Life as a Christian Woman

A few weeks ago the choir at my church sang a song that is so simple, so straightforward, that it reached deep into my soul. The song, entitled simply “You Are,” written by Mark Roach, is a quiet reflection on exactly who God is.

Roach, the Worship Arts Director at Morning Star Church in O’Fallon, Missouri, tells this story about how this beautiful tribute to our God came to be:

My aunt had this 88-year old baby grand piano that she needed to get out of her house to make room for some furniture—she hadn’t used it in years, and she decided to bless my wife and I with it as a gift! Within the first few days of it sitting in my living room, I sat down and was meditating on the vastness of God… as I attempted to describe God, with both scriptural reference and poetic expression, I was quickly reminded of the simplicity with which He identified Himself to Moses: “I Am.”

Roach also lists several other verses throughout the Bible that inspired him as he wrote this song:

¹⁴The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14

⁶Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

¹⁶“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”  Revelation 22:16

As I sat there that Sunday and listened to the words, I thought of how all-encompassing our God is. Really, we can’t wrap our minds around Him. To do so would limit who He is. He is everything, and more.

When I look at the lyrics to the song, these are some of the words and phrases that are used to describe our Heavenly Father:

• Holy
• Faithful
• Savior
• Friend
• All We Need
• The Answer
• The Reason “Why”
• Movement
• Stillness
• The Lord on High
• The Way
• The Truth
• The Life
• The Word Made Flesh
• The Bright Morning Star
• Glory Hallelujah
• Hope of Peace on Earth
• Alpha
• Omega
• Comfort
• Refuge
• Love
• Kindness
• Compassion
• My God
• My King
• The Words We Sing

The words cover our lives, every corner. But when each verse ends, we are left with the phrase “You Are.”

And He is.

The Worship Pastor at our church asked the choir to choose one word to meditate on prior to singing this song, any word that is used to to describe God. I think perhaps that is something that would be valuable for all of us… to choose one word and meditate. Be still. Think of how God resonates through your life in those terms. How has He shown you ‘compassion’ or ‘comfort,’ how has He been your ‘friend,’ or your ‘king.’

Everything we are, everything we have, everything that has been or will be, is because of Him.

He is.

You Are

words and music by Mark Roach

click HERE to listen to this song on youtube

You are holy, you are faithful.
You are Savior, you are friend.
You are all I’ll ever need, Lord, you are.
You are ev’ry questions’ answer,
You are ev’ry reason why,
You are moving, you are still, Lord, you are.

You are the Lord on high,
You are the way, the truth, the life.
You are the Word made flesh,
You are the bright Morning Star; you are.

You are Glory Hallelujah.
You are hope of peace on earth.
You are Alpha and Omega, you are.
You are comfort, you are refuge.
You are love personified.
You are kindness and compassion, you are.

You are the Lord on high,
You are the way, the truth, the life.
You are the Word made flesh,
You are the bright Morning Star; you are.

You are my God and my King.
You are the words that I sing.
You are the reason I make this offering.
(Repeat twice)

You are the Lord on high,
You are the way, the truth, the life.
You are the Word made flesh,
You are the bright Morning Star; you are.

You are the words that I sing.
You are.
You are my God and my King.
You are.
You are.
You are.

Everyone loves a good party, but when the party is for you, even better! You walk into a room full of people who love you and want to honor you. There are gifts, songs sung in your honor, good food. When the party ends you feel blessed, loved and special.

But what if you knew that those same people, the same ones who honored you and hoisted you on their shoulders, were going to turn around and in a matter of days want you dead?

That is the situation that Jesus faced on what we know as Palm Sunday.

Even as the crowds laid their cloaks and palm fronds on the ground under the donkey’s feet, Jesus knew they were going to turn on him.

As they shouted “Hosanna!” Jesus knew that in a matter of days they would be shouting “Crucify him!”

He knew how this week would end… in pain, agony, death, on a cross.

Yet even though he knew how it would play out, Jesus didn’t stray from the duty. In Matthew, we read how just days later Jesus asked his Father to spare him, yet he acknowledged that it was God’s will, and not his own, that must be followed:

³⁶Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. ⁴¹“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

⁴²He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

⁴³When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

⁴⁵Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Matthew 26: 31-45

As we enter this holiest of all weeks, take time to reflect on that time so many years ago. A single man who came to die… for you, for me, for all…

Recently, one of my friends posted online asking for prayer for a baby named Stellan. I followed the link to a blog, where Stellan’s mom writes daily updates on his condition. Stellan is a five-month old little boy who was never supposed to make it. While still in utero, he developed something called “Superventricular tachycardia” (SVT), a rhythm disorder of the heart that makes his little heart race for hours, days, even weeks. But the little guy’s heart settled down, and he was born healthy as could be, defying the doctors.

Until about 10 days ago. Stellan was feeling puny, and his mom took him in to get checked out. The doctor gave Stellan a nebulizer treatment, which abruptly sent him into SVT. Over the course of more than a week, little Stellan has been given a blood transfusion, fluids, gone through vomiting and diarrhea, all the while his heart racing uncontrollably.

I won’t go into all the details, because I want you to visit the blog and read for yourself (click here to visit the site)… frankly, I can’t do it justice. But I will tell you that in the past 48 hours, Stellan’s heart has been returning more often to a normal sinus rhythm.

What makes Stellan’s story compelling to me is his mom’s blog. She is a woman of faith. She calls herself MckMama (her husband is dubbed Prince Charming and her four kids are known as

Big Mac, Mcknugget, Small Fry and Stellan is Mckmuffin). In her writing she deals with the frustration and anger of a sick child, fears of what is to come, no sleep, nowhere to sleep, medical personnel that talk around her or don’t talk to her at all… on and on. She is tired, cranky, sad, weepy, you name it. But her faith never waivers. NEVER!

I have been so amazingly blessed by her strength, her ability to put a voice to what she is going through. This little midwestern mom’s blog is now regularly drawing over 200,000 readers a day. When she first thought she was going to lose Stellan, months ago when he was still in her womb, she began asking family and friends to take pictures of Stellan’s name all over… at ballgames, in fields, classrooms, church, wherever. A way to have Stellan travel the world she feared he might never know.

She called it Stellan’s Name Gallery. And photos came in. And then Stellan was born, but photos continued coming in. And now, with people all over the world praying, the names are coming in even faster. Stellan’s name has been written in the sands of the desert in Senegal. His name has appeared in front of the Eiffel Tower. A group of women have prayed for him in Ivory Coast.

Wow.

All this has calmed Mckmama, knowing that a world is praying for her son. And she hopes that once Stellan is better, she can wallpaper his room with all these pictures, so as he grows up he will see how he was loved and prayed for.

Mckmama knows that Stellan has a tough road. She is at peace with whatever God sends them. That doesn’t mean she accepts it happily. But it does mean that she trusts our creator completely.

I hope you will take time to read MyCharmingKids.com (follow this link to the site).  Look at the left of the page and click on Stellan’s Name Gallery and look at pictures from around the world. If you feel led, take a picture and send to the sight.

And say a prayer for Stellan.

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Mahatma Gandhi

We hear it all the time. Christians are hypocrites. Christians think they are better than everyone else. Christians think they have all the answers. Christians say one thing and do another.

All those statements have been true at one time or another. We can really get on our high horse. We can pontificate until the cows come home… or in our case, Jesus returns. In other words, we are human.

When the unsaved look at us, they see a mirror image of themselves. Flawed. Sinful. Imperfect. They expect more. After all, don’t we try to let others see Jesus in us? But often others are looking at the wrong thing. We, as Christians, should never claim perfection, or that we are “better” than others. We aren’t. We are saved. We are forgiven. But we alone aren’t God’s children. All people belong to Him.

Often where those who are seeking the truth err is that they expect to look at us and see Christ, they expect us to pour a saving grace upon them. But we cannot save them. What we are called to be is God’s conduit to a lost world. And we need to keep that role in our minds as we try to lead others to Christ. We need to re-orient their sight from us, to God above.

When they look at us, they see the result of a life rescued by Christ. It isn’t a life without torment, without problems, without sin. It is a life redeemed. And it is a life that overflows with God’s love.

That’s the face we need to show the world, a face of love. That is the face of God.