Megan's prayer: Rich Mullins' "That Where I Am, There You..."

In the world you will have trouble…
The world will show you hatred…

Not the most reassuring or friendly thoughts. A world full of “trouble” and “hatred?” As horrible as it sounds, I believe that it is sometimes true. Because we are not perfect humans, because we make mistakes, because of countless reasons – the world is not a perfect place. Luckily, as the song shows, we still have hope.

…but I leave you my peace.
…the Spirit show you truth.

In this imperfect place, God sends his peace and sends the Spirit to show us truth. He is doing all that he can to make the world better, to make the world a place where we can find love. It’s sad to think of how long it took me to even recognize that, or to think of those who still haven’t recognized that. We are here because of God. We find peace, love, because of God. God is everything.

Chris' prayer: Rich Mullins' "That Where I Am, There You..."

Ah, Rich Mullins. One of my favorite Christian artists and a fascinating man, someone who was always searching for a clearer and clearer truth. That Where I Am, There You... is a fantastic song. This line is my favorite:

If I go prepare a place for you, I will come back again

I love the assurance that the second half of the line provides. I picture a father, crouching down to his child, looking him square in the eyes, holding the child's hands, and repeating until his son or daughter understands. "I will be right back. I'll be right back for you. Okay?" That is the assurance we are getting from our Lord in today's song. The assurance that He'll be back for us, that we have not been abandoned.

The first half of the line has tremendous importance, though. I suppose that God, being God, didn't really have to leave us at all. I'm sure that He could have shaken His hands about, creating the place that was prepared for us while He was right here on Earth. However, that is not how it happened. Instead, we were left while He went to prepare our place in Heaven.

Why, exactly?

I get the feeling that, rather than being "left," we were trusted. Trusted with an unbelievable task: the task of building the Kingdom of God right here on Earth. God could have done all of this Himself, but instead, He chose to trust us to love one another, to spread the good news of the Gospels, to provide compassion and hope to our brothers and sisters.

It's a heavy assignment. Fortunately, He has told us that we won't have to go about it alone forever. He'll be right back for us.


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Erinnicole's Prayer: Rich Mullins' "That Where I Am, There You Are"

Remember you did not choose me, no I have chosen you
The world will show you hatred, the Spirit show you truth

In the first line of this song, when he said "i am going to prepare a place", i immediately thought 'this song is about death' but as he continuing singing, i caught on that it was Jesus speaking and thought to myself, 'how ironic, its actually about The Life!' Having confidence that God chose me gives me great comfort and joy in knowing that someone wants me to belong to them. i like feeling like i belong to someone because it makes me feel found, instead of feeling very lost and alone. The second line backs up my joy because to me, it says ' I know that the world is hard, but you are worth it to Me that I have chosen you so that I may improve your life through my spirit'. that makes me feel so loved! i've been really confident ever since i was little, so seeing my own worth was never a problem for me. but sometimes (like a little bit lately) i feel like other people can't see my worth and that hurts me because i know its there but at times i lose strength and feel like if many people can't see it, maybe it actually isn't. but God telling me through this song that i am worth it to Him means the world to me, that's the only reassurance i need to know that i have value and that i am cared for and loved.

Megan's prayer: Shane and Shane's "Lord, I Give You My Heart"

This song is filled with confidence. It speaks of a faith life where there is no confusion, there is no concern, there is no worry. Everything is for God. Every song, every moment, every breath – it is for God.

Confidence, especially in my faith life, is something that I lack. I know that I have that desire, that want, for more… but I’m never sure if I’m going about it the right way.

Every breath that I take
Every moment I’m awake

I would love if that was true in my life. I would love to commit myself fully to God in that way. I’m not really sure what is holding me back. Maybe it is being afraid I am doing it wrong, or just being worried about something unknown. There is something holding me back. Hopefully I can figure out what that is, and try to work through it.

Chris' Prayer: Shane and Shane's "Lord, I Give You My Heart"

I feel like there is an ocean between the first line of the song and the rest. I've been on one shore, and, in fact, make my home on one shore. I venture over to the other only once every so often, just long enough to play the role of tourist and see why it is such a great place. But before getting too comfortable, it seems like I'm being called back home to the shore where the first line of the song resides.

This is my desire, to honor You

I do! I desire to honor my God. I desire to do all of the things the rest of the song talks about, but alas, they are 1,000 miles away on a distant shore. Worship Him with all of my heart? Adore only what is from Him? Give Him my heart and my soul? To live for Him alone? Yeah, I've been there long enough to take some really neat pictures and maybe even purchase a T-shirt or knick knack. But to actually reside on that shore? To make my home there?

I hope to...someday. It's just the leaving everything behind, on the other shore, that scares me.


Lyrics

Erinnicole's Prayer: Shane and Shane's "Lord I Give You My Heart"

Lord have Your way in me

Each day, my prayer is for people to look at me and not see the actual me at all - i want to be so holy and such an example of God that they will see Jesus. I know that God has a plan for me and i want to be able to exercise my willingness to execute that plan willingly. I have seen God work through people, in big and small ways, and i would love to be a tool of God's Hand! I love helping people so why not credit it to the right Person? :)

Megan's prayer: Falling Up's "Escalates"

Christmas day. Time with family. Time with friends. Time spent playing games, eating, opening presents, just having a great time. But despite all the joy that I found with family this year, my favorite moment today was in the car by myself, listening to “Escalates,” and watching a beautiful sunset.

These past few days, this past week, have been incredible and extremely busy. I have loved all of the family time, but for the first time today I was able to just be by myself for awhile, just reflecting on how blessed I am in my life. It wasn’t until then that I could truly see just how perfect life is.

This is everything that I wanted.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Falling Up's "Escalates"

This is everything that I wanted

I know that i kind of took this out of the context of the song, but this jumped out at me right away. I am quite the optimist and i love finding the silver lining. So it's safe to say that the majority of the time, i am happy. But the only time i've ever in my life expirienced joy was anytime i spend time with the Lord. I've given that so much consideration, because i have been very happy a lot of my life but the feeling during Adoration and retreats and other things of the like, i have only been able to describe as purely joyful. it is the most amazing emotion to feel. Especially today, as Christ's birthday, i am spending the day with my family, started with Mass and a quick birthday song to Jesus :) ...this is everything i want in life; pure joy in the lord! Merry Christmas!

Marie's Prayer: Falling Up's "Escalates"

I can’t find it but maybe I’ll cope

Sometimes I just want to cope with the way I am and everything. I realize that you'll get nowhere if you just cope. You have to make things right for you. You need God and you can't just cope without Him. So I will look harder for Him everywhere.

Chris' Prayer: Falling Up's "Escalates"

Can you see what I felt when I told you?

I was asked this question recently. My girlfriend was sharing something that she wasn't particularly happy about, but I wasn't understanding what she was saying at all. I just couldn't see her point of view. I could tell from the sound of her voice that it was very, very frustrating for her, and it was frustrating for me, too. She was opening up to me, trying to draw closer to me, and there was this disconnect that was preventing that from occurring.

This feeling is not isolated to human relationships either. I feel that the question above, and a similar one– Can you see what I felt when I did that?– is one that we want to ask God a lot. Sometimes we sin despite trying to do what is right. Often times, our sins come out of the need to be loved, accepted, cherished. We may sleep with our significant other, or that guy/girl at the party, thinking that in doing so, they will love us. We might put another person down in order to be accepted by a larger group. We might lie about something that happened, so that we might be cherished by another person. Despite our best efforts to be Christian, to receive God's Love, we find ourselves sinning. We turn to our God asking, "Can you see what I felt when I did that?" hoping that He will understand.

Hopefully, that disconnect I spoke of earlier will not occur, and instead, by asking this question, we will feel heard, understood, accepted, loved, and cherished by our God.



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Chris' prayer: Jars of Clay's "Needful Hands"

I feel your hands around my heart

As men and women, we have an innate need to be touched. We crave, subconsciously, and sometimes even consciously, human touch.

I was reading Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, a book on how to create a successful youth ministry program, a few weeks ago, and one of the points the author, Doug Fields, made was to be sure to physically touch each youth every time you see them. This could be through a hug, a handshake, a high five, a pat on the shoulder, anything. It could be the only positive touch they have all week, he suggested.

A simple touch, even the briefest of contacts as in a high five, changes something inside of us. It connects us with those around us in a way that doesn't even make sense. Such a small gesture provides much too powerful a result to be logical.

How much greater is the result, then, when we allow God to touch us? What could change inside of us if we allowed ourselves to feel God's hands around our hearts?

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Marie's Prayer: Jars of Clay's "Needful Hands"

Staring up in awesome wonder

I find myself today looking at my life and all of the good things this past year has brought. Maybe I've been focusing on all the negative lately, but that's going to change. I realize how much God has given me, especially the day before He gave me His only son. How awesome is that? It's amazing that someone could think that much of me that He would try to save me from sin. Especially since I bring sin upon myself. God has faith in me, enough to save me. AWESOME.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Jars of Clay's "Needful Hands"

I'm reaching up a needful hand

Who amongst us truly isn't reaching up a needful hand? We all need something, none of us (by human nature) are ever satisfied. God can fill the empty spot in our hearts. Thinking about all of the other people that need as much, and far more, than i makes me grateful that we are smack dab in the middle of the season of giving. maybe with this newfound awareness, i (or we?) can help a little more so that there can be less needful hands and more helpful ones.

Megan's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Needful Hands"

Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Jesus. God’s son. Sent to the Earth to share God’s love, to proclaim the Good News, to sing God’s song. Today’s song includes a beautiful prayer:

Sing through me.

God is present in all of us. He is inside, ready to use us as a vessel to share his love, ready to use us to sing his song and share his Good News. All we have to do is to break down the walls inside of us to let God show through. Only problem is, this is easier said than done.

I pray that God continues to write these songs of hope, songs of love, songs of joy on my heart so that I can be reminded of how important it is to share those with the world and truly let God sing through me.

Marie's Prayer: Superchick's "I Belong to You"

And when life becomes something just to get through
That's when I'm glad that I belong to you

This part is really amazing because sometimes everyone feels like they're just getting through life. That's how I feel lately and I really want to live. So I'm glad to just belong to Jesus.

Chris' prayer: Superchick's "I Belong to You"

Hope.

Already, just seven days in, I have heard this word over and over in the different songs. It is a word that has been resting on my heart, and one that I am meant to hear, to investigate, to understand.

In this song, Tricia Brock speaks of a lack of hope and the weakness that accompanies it. Without hope, we are broken, feeble beings, and it is through this hopelessness that we are reminded of the need we all have to belong.

And who better to belong to than the one who will never let us down? That is my wishlist this holiday season– to find hope in the One who strengthens me, the One who will never let me down.


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Megan's prayer: Superchick's "I Belong to You"

So many times I find myself wishing away my days. Either something happened during the day to make it “bad” so I just want it to be over and have a fresh start the next day, or maybe I am looking forward to something so much that I wish away the days in between now and then. Either way, today’s song includes a line that seems to fit my feelings exactly during those types of days.

Life becomes something just to get through.

In reality, this is a horrible way to look at life. Regardless of how much stress a certain day is filled with, it is still a gift. Regardless of how much I am looking forward to something a certain number of days away, each day in between is still a gift. By seeing everyday as a gift from God, a chance to make a difference in the world, an opportunity to live in the moment and not be living for the future, I think life would be much more enjoyable.

Erinnicole's Prayer: Superchick's "I Belong to You"

i love belonging to Someone! especially Someone with all of the love and kindness in the universe. can't get much better than that, i do believe.

Sometimes life brings more pain than we can bare alone

I am a very compassionate person. because of this, people usually come to me with their problems because i love helping. my friends and people i care about have a really wide variety of things they struggle with on a day to day basis and sometimes it gets extremely overwhelming for me. mostly because all of their struggles are things that i cannot fix. my only purpose is to listen and pray for them. but all of their pain plus the own struggles in my life are things i can definitely not bare alone. It is totally comforting to know that i belong to someone that lets me know that i never have to bare anything alone. God is good!

Erinnicole's Prayer: Falling Up's "Places"

This is where my heart it longs to be

Hurting You, Needing You

This is exactly where my heart is. It hurts because I need God. i hate that i let so many things in my life come in the way of my relationship with God. I was actually thinking about this a lot yesterday because i was trying to come up with some things for REAP talks and i was just generally thinking about picking my friends over Jesus. the argument i put to it was, "i dont know why i do that, because i can always hang out with my friends the next weekend or day so why cant i spend time with Jesus?" but then the other side of me replied, "well hey erin, doesn't jesus always want to spend time with you? won't he always be waiting his turn? it isnt like he would desert you after a few ditches like your 'friends' would, right?" it was kind of a weird thought and my solution was this: why can't i just bring Jesus with me? i understand that it is difficult but that will be my newest personal prayer intention because i know for certain that if i bring God back into my life 100% like He always has been, then all of the other things will fall into place.....o that was weird...this song was "falling up's places"...falling up into place....i adore wordplay.

Marie's Prayer: Falling Up's "Places"

This is where I'm always gonna be
Suffering

I feel like I need to get out of this place that I'm in. Just waiting and suffering. I need to feel other things besides hurt. I'm going to look on the brighter side of things and wait out the bad. They say there's a calm before the storm, but I think there's also a calm after. I just need to ride this out.