… is a reminder on a post-it note that reads: Praise Splendor Marvelous Deeds Power Might Gratitude. Why? Because just like you, I am prone to forget the attributes of God.
Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all peoples
Honor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Portions of Psalm 96 NRSV
You might not know that 1 Chronicles 16, when David placed the ark, is related to this psalm. He is also quoted in Psalm 105:1-15 and Psalm 106:1, 47-48.
What does this have to do with being a Christian in 2022? We don’t have a tent, no longer use an ark. What’s up then? I believe it is imperative that we continue to come into God’s presence declaring his praises. We are never to forget that he is not only worthy of our praise, but that all splendor resides with him. His marvelous deeds are not to be compared with the deeds of mere men. His power and might formed the heavens and our toenails. We are to live lives of gratitude for his mercy and grace daily extended to us.
… as he has become known to me. For years I have tried to live his practice … the practice of the presence of God. I first read it as a folder from the Upper Room. Their first copyright was 1950. The folder I own was its twenty-first printing. Brother Lawrence left no large writings of his own. What we have from the 1600s is mostly what others remember from conversations with him and a few letters. Harold Chadwick says in his extensive publication about Brother Lawrence “The Spiritual Maxims and the Letters appear to be the only writings of Brother Lawrence that we still have.”
After reading this booklet multiple times, teaching from the book published by Spire and endeavoring to live his ideas, I am still at it. Recently I was inspired to purchased the book through Audible. This wonderful app lets you buy books to listen to. What a great idea while walking this beagle in winter! So I am mining the prayers, quotes and ideas that are reminding me how simple and how simply difficult this practice is.
Years ago while teaching crochet at Hobby Lobby I met a woman named Charlene. She was amazing in her determination to crochet. She suffered several surgeries due to cancer. As soon as she would wake from anesthesia she would insist they give her the current crochet project. When she knew she was dying she asked me if I thought she was doing her Christian life correctly. She told me she talked to God all day long about everything and listened for His answers. At the time I had been trying to practice the presence of God for probably ten years. She was doing exactly what Brother Lawrence taught! What an inspiration.
Here is the story of Brother Lawrence’s conversion in 1666 from the Audible recording. “His conversion which took place when he was about 18 years old, was the result under God, of the mere sight in mid-winter of a dry and leafless tree and of the reflections it stirred respecting the change the coming spring would bring. From that time he grew imminently in the knowledge and love of God endeavoring constantly to walk as in His presence.” This being mid-winter, can you find a tree to ponder and reflect upon the changes God will bring about soon to that tree?
photo by r m dutina
He was born Nicolas Herman. He worked as a cook in a monastery kitchen for 15 years. He was not highly educated. Can you imagine learning a way to be with God constantly, sharing your thoughts and teaching others this way, and having your method be important to folks 350 some years later?
He complains much of our blindness, and cries often that we are to be pitied who content ourselves with so little. God, says he, has infinite treasure to bestow, and we take up with a little sensible devotion, which passes in a moment. Blind as we are, we hinder God and stop the current of His graces. But when He finds a soul penetrated with a lively faith, He pours into it His graces and favors plentifully; there they flow like a torrent which, after being forcibly stopped against its ordinary course, when it has found a passage, spreads itself with impetuosity and abundance.
Brother Lawrence Fourth Letter
The letter goes on to encourage us to enter into ourselves and break down the banks that hinder this flow.
“His graces and favors flow like a torrent” photo by M L Dutina
I have been trying to bring a few of his prayers to up-to-date, current English, changing Thee and Thou to our common You and Your usage. This was his prayer when he had to turn his attention to work in the kitchen. A filial trust means like a child with its parent. “That when he began his business, he said to God, with a filial trust in Him:
O my God, since You are with me, and I must now, in obedience to Your commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech You to grant me the grace to continue in Your presence; and to this end do prosper me with Your assistance, receive all my works, and possess all my affections.
Prayer before beginning work in his kitchen
One thing I especially like about his teachings is his ready recognition of his failure and then rapid moving back to the practice. “That when he had failed in his duty, he only confessed his fault, saying to God, I shall never do otherwise if You leave me to myself; it is You who must hinder my falling and mend what is amiss. That after this he gave himself no further uneasiness about it.” Simple. Can you do that?
“That he was very sensible of his faults, but not discouraged by them; that he confessed them to God, but did not plead against Him to excuse them. When he had so done, he peaceably resumed his usual practice of love and adoration.” Again, simple. Can you do that?
I was so prone to self-castigation that this simple method of recognition of my sins and faults and then rapidly returning to loving God was hard for me to accomplish. “Peaceably resumed his usual practice of love and adoration.”
One of my favorite, and likely my most quoted teachings is “That useless thoughts spoil all; that the mischief began there; but that we ought to reject them as soon as we perceived their impertinence to the matter at hand and return to our communion with God.”
Useless thoughts spoil everything and much mischief begins there.
Brother Lawrence
Yeah, buddy! SO VERY TRUE.
Rapidly return to His presence when you realize you have lapsed. Don’t waste energy on your sins; confess and peacefully go back to His presence. Discuss with God everything all day about your life. It brings Him delight. When those useless thoughts pop up, and they will, learn to recognize them. We are taught in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ Jesus. My useless thoughts are usually recognizable after a time. When I realize another one has crept into my thinking, I spurn it. Taking it captive to Jesus I see in the light of Christ the evil it could do and I reject it.
Some say that Christianity is full of “thou shalt nots.” I say if you do the things instructed in the word you will not have time for useless nonsense. Father wants a relationship with us. Are you willing to give that a try?
Look, you might as well know, this thing
is going to take endless repair: rubber bands,
crazy glue, tapioca, the square of the hypotenuse.
Nineteenth century novels. Heartstrings, sunrise:
all of these are useful. Also, feathers.
To keep it humming, sometimes you have to stand
on an incline, where everything looks possible;
on the line you drew yourself. Or in
the grocery line, making faces at a toddler
secretly, over his mother's shoulder.
You might have to pop the clutch and run
past all the evidence. Past everyone who is
laughing or praying for you. Definitely you don't
want to go directly to jail, but still, here you go,
passing time, passing strange. Don't pass this up.
In the worst of times, you will have to pass it off.
Park it and fly by the seat of your pants. With nothing
in the bank, you'll still want to take the express.
Tiptoe past the dogs of the apocalypse that are sleeping
in the shade of your future. Pay at the window.
Pass your hope like a bad check.
You might still have just enough time. To make a deposit.
What an imagination and apt description for those that refuse to give up and continue to hope, even when things look dark. “Rubber bands, crazy glue and tapioca” everything you’ve got.
Paul described hope as one of the greatest things we can have.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:11-13
Irregardless of what you may be enduring this week, this year, I urge you to hold on to hope.
And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
Matthew 8:23-27 NIV
I recently sent my friend, Kathy this icon from the Printery House, Conception Abbey. The title is “Storm on the Sea of Galilee” based on the verses in Matthew 8, Mark 4 and Luke 8. I have an 8 x 10 image of this icon on my office wall. Here is the link if you are interested in ordering one.
The Episcopal diocese of West Missouri has a page about how to pray with an icon. “Icons bring us into prayer, or conversation with God, with our eyes wide open. An ancient practice, praying with icons involves taking into our heart what the image visually communicates. Rather than focusing on what is seen, we focus on what is seen through it – the love of God expressed through God’s creatures.” https://spirit.diowestmo.org/2022/01/a-way-to-pray-icons/
Shortly after I mailed it to Kathy, the Haven Today Winter Newsletter arrived in my mailbox. It contained an article by Dan Warne called “Rest as a Daily Rhythm of Dependence.”
The idea isn’t that we shouldn’t work hard, but that we should remember that it’s okay to rest, knowing that it’s a gift from God and he will keep the world turning until sunrise.
As someone pointed out, Jesus himself modeled this for us when he slept in the boat in the storm. The disciples were frantic and scared, but the God who made the sea was taking a moment to rest his tired, human body. He had power over the storm, and because of that when we walk with Jesus, sometimes the best way to imitate our Savior and express our reliance upon him is to rest knowing he is in control.
Even the winds and waves obey Him. Oh readers, take heed to this Master of the Universe, your Savior and King. Mind his instruction and directions for you. He is Lord and knows what you need. Rest in His love and power. He cares beyond your deepest understanding.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and TO KNOW this love that SURPASSES knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17b-19
This brings to mind that prayer/poem I had only heard snippets of until recently.
Thy sea, O God, so great,
My boat so small.
It cannot be that any happy fate
Will me befall
Save as Thy goodness opens paths for me
Through the consuming vastness of the sea.
Thy winds, O God, so strong,
So slight my sail.
How could I curb and bit them on the long
And saltry trail,
Unless Thy love were mightier than the wrath
Of all the tempests that beset my path?
Thy world, O God, so fierce,
And I so frail.
Yet, though its arrows threaten oft to pierce
My fragile mail,
Cities of refuge rise where dangers cease,
Sweet silences abound, and all is peace.
- Winfred Ernest Garrison
He is able to keep us, on land or on sea with love and power beyond our comprehension. Thank the Lord we can be recipients of that love and power on our behalf without having to understand and comprehend them! Help us, Father, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to KNOW this love.
Can you imagine the tree the above stump supported? The root system must have been mighty and wide spreading! When I remember myself as young woman I am amazed how strong and full of vitality I was. I tell young people I meet, “You have no idea how strong you are!”
It is difficult when living with chronic illness to discuss comfort and discomfort. My chronic pain disorder makes it rare that I can say I am comfortable. I have noticed lately that my discomfort is rising. Last few weeks, there is more pain than usual. Headaches harder to ignore. You know how they tell you not to take Tylenol long term? Yeah, well, I take it daily, usually 4 times a day. So until I can discuss this with my doc what to do?
Usually after I wallow a bit I turn to Scripture for help. This morning I was lead to listen to parts of Ephesians which our pastor quoted in his sermon on Sunday. Pastor did not read this, but here was the verse that rang out to me this morning.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10
Left to myself I cannot write this blog. Left to my own power I cannot walk out a life with chronic illness. Hand in hand with my Savior, I can do things through His mighty power. His power, not mine. Never for one moment do I think that my power sustains me. For a time in my life I SO disliked this verse in Corinthians.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
I did not think at that time I wanted the grace as much as I wanted my own strength. Young, foolish woman. I did not realize that my weakness would increase and increase as I aged. And my strength was not worthy to be compared with that grace which He promises would flourish in my weakness.
So here I am at the keyboard again to address some things that I have learned in living with Chronic illness. From my flood of ideas …
Fears can lose some power if you name them. So name them, even if it is difficult to use your hands right now. On the iPhone the notes app (looks like paper pad with yellow bar on top) the app has a microphone. You can dictate your list. The app will even create a numbered list. It takes courage to face these things, but you can do this! Better than wasting energy in dreading. Face this moment with courage. Then use your list as a
Much of my suffering has stemmed from realizing there is something I used to do and can no longer accomplish. Temporarily removed or permanently these things cause a very real form of grief. Grief needs to be felt and then let out. So I name it. Perhaps record all the things I loved about that activity. And then slowly take a step towards current reality. And look at the new circumstances squarely. What can I do even with limitations? How might that be tolerable? (Usually for me the first thing is to quit bitchin’ about distaste.) I had to learn that acceptance does not equal approval. Someone said,’Wishin’ comes easy. Change don’t.”
Acceptance ≠ Approval
What can I value about myself, right here and right now, regardless of current abilities? There is no shame allowed in illness. None of us sets out to be sick. No sane child says, “I want to be crippled with physical limitations when I grow up.” We do not plan for this and many of us kick against the change in fortune instead of learning how to accommodate our own needs. Be gentle with yourself.
We have all seen images of devastation on television be it from landslides, hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis or storms of wind, ice, snow, sand, torrential rain. Pick your image. When people ask, “How are you?” – and they will one thousand times – decide your answer. Few sincerely want to know. I have been tempted to say, “I’m okay except for my recent tsunami!” Being able to describe your experience with an image is helpful for yourself, though perhaps not others. Actually, it works nicely to say, “I am well.” Even if feeling like a train wreck physically, I am usually well in my center point with Christ. Looks are deceiving. Many are suffering all around you.
None of us is getting out of here alive, unless of course the Lord comes this week. It is just how we go that seems to matter at the end. Will you be kicking and screaming or slipping into the arms of Jesus and His holy angels with a smile on your face? Not a false face, but one of contentment.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
1 Timothy 6:6-7
Godliness with contentment, great gain. Acceptance ≠ Approval. There is a television show entitled “This is Us.” I pray that your version of the program will be filled with contentment, peace and acceptance of your life as it is now. Cling to hope.
The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. The most you can do is live inside that hope, running down its hallways, touching the walls on both sides.
Tree roots grow down into the soil and draw water and nutrients to the trunk, branches, twigs and leaves. Our roots must go deep into the Kingdom and draw similar nutrients to our being. This song helps elaborate that for me.
Years ago I enjoyed a CD by Michael Card and John Michael Talbot. Recently two songs from that collection have come to my attention. And yep, I cannot quit humming them. They roll around in my spirit and bring me joy and encouragement. One of those is called “Live This Mystery.” I hope you, too, are able to LIVE this mystery. Here are lyrics from LyricsFreak (not exactly in the order they are sung) and also the recording for your enjoyment and encouragement.
When I consider the secret of the One
Who dwells in me
That there is truly a presence
In the heart for all who believe
To listen to a silent call
The quiet hunger to give it all
As the river seeks to be
Forgotten in the sea
My life is hidden in Thee
I must live this mystery
Like a moth around the flame
Drawn to the light
And to the pain
Since my life is hid in Thee
I must live this mystery
In Him we live, in Him we move
In Him all things are made new
The mystery of life in Christ
Is Christ can live in you
I hear the silence , it's clamoring
There is only Christ, He is everything
In the language of the soul
It's burning like a coal
There's a voice that is saying
"You can be whole"
A life where all is new
Of timeless moments waits for you
With the heart alone you see
You must live this mystery
Practicing the discipline my pastor suggested, as I listed the five things I am grateful for one morning, suddenly all this came to me. Hope you enjoy it.
photo by r m dutina
#5. Cloud and mist fabric drawn across the moon
all that light originated from the sun?
Gray then white then yellow, clot of black then blue
For my attention and entertainment? No, a lesson more true
"I desire truth in your inward parts
To reflect My glory you must be clean, steady, sure
Certain of My love for all
Wavering not from circumstances
Leaning into My light"
Clouds move off and I can barely look away
The brightness of Your Glory my delight
Clouds clear and brilliance increases
I watch as moon orbits incrementally behind the tree
I want to move the furniture
Lie here looking out the window
Yet even now the sun is rising and moon will seem to go
Scour my being Father that I might reflect
Your brilliant glory, certain and true.
"Beware lest feeding feral cats from pity
You actually nourish marauding coyotes
Dimming the beauty of your intention
Encouraging the destruction of your very soul"
You parted the veil from before my eyes
Help me to keep Your glory in my remembrance forever.
Sun rises higher
Brilliant white moon beckons
Cream colored clouds move in thickly
My soul knows what it witnessed
Your power glows across the universe
Regardless of my momentary ability to see.
Enemies of my soul say, "Nothing to see here. Move along."
My heart ever held in Your nail scarred hand
I spend my life to declare Your glory.
I am always amazed when this stuff comes to me. Coyotes, like the prowling lion seeking whom he may devour? We have coyotes in this neighborhood. A pack prowls the street every morning just before dawn. Likely other times, too. I was giving Lucky her last outdoor stroll the other night and she noticed something at the end of the street. I could not see a thing. She would not take her eyes off the end of the street. She even growled which is atypical of her!
photo by r m dutina
You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Psalm 51:6 NRSV
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith
1 Peter 5:8-9 NIV
Yes, Lord, I will have the courage to share. Bless the readers I pray.
Remember my brainstorm of things I might share with my friend? Here are a few more.
Have you ever deliberately turned to face the Lord? Once on retreat I determined to hold His hand and stay with Him. It was my practice for a few hours and changed me forever. We are invited by His Spirit to do these things every day.
For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
Isaiah 41:13 NIV
Turn to face the Lord. Determine to stay with Him. Hold His hand.
One of his ways of bringing us back to the present moment is in Chapter 42, page 173. “Notice You’re All Right Right Now.” My summary along with other methods I have learned follows. Look at this present moment. Notice you have been breathing through all these health changes. Breathe now. Intentionally. Breathe again, here in this moment. Keep breathing. Are you still there, present in this moment? If you drifted away come back. Kindly be right here, now. This is a practice that can increase your capacity for mindfulness. There have been many, many studies that prove the health benefits of learning mindfulness.
I wrote a poem once about my experience when I was diagnosed with chronic illness. The refrain is, “Pray that I don’t panic. Pray I can be still. Pray that I can find God in the midst of being ill.” It is extremely difficult to focus on ANYTHING when we do not feel good. Mindfulness practice can help us. Brother Lawrence taught we are to speak to God all day long about everything. That is easier to accomplish if you are not panicked, distracted, racing about with catastrophizing, etc. (“Catastrophizing is a cognitive distortion that prompts people to jump to the worst possible conclusion, usually with very limited information or objective reason to despair.”)
In his book “Man’s Search for Meaning” Viktor Frankl wrote,”Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Frankl suffered with many others in a Nazi prison camp. The man knows suffering. We get to choose our attitudes towards what is going on with our health, or any other situation.
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.
Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
I cannot change the multiple diagnoses of chronic health conditions that I have. I can however determine to challenge myself to find ways to cope and reasons to live on, preferably with joy and gladness.
I have a friend who was recently stunned by bad news medically. A serious diagnosis that has no cure. I have tried to encourage and walk with her through a months-long process of getting to this point. The diagnosis is not even certain as it is one of those autoimmune things that defies diagnosis by mimicking so many other illnesses. So what can I offer her next?
That night as I was preparing for bed and praying for her I suddenly remembered when I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia many years ago. At that time there was much less known about Fibro and Bob and I were pretty much on our own to figure it out. I read everything I could. I tried to learn about this mystery illness. First, however, I had to cope with the weeks and months of getting back up on my feet again. We were a family of four with 2 young children and one husband working full time and often on call. I needed to function!
I hope to spend some time the next couple weeks blogging about what I discovered that helped me during those dark days. The night she shared the news with me when I got in bed to read on my iPad there came a flood of coping ideas. I typed with one finger until I thought I might need to get up and write at my desk!
One thing my friend had shared was about a neighbor couple who both got Covid after being exposed to extended family at Christmas. Neighbor woman is recovering. He was hospitalized. He finally was released from the hospital and two days later he died at home. When you have your own terrible news, the grief of others can put you in a tailspin. Where your heart would have been empathetic before, now their dark and dismal splashes over into your dark and dismal. Suddenly it can all be too much to take. From similar experiences, I learned to try to guard my heart.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23 NIV
Send a sympathy card, but be certain to keep your matters from flowing into the streams of others. Grief can come with illness. I will write on that another day.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:8-9 NIV
Another struggle is when the “What if’s” and “If onlys” try to take over. Fretting and worry over the future and the past are like a lioness with her kill. You do not want to get in her way! Some call it “stinkin’ thinkin.” I experienced it with things like, “What if I cannot continue to raise my children?” “How can I be a good wife to Bob if I am weak and in bed all the time?” “What if pain takes over my life?” We are told to be alert and sober minded, aware of our thoughts.
The New Testament has advice on that. If you will do this it will save you from untold trouble.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV
Rather than swirl in a centrifuge of negative thoughts trying to push them down and forget them, I eventually found it helpful to list those thoughts. To examine them in the Light of Christ. It takes effort to become aware of your thoughts. Especially in this society that does not value self-examination. No one knows my thoughts except me and God. He is omniscient. “Nothing is hidden from Him with whom we have to do.”
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:13 NIV
Uncovering my negative thoughts takes much power from them. Learning how they make me feel is powerful, too. When I start getting ‘that way’ I now can often recognize where the discomfort is coming from and put a stop to it. I have to do the work. God enables me but does not accomplish it for me. I do not serve a fairy godmother who will whisk away every negative thing from me.
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
Psalm 105:4 NIV
In the struggle after a shock knocks you down, that struggle to get your feet under yourself again, I cannot stress how important it is to turn and face the Lord. Determine to stay with Him, come what may. Hold His hand.
Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
Psalm 73:23 NIV
Guard your heart. Take your thoughts captive to Christ. Turn and face the Lord. Hold onto His hand. Does that seem like too much to do? The ideas can be put on a 3 x 5 card and practiced when you have nothing else pressing. Over time, with practice they are certain to keep you from getting worse mentally in the midst of bad news.
I was listening to this song and this video was on. I was stunned. Had to sit down and watch it twice! The sculptor is Chapman Hamborg. When he finishes the clay sculpture my thought was “Perfect!” And then he goes on to covering it and adding what looks like plaster cast material. In side I was going, “Oh no!” On his blog he talks about this video. Then I hope you will watch it for yourself. Maybe twice!!
“Bethel Church and the School of Ministry have both played a big part in my life. My two older brothers and my wife have all attended the ministry school. Since the age of fourteen I have been making trips to Redding to visit Bethel. What an incredible place! I have never seen so many people in one room overflowing with love and passion for Jesus. Spending time in that environment always had a profound impact on my family and myself.
“Bethel Music has played an equally big part in my life. I really connect with their heart for worship: authentic, raw and passionate. I have had countless moments connecting with God through their music, whether it is during a church service, or on my iPod dancing through fields. Their music leads me out of whatever funk I am in and into the presence of Jesus to have fun with Him. I am always listening to music as I draw, paint or sculpt, and I find worship most inspiring to listen to while creating. As God is the ultimate artist I feel the most creative when I am connected to Him.
“With all that to say, you can imagine when I was asked to sculpt Bethel Music’s next album cover, how overjoyed I was! I was beyond excited to collaborate with Bethel Music in this way, and felt overwhelmed with God’s love for me. It felt like He was telling me ‘”I choose you, Chapman.”
I felt as if I could see the talent and inspiration in his eyes. Wow! Can barely imagine what it would be like to have his skill to create in 3-D.
Give God all of your heart and see what comes forth!
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 