s hand, not our own, which is utterly and unbelievably




beautiful.

Daily Bread

"Two things I ask of you, O Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the Lord?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God."
-Proverbs 30:7-9