Songwriting Journey

I am, or rather I have, embarked on a voyage of musically creative discovery.

There's lots to say on the christian music scene, but as for me, i'm on a journey- finding out my niche..as it were.
So far i've written 5 or so worshippy/meditative overtly christian songs and 3 or 4 not so overtly christian songs. I mean, technically it's not possible for me to write non-christian music, seeing as I am one!

I have discovered something important to this songwriting malarkey and that is this: don't try to be somebody else. Comparing myself and trying to be something i'm not musically seems a waste of time. It appears to me that it is more productive to go with the flow and grow!

Love, it can be hard. but yet it is very simple.

I read something profound that Jesus said this morning (I read it this morning).


"Jesus replied 'Love the LORD your God with all you heart and with all your soul and will all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment . And the second is like it- 'Love your neighbour as yourself' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these 2."


So. it's really quite simple. Love God with everything you've got and love your neighbour as yourself.

Lately I have been finding it challenging because I have been faced with people who do not respect or like me, people who speak negatively about me to my face and behind my back. It has been a rude awakening! My first response when I discovered this was to think 'justice must be done- i must defend myself and make them see it's not my fault, or show them how amazing I really am'. *rolls eyes*

Taking this up with my Special Wise Loving Friend, He revealed that this came out of a place of wanting approval, wanting to be liked by everyone. So, something of fear of man. That sucked to hear! I was forced to think about how I was going to respond when I come across people that badmouth me to my face or behind my back, those who accuse me of anything. I have to make a choice to love them, to show them respect even if they don't respect me.

It is becoming more apparent as this country more openly rejects holiness that being a christian is not all sunshine and daisies. There are many followers of Jesus all over the world that honour God in their faithfulness to Him when they are faced with the options of reject Jesus or choose death. It should be of no surprise then that people will mock us or badmouth us or spread lies about us.

So, in conclusion. Yeah, it sucks when people badmouth us, I don't enjoy it, but it is a great opportunity to choose to honour Jesus and love these people and be humble and accept correction, and to forgive.
And in amongst the midst of theological confusion and complexities- it is really quite simple. Love God, love your neighbour. Simples. :)

Words Tongue Power

From the Proverbs written by King Solomon chapter 18 verse 21
 "Words kill, words give life;
   they're either poison or fruit—you choose."


I've been thinking about how the tongue has the power to bless or to curse. Ponder with me, if you will. Meditate on the above verse from Proverbs if you feel so moved...

Thankfulness

Not long ago, I was on a blog ( http://benijohnson.blogspot.com/ check out the April 8th 2011 entry). From reading about the list of 1,000 things to be thankful for I decided to take up the challenge!

Since then I have only made it to 300 things to be thankful for (and have missed the past couple of weeks!), and I have repeated myself quite a few times. I have noticed so far that the main things I mentioned were to do with food, music and things that impact ME and affect ME.

After hitting the 300 mark I thought back on how, apart from 2 points, the rest of the 'thankfulness' points were to do with things that i'm thankful for in MY life. I have been thinking it would be a good exercise to be deliberately thankful for things in other peoples lives, for example- thanking God for my friend Edd who is growing in a gift for teaching and evangelism, thanking Jesus for blessing my musical friends with success in various spheres.

To be honest, I think this is a helpful & important key for when we come across seasons of life when others seem to be getting promoted and gaining victory in areas that we are so desparate to get promoted and gain victory in. The temptation is to agree with thoughts of jealousy and let that affect our hearts and lives, but we can choose to be thankful to God for blessing these people and let go of any bitterness. Even when it's hard, surely we can do that?

I hope this post has been helpful and loving. Let me know if not.

Testify!

Here lies a compiled list of various websites/blogs of Treasure Hunting going on around the place. Just because.

the North
http://somethingpersonal.typepad.com/treasure_hunters_journal/

Midlands
http://wendymann-life.blogspot.com/
http://www.new-lifechurch.co.uk/events/hit-the-streets-rushden/story-wall/

Kent
http://mfctreasurehunters.blogspot.com/

London
http://www.jesusonthestreets.co.uk/testimonies/blog

Snippets from my life

Snippets

• When but 1 year old, God rescued me from dying of Pneumonia.
• When I was 7 years old God provided a friend for me when I was lonely.
• When I was around 13 years old God saved me from drowning in the Dordogne river in France.
• When I was 18 years old, God convicted me of my sin. I was shocked and desired to be made new.
• When I was 19 years old, I realised that during my 1st year at University, I realised the LORD God was really real, dependable, faithful and the One I could rely on above all others.
• When I was 20 years old, God healed me from depression, brought the light of Jesus into my heart and mind, and I was delivered from suicidal thoughts.
• At a point in 2010, my mind was under the impression that my heart had fallen for a guy friend of mine. One evening when I finally realised things weren't going to happen between us, I felt very sad and cried alot. Father God spoke to me clearly and told me He would restore my heart towards this guy and that I would be able to see him as a brother again. I also realised that though I was very sad and my heart did hurt, there wasn't a deep abyss in my heart as Jesus was my first love. Byebye deep lonliness! Since then, my heart towards this guy is now 100% settled and I see him as my dear brother. I do love him, but as his sister in Christ. Hurray!
• In February, this year of 2011, Jesus healed my foot from pain and stiffness and gave it strength.
• In July 2011, I realised I can dream big and am excited about getting on with my mission in life. :)

God has healed me physically and mentally, saved my life, provided for me, restored my heart, convicted me of sin, shown me a way out of sin, given me strength... King Jesus is very gracious to me. I love Him. He's got my back. Thanks big Bro :)

Listening and Obeying

Some months ago a lady who wasn't a follower of Jesus asked me to pray for her back, seeing as I'd been sharing tales with her about some people I saw God heal of physical stuff going on. So, I went to the toilet in the building we were in and cried out to God. I asked Him what I should do. Good start.

Jesus said "I only do what I see the Father doing". When praying for people, it's a very good idea to involve God and ask for His leading! We can do nothing apart from Him and He always knows best what people need.

I felt God say to me quite clearly that I should pray in a specific way, a way that I was quite uncomfortable with, a way that I had been taught not to pray when with non-Christians. Not a bad way though, let me just clarify that! (I'm deliberately withholding the specifics of this testimony because I don't want people focusing on the method.)

So, I left the bathroom and joined the lady in the room she was in, with many other of her friends curiously watching and listening. She told me to pray for her back, so I asked if I could lay hands on her, to which she said something along the lines of 'absolutely not!' So I prayed every kind of prayer I could think of, rebuking the sickness, asking God to remove it, commanding it to go, releasing peace, acknowledging I can do nothing apart from Christ...I used all the options and words I could think of to try to make the pain leave. But I felt that I really should pray in the specific way that I felt incredibly uncomfortable doing, especially in front of all these people. And you know what? I didn't do it. And there appeared to be no difference in the pain level when I asked the lady, and I felt stupid.

Alls I know for sure from this experience is that I didn't obey God when He told me to do something. It's not something I'm proud of, but I do wonder whether this lady would have been healed if I had obeyed what I felt God telling me to do. Thankfully, my God is a God of grace and I am on a journey. I really do want to be a person who obeys God when He speaks to me. 

It's one thing to hear from God, but those who listen & obey are truly wiser than those who hear from God and do not obey Him.  It's not how much you know, but it's what you do with what you do know.