One missed opportunity
One more way I wasn’t used
Another one I could have blessed
I feel worthless and accused
But I listen closer
And a fainter voice is clear
Reminding me of steadfast love
And knowledge of my fear
Of far reaching power
And of further reaching grace
I forgive myself and look
Into his eyes, and weathered face
I am a priest, a holy saint
Made just and purified
As dawn breaks through, then I will too
Holy Spirit fortified
So, the Red Cross called to confirm a donation appt & I asked her right after, “Hey, off topic, but is there anything at all, I can pray for you about?”
She said, “Hmm. Actually yes! You can pray for me to be able to help care for my neighbor Helen who is 92, & had a stroke. Her sister, 94, died last Tues. Helen’s been my neighbor for 8 years; she’s a missionary’s daughter. I want her strong and in that house of hers as long as possible.
So I got to pray for Tracy and Helen and God gave me a word for Tracy DURING my prayer, that she would be a Voice Of Hope for not just Helen but her whole neighborhood! She thanked me and said, “Well now I just wanna go and knock on everyone’s door and be that to everyone!”
Ha! The Lord is so good!
He meets me every single time I step out! And I’m not the only one. This simple act of asking to pray for someone is possible for every believer and we get opportunities to do it every day by phone in person and even in chat-boxes.
I was receiving help from an Xbox support person via chat, for over 2.5 hours the other day to straighten out Braylon’s account that had gotten all tangled up with his best friend’s security information. After we were done, I asked him the same thing. I thought, as I typed it, that he might have had emotional stress. He replied right away in the chat box,
“Bless your heart. Thank you. I could use all the positive energy I can get, actually. My mom passed away from breast cancer…and today’s my birthday.”
So I prayed pretty simply for him in the chat, and here’s a screenshot of the end of it.
I don’t even know where he was in the US. I wasn’t face to face or even speaking with him, but God transcends through space, time and proximity. He gives us unconventional ideas, and they actually work!
Give it up for my God! When I stopped putting him in a box, he said, “Actually, this chat-box will work just fine, today, thank you.”
I will keep stepping out because he meets me every time and shines through my every move. My every word. He transcends.
What do you start eliminating when your budget’s tight? Somethin’s gotta give, right? Starbucks? Clothes shopping? Restaurants? Or that charity you signed up for a while back? Continue reading
Forget Not
by, Chelan Rene’ Russ
4 / ‘07
Intro:
God’s love is a love that, if seen & felt & experienced, we have no other option but to reciprocate. No other choice but to surrender. And when life hits us hard, we must choose to think about every thing, big & small, he has done for us. And every promise in his Word- for if we’re His children, we can stand on those unwavering promises.
As I write this, the image of trust that comes to my mind is when you put all of your body weight on someone else. When I was dating my husband & we were both 20, we were walking in a field of yellow, waist- high grass. He suggested this game we play, where he stood behind me and told me when to fall backwards. He’d have to distance himself right, and I’d have to trust that I’d fall perfectly into his strong arms. Well, I trusted him, & to this day I don’t remember what went wrong, but one thing i do recall clearly, is that fear-drenched second when I realized he stood too far back…& then ~ s m a c k ~ my butt cleared the grass & landed on some deceitfully hard ground. He felt pretty bad for bruising my tail bone. But that’s typical of what can happen when we trust man, or ourselves. When disappointment hits, the only sure thing we have is God’s love.
Inspirations:
Is. 62:4 ~ Your new name will be “the City of God’s Delight” and the Bride of God, for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his own.
Zephania 3:17 ~ The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
Psalm 103:2-5 ~ Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
~~~
I will forget not all of thy benefits
I will forget not all of thy benefit
I will forget not just how much you love me
I will forget not...how you delight in me
(Key change, building…)
I know you delight in me
(And I) hear you sing over me
(Abba Father)... you delight in me
I hear you sing over me (I’m your child)
I know you delight in me
I hear you sing over me
(Abba Father)... you delight in me
I hear you sing over me (I’m your child)
(Key change, building…)
Know that I delight in you, too
Receive my praises to your throne (x3)
Know that I delight in you
Rec’v my praises
::
(Repeat Verse 1 ... basic acoustic, slower)
How you delight in me
Optional adlib vamp:
You still delight in me; after all I’ve done
You still delight in me; in spite of my self image
You still delight in me; in spite of how others view me
You still delight in me; your love is proven over & over again
~~~
The Way You Are (Princess)
By, Chelan Rene’ Russ
2/ ‘09
Dream, little one, of castles and kingdoms
Of sparkling crowns and colorful gowns
You’ll get on your horse and ride on the hills
You’ll follow a stream, and drift into sleep
Princess, you’re a princess
Splendor & grace (how they)
Dance in your face
Princess, you’re a princess
Near or far (you are)
Loved just the way…
You are
Your Daddy, the King will see just how far
You’ve wandered away to ponder and play
With servants and prayers, danger and love
He’ll rescue his daughter, right next to the water
(Chorus)
Loved just the way you are loved just the way you are loved just the way you are…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inspirations:
“Captivating” by, John and Stasi Eldridge
Luke 15:22-24 ~ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
Jeremiah 50:6 ~ “My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.
Jeremiah 31:3-4 ~ Long ago the Lord said to Israel:
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel…”
Lost & Found
By, Chelan Rene’ Russ
2005 – Chords uncertain
You formed me from the depths; You made me your own
My range of thoughts are listened to; so I might as well expose
My deepest fears (that) I’ve held on too tightly for (all these) years
I choose to surrender & be…
Lost in the fullness of you
In the mountains of your grace (You are…)
Found in the emptiness of me (yeah)
Intimacy, Intimacy
With surroundings unfamiliar, I feel unknown
Tryin’ to make myself important; a vice to which I’m prone
Help me – to see – my value lies in nothing that I do,
But in Whom I belong to! I am…
(Chorus 2): Lost in the fullness of you
In the ocean of your love (where you are…)
Found in the emptiness of me (yeah)
Intimacy, (true) Intimacy (is when I’m…)
Chorus 1: Lost in the fullness of you
In the mountains of your grace (you’re finally)
Found in the emptiness of me (of me)
Intimacy, Intimacy
(Softer): Found in the emptiness
Of a broken vessel,
broken pride (linger on this note)
Intimacy, Intimacy
Intimacy, Intimacy
Slower: Intimacy (Lord) See into me
Intro:
I wrote this song in reflection upon the previous year & how I’d become so self-absorbed, self-focused. After being a part of one church since age two, & a pastor’s kid at that, I moved to Southern OR. After 9 months of searching & praying, we found a great new church home & I thought I should join their worship team to make myself useful.
After reading a book, The Heart of the Artist, I can see now how I very slowly began receiving my self-worth from singing – in how many mistakes I made while on stage, or how many compliments I received later that day.
But if I take Him at His Word, I’m his child, worth everything to Him; I could be deaf, mute, blind, & brain-dead and not be loved any less than as I am right now…or as I have been in my past – right in the middle of sin. He gives his love & grace to us simply because we’re his kids.
Inspirations:
* Psalm 139:13-14, 23-24 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it!
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
* Jeremiah 29:12-13 (NLV) In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
* Table Rock Fellowship – Medford, OR
Chelan 