Draw Me Nearer

 "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." - James 4:8a

A friend of mine has been posting three word sentences as her facebook status for the past several weeks... In every case, the first two words have been, "God is...." A few days ago, her status simply read, "God is... near." I had been going through a bit of a weird funk -- for lack of better words -- for a few weeks, and when I read her status, I received the gentle reminder that God is, indeed, near.

What I had been feeling was like when you go window shopping with someone. You know that they are there, because they came in with you... But then you find yourself further interested in something and rush over to take a deeper look. You find yourself totally captivated by this (fill in the blank here) and have found yourself wrapped up in your own little world. Then you turn around, only to find that the person who was with you is right there with you.... and had been all along. Nothing is "wrong"...  The relationship is still intact... You're still friends... You were just mesmerized momentarily by something that captured your attention. And you are slapped back to reality when you turn around and remember that your friend is there. You knew it all along. And maybe you suspected that they might go and do their "own thing" for a while, since you were totally involved in whatever it was that demanded your engrossment.

There will always be times when circumstances will cause us to feel as if God is distant and distracted from us. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Though the enemy would love to taunt us and tell us otherwise, He is not far away.

He is near. So close you can almost feel His breath on your neck and His heart beating next to your own!

He is within you. (Col.1:27)

I don't know about you, but because He is within me, there is this driving desire to know Him more...and more.... To be so tightly woven that one could not tell one from the other.... And yet, on this side of Heaven, because of my many failings and imperfections, I know that will never be.

Still, there's a longing from within me that wants to grow deeper and deeper in our relationship...

I long for my heart to beat not like His, but to be syncronized with His.
I long to breath as He breathes.
I long to see as He sees.
I long to hear as He hears.
I long to speak as He speaks.
I long to love as He loves.
I long to live as He lives.

I think that was what Fanny Crosby was talking about when she wrote Draw Me Nearer. It's based on Hebrews 10:22, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

Draw Me Nearer

I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy Voice
As it told Thy Love to me.
But I long to rise in the arms of faith
And be closer drawn to Thee....

Refrain:

Draw me nearer,
Nearer, Precious Lord
To the Cross
Where Thou Hast Died.

Draw me nearer
Nearer, Nearer Precious Lord....
To Thy Precious bleeding side.


Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord,

By the pow’r of grace divine;
Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope,
And my will be lost in Thine.


Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!


There are depths of love that I cannot know
Till I cross the narrow sea;
There are heights of joy that I may not reach
Till I rest in peace with Thee.

Draw us nearer, Lord!

Good for the soul...

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." - James 5:16 

Ok. I may as well admit it. I'm addicted. To sweet tea, for cryin' out loud! :)All of this summer time heat hasn't helped, either. I've been drinking that stuff by the gallons... Seriously. It's been kinda scary. I can finish off a gallon of tea in less than a 24 hour period. Without help!

Whenever HH and I go to restaurants, I often tease our servers to "just bring me a pitcher and a straw... it will save you some steps."  The poor souls often wear the rubber off their shoes just getting my refills....

All of this started when I was a small child. My great-grandmother used to make the BEST sweet tea EVER. I mean, it was the color of liquid gold, and was so thick that you would think you could cut it with a knife... And my young palate loved the sweet stuff... I could drink gallons of it even then.

After a lifetime of giving into this temptation, I've had to change my ways. Now that I am older, I am cautious about packing on the calories and hopefully potentially staying away from the dreaded D word (diabetes) ... So, I have learned a new way to feed my addiction, and still maintain the taste... SPLENDA!

So, the "house wine of the South" is still king at our house... We still have sweetened tea... but we have it without the calories.

Hmm... Isn't that how a lot of us are with other things??? When God tries to correct us on an issue, do we try to do an end-run around Him? Do we go for something a little "lighter" (but with the same flavor) ??? Do we dance around issues, or do we try to face them head on???

Just a little something to chew on....

Now... if we can just tackle the peanut butter in the same way.... :)

What a Week!

"A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity." - Proverbs 17:17

To my many friends,

I don't even have words to begin to describe the week I've had... Talk about a roller coaster ride!!!! I celebrated my 30 year high school reunion last Saturday! What a night that was!!! Every time I heard a happy squeal, it was music to my ears, and I knew that the planning had paid off!

These are the folks who knew me when I looked like this:

There were even folks there from my elementary school days! They knew me when I looked like this:

That's me with the pigtails, front row, three from the far right.

These were the people who knew me when.... and love me anyway! HA! What a testimony that is to the kind of loving people we all grew up to be and to us as a class....I am proud to be a part of that group.

Then on Sunday morning, we HAD CHURCH at NBC! My buddy and singing partner, Edwin, sang "Midnight Cry" with our choir and orchestra. He knocked it out of the park!!! It was incredible!!! What a great song, and what a great God! That was followed by an AWESOME sermon by my pastor relative to watching for a Savior, not the signs, and being prepared for the return of Christ.

All of the celebrating came to a screeching halt as we came into a week filled with deep sorrow when we realized that a dear cousin was going to be departing this earth... She passed away on Tuesday evening following a staph infection. The doctors at Vandy still don't know what caused her death. So many of you have expressed your deepest sympathy and we appreciate your kind words. This is a difficult loss for all of us, particularly her younger sister (my cousin) and my mom. Please remember us in prayer in the days ahead.

It's at times like these that we realize that God gives us friends to lean on and to be "Jesus with skin on" to others... Thank you for your kind expressions and for your sweet friendships in both the good times and the bad... You guys are the best! :)

Much love,

Bitz

Word of God Speak...

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." - Hebrews 4:12

I absolutely love taking the time to type posts or to study God's word into the wee hours of the morning. It's a time of day when I know that there will be absolutely no distractions - no noise from a television, no phone calls, no incoming emails to distract me, and not a soul is on facebook at that hour! It's a great time for me to have conversations with God because I am the epitome of the night owl musician... Up late, and sleeping in.... (And I am ever so thankful for a job where I can do that.)

A couple of nights ago, I posted a comment on a board for a local newspaper. It seemed a particular local politician was in hot water with a religious group for doing a little research, forming an opinion on what he read and making that opinion public knowledge. I actually had applauded him for doing the research and for making a stand on the issue at hand based on what he had read.

It was really late, and I did need to head for bed, so I finished up, and began my normal bedtime routine... Before I crawled beneath the covers, I grabbed my Bible, as is my custom, and flipped it open. There on the pages in front of me was a passage where God was speaking, and it was as if He had just said those exact words to me as an affirmation of what I had just said on my post! I quickly told the Lord, "thanks for saying that!" and proceeded on to other things of our conversation that night.

Now, I am not an advocate of playing Bible Roulette for daily Bible Study (closing the eyes, opening up the Bible and circling the finger above the pages, then landing randomly on a passage.) That's just plain dangerous!

But I do, however, want to say that the Word of God is still powerful... It still speaks to hearts and minds today, and God does have a Word for us. The Bible is God's love letter to us! He has much to say to us from the pages of His Word....

You know, if the local politician had formed his opinion strictly on hearsay or public opinion, and not on actual researched facts, I probably wouldn't have given the guy the time of day after that. That's because public opinion is not time honored or a solid way of finding truth. Opinions come and go. Fads fade. But God's Word stands forever.

Sadly, I see a lot of folks in the world who will discount the Bible as just being an ancient book of yonder years that has absolutely no message or meaning to folks of today.... They will discount the scriptures, discount believers, even turn things inside out (calling love "hate" and "hate" love) and yet, when you ask them where they got their information, or whether they had actually read the Bible, they will say, "I don't read the Bible."

If you've never read the Bible, chances are you have one somewhere. Find yours. Blow the dust off the cover, crack it open and read it for goodness sake! Discover the wonderful ways that God still speaks to you and I... Take the time to read a short passage. See who the players are. Discover the principle that God has there, and then take the time to ask God what He is saying to you about that principle. How does this apply to you?

Betcha that the words will just jump right off the page, and scratch you where you are itching the most.

I am reminded of a song that came out a few years ago by Mercy Me...

"I'm finding myself at a loss for words


And the funny thing is it's okay

The last thing I need is to be heard

But to hear what You would say

[CHORUS]

Word of God speak

Would You pour down like rain

Washing my eyes to see

Your majesty

To be still and know

That You're in this place

Please let me stay and rest

In Your holiness

Word of God speak


I'm finding myself in the midst of You

Beyond the music, beyond the noise

All that I need is to be with You

And in the quiet hear Your voice

I'm finding myself at a loss for words

And the funny thing is it's okay" - Bart Millard, Peter Kipley

A Simple Message with a Simple Invitation

"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." - John 1:12-13

During the first two weeks of June, I had the privilege of flying to Brazil with 24 other musicians from the US for a mission trip with Global Missions Project. We played about 17 concerts in a ten day period in Sao Paulo and Brasilia, all under the direction of my friend, Camp Kirkland.

At one of the churches in Brasilia, God reminded me of something that I think we often take for granted in the US. In the middle of our concert that night, Camp presented the gospel in a very simple, easy to understand way... When we finished the concert, the pastor of the church gave a really simple invitation, "Does anyone want to receive Jesus tonight as their Savior? Anyone????"

Ten people responded to the simple question. Ten individuals' lives were changed that night for all of eternity!
Such a simple presentation and a simple invitation... and the folks responded as if it were a Billy Graham crusade!

Sometimes I think we get so elaborate in our presentations that we miss the simplicity of the gospel: God sent His Son Jesus to save us from our sin. Jesus died a cruel death on a cross to rescue us and redeem us from the consequences of sin before a Holy God. He rose on the third day and someday He is coming again. And if we ask Him to become our Savior, He will!

Does anyone want to receive Jesus as their Savior??? Anyone???

It's a simple message and a simple invitation. If you don't know Him as Savior, then you can by simply trusting your life to Him and asking Him to take over. That's what the word, "Lord" means. If you already know Him, are you asking others, "Does anyone want to receive Jesus? Anyone???"

Come By Here

"And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden." - Genesis 3:8

A couple of days ago, I was sitting in an upstairs room that we call the baseball room of our house, at the computer. I was scrolling through so many facebook statuses, reading, while at the same time pondering some events that happened at our house last week, and it came to me...

I wonder if part of our problem is that we no longer sing Kum Ba Yah. The very translation of Kum Ba Yah is, "Come By Here." Since when did we become so sophisticated that it was no longer acceptable to ask or seek God's presence???

The truth is that we aren't the first to fail to seek God's presence... As you can tell from our scripture at the top of the page, Adam and Eve took the prize there. And we've failed to seek His presence since then.

I've even heard this from a pulpit (or two or three) from a "super cool" pastoral type when visiting churches in the past: "It's not like we're just going to stand around in a circle and sing Kum Ba Yah...." 

Uh. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... Nope. Sounds really cool like ... maybe it will even meet the approval of the Hollywood crowd... but I think I want to be in a church where God is present and we aren't too afraid to ask Him to be present, and we aren't ashamed of trying to please Him. (And, thankfully, I have experienced that at our home church!)

Seems to me that the first priority of our worship is to seek God... and to ask Him for His presence... And those above anything else. We should seek to be in His presence, and for Him to move among us. Never should we assume anything or that we deserve to stand in His presence. Only Jesus is worthy of that. But His Word does say that we can go boldly before the throne of grace.... And by doing so, we are worshiping the Father.

Romans 12:1-2 says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."  (ESV)

Could it be that our spiritual act of worship is turning to God in our daily tasks???  I believe that was exactly what Paul was saying! So.... What would our lives be like if we asked for God to show up at the routine times of our daily lives? What if we asked Him to "Come by here" when:

When we are hanging with friends...

Someone's laughing, Lord. Come by here.

At the beginning and ending of life... (and all of the days in between)
Someone's crying, Lord. Come by here.

When we need talk with Him...
Someone's praying, Lord. Come by here.

When we're driving down the road and singing with the radio at the top of our lungs...
Someone's singing, Lord. Come by here.

At life's joyous occassions...like a wedding... the birth of a baby... graduations...
Someone's dancing, Lord. Come by here.

When you realize a loved one's journey will soon end....
Someone's dying, Lord. Come by here.

When your feelings are crushed.... or you are the object of gossip or some misunderstanding.
Someone's hurting, Lord. Come by here.

When you've messed up and need forgiveness....  Someone's sinned, Lord. Come by here.

When you are in need of a Savior...
Someone needs You, Lord. Come by here.

Oh, Lord. Come by here....
 

Great is the Lord Almighty

"Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain..." - Psalm 48:1

(WARNING: Transparency Alert!!! If you aren't the type of believer who welcomes real people with real stories of a real God Who really saves and changes lives, then stop reading here, and go find another blog. This post will contain some adult situations in an effort to be transparent and to encourage others who may be struggling with their own pasts to find freedom in Christ... Parental guidance suggested. Pharisees need not apply!)


So I was sitting in church orchestra rehearsal last night, playing "Great is the Lord Almighty," (Dennis Jernigan), getting ready for Sunday. As we were playing,  I was once again reminded of the lyrics of this great song of testimony:

"When His Children were dying and lost in their sin, MY GOD DIED AND HE ROSE AGAIN!
And I've been rejoicing since He took MY PLACE, and I thank YOU, JESUS, and PRAISE HIS NAME!!!"


A few years ago, while serving in the orchestra at Liberty Baptist Church in Hampton, Virginia, our church choir and orchestra accompanied Dennis Jernigan for a concert during one of our morning worship services. Now, mind you, I have played a lot of music over the years, and I was quite familiar with several of Dennis' worship tunes, but his was just a name on a page of music, like the many other composers' names I read on a weekly basis.... until I heard his story that day.

Dennis was saved from a life of sexual sin -- specifically, homosexuality. He spent several years in homosexual relationships, all while in the church. But then, Dennis came to the end of himself, and began a relationship with Jesus! And God changed his life! He is now married to a heterosexual wife, has several children, and God sings songs to him that he now writes and we as the church of today now sing: You Are My All in All, Great is the Lord Almighty, Who Can Satisfy My Soul, and countless others like them.

As incredible as Dennis' story may be, each of us who belongs to the family of God, every Christ-follower also has a story of our own... One of how a loving God, in His infinite Grace and Mercy has saved us and made us His very own.... And at a time when the church is struggling to be heard in the world, maybe it's time we started getting real with the folks in the pew next to us, and shared our own stories... I mean, how better to re-ignite the flames of faith, than to remind one another of just Who God is and what HE has done in our own lives????

Beth Moore tells the story of when one of her young children was hospitalized with a rota virus, one of her daughter's classmates sent her a homemade card that read, "I thrupt, too!" (Translation: I threw up, too!) I think that there is a desperate need among our congregations for revival, and how better to do that than to become real with one another with what Christ has done in our own lives and to remind us of who we are, who we were before Jesus came in and rocked our worlds, and who we are yet to become???

Yet, I also believe that there is a definite fear among us to share our stories.. There is a fear of judgement among believers... so much so that it would drive the very members of the family of God back into hiding behind the doors of our pasts, and would keep us from being effective servants of the Living God! And there, boys and girls,  is the very definition of hypocrisy... We claim to have experienced the grace and merciful favor of the God of the Universe, and yet, we shove our own histories under the rug and will not so much as give credence those who bring their own histories to the forefront!

Truth be told, our pews are filled with sinners every single time we meet! The Bible says, "There is none who is righteous, none, not even one." NEWSFLASH! The girl who sits in the orchestra on the platform week after week and sings the solos has a story, too!!!! And as much as I hate to admit it, my own story's not pretty... And I know that many of my readers are folks who have served side by side with me in churches from days gone by will be reading/hearing this for the very first time. Many of you have heard me sing or play, or are in my Sunday School class... Several of you worked with me in Christian workplaces and will have no clue about the story I am about to tell. I haven't told it because there is a lot of shame involved... and I have had an inherent fear that should I go public with my story that the Church would force my testimony back into hiding... and that I would go right back to the idea of praising God publicly, but keeping the past hidden... and only admitting that there was a past... And I am convinced that is precisely where the enemy wants the Church to be... hidden, cowering in fear of harsh judgement of those who sit with us in the pews week after week... when, in fact, God calls us to be real.

That's what the whole story of the woman at the well is about ... Jesus called out the Samaritan woman when she told Him that she "had no husband..." In John 4, Jesus told her, "You've spoken correctly that you have no husband... when in fact, you've had five husbands, and the one you are now with is not your husband." Jesus basically told her to get real! And we all know the story there. (If you don't go read John 4! Here's a link: http://www.biblestudytools.com/esv/john/4.html Ready, set.... GO!)

I can relate to the woman at the well in some ways... You see, I struggled with sexual sin in my early twenties and became pregnant with a child out of wedlock. The father and I intended to marry, but changed our plans after I lost the baby in a miscarriage. (And yes, it was a miscarriage, not an abortion, as rumors would have it.) I started spotting three months into the pregnancy -- all thanks to a tubal pregnancy and no thanks to two back to back eighteen hour shifts at a fast food restaurant in Oxford, MS with no breaks --  and was placed on bed rest, and still lost the baby two days later. I had a DNC for a miscarriage and two weeks later, I was back in the hospital for four days with an infection from the surgery. I was a lost church member, baptized, and actively attending worship, singing wherever God would allow me to sing, and serving in the high places in our denomination! I would finally marry -- legitimately -- to a different man in 1992 (ironically our wedding fell on the ninth anniversary date of my miscarriage -- I was convinced that God was giving me Tony because I had been "good"!) I began to stake my life on my marriage to Tony... Then, horror of horrors, Tony died of cancer in 1998. I was 35. He was 40. After Tony's death, my life pretty much fell apart. I had always really struggled with purpose in life... I guess I always knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I just never had the courage or the confidence that I could go there. So, consequently, I jumped from job to job, was fired from more jobs than I am willing to admit, and really had no substance to my life. Don't get me wrong -- I had all the friends I could ever want, plenty of nice things, a life full of opportunities that others would literally kill for, but I was empty -- lonely, unfulfilled and without direction. I had no money... and I didn't have a job. To make matters worse, I was not easy to live with. I would argue with a fencepost, and had no control over my temper or my tongue. As far as I knew, the universe revolved around me... and if it wasn't already about me, I made it about me. Widowhood only compounded the struggles I had. I felt useless, like I was just taking up space in the universe that was intended for someone else. I struggled financially, and nearly lost my home... So much of my own life's downfall was due to my own making, and I felt I had nowhere to turn! Prayers bounced off the wall because I had absolutely no relationship with the God of the Universe... although I talked about Him quite a bit... I knew all the right things to say, and all the right things to do... but did not KNOW God...  until the day I came to the end of myself, and said, "Jesus, I am tired of struggling. I am tired of trying to do and be, and coming up short. I'm tired of me. I need You to be the Boss of Me. I need You to take over my life." My life has changed dramatically since that day! For the past ten years, I have been teaching music in private studio. I remarried in 2001 to a godly guy... I have a beautiful home, great church home, and a purpose within the Body of Christ, and a purpose in life! Life is not perfect, and God is still molding me day by day into His image... But I am not who I was and I am not yet who I will be! I am simply clay in the Hands of the Creator of the Universe... An adopted Child of the King of all Kings, and a joint heir with Christ, nonetheless, and only so because of His infinite love, mercy and grace.

So. There you have it, boys and girls. Now you know why I am in awe of our God. Now you know why I Praise Him so! That's the story of this child who was dying and lost in her sin... And MY GOD DIED AND HE ROSE AGAIN... And I've been rejoicing since HE TOOK MY PLACE... And I thank YOU, JESUS, and PRAISE HIS NAME... singin':

Great is the Lord Almighty, He is Lord, He is God and King
Great is the Lord Almighty, He is God Supreme
Great is the Lord Almighty, He is Lord, He is God and King!
Great is the Lord! Great is the Lord!

So... What's your story??? I dare you to tell it!!! I double-dog dare you to drop your own masks and share your own story -- warts and all -- first to a church that needs to be reminded of Who Our God is... That very action will cause our churches to lift Him up. And dear Christ-followers, I triple-dog dare you to be a people who understand GRACE and to be givers of MERCY... When that begins to take place, the lost world that is dying and headed for hell will sit up and take notice -- not of us, but of JESUS.

After all, isn't it all about Him????