Reve Du Noel - Michael W Smith

Do you have a song that it "isn't Christmas until I hear this song"? I definitely do. It's from an old Christian Christmas collection album I got as a young teen - probably one of the first CDs I actually owned... I'm sure I got it from some music club membership where I forgot to send the "don't send this cd" form back - but this one ended up being the Christmas album for me. This is the first song off that album, and still to this day, I will listen to it immediately following Thanksgiving - because it means it's "Christmas season"!

Sing we now of Christmas
Sing we all Noel
Of our Lord and Savior
We the tidings tell

May our Christmas celebrations tell the news of Christ our Lord and Savior's birth!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Jesse Jorgensen

Thanks to Jesse for sharing his music with us. This is not my favorite Christmas song, but I love the arrangement he did here mixing in "bring us joy" - something I need in abundance! A good reminder today. Chose joy!

Scars - I Am They

A friend sent me this song months ago now. I figure the fact that it hasn't really stopped wrecking me yet is probably a good sign.

Some people (me included) have physical scars that show how far they have come. Others, have emotional scars that they can "see."

As I think about the line in the first verse "Wouldn't trade it for anything, 'Cause my brokenness brought me to You, And these wounds are stories You'll use" I realize that I can spend a lot of days wondering what life would be like without those scars, but that they really are a part of me, and are the things that brought me to Jesus.

I remember my friend Aerika looking at my scars one night and saying "Wendy, God has a plan to use those..." and doubting. My faith was in a rough spot, I was really down on myself. I didn't think God could possibly use someone as broken as me. But truly, without those scars I wouldn't know God's heart. It has allowed me a glimpse into His love for me. And really - it's just an amazing reminder of how His scars have changed my life as well.

I can see, I can see
How You delivered me
In Your hands, in Your feet
I found my victory
I can see, I can see
How You delivered me
In Your hands, in Your feet
I found my victory

I'm thankful for Your scars
Cause without them I wouldn't know Your heart
And with my life I'll tell of who You are
So forever I am thankful

O Holy Night - Josh Groban

Probably my favorite of the traditional Christmas songs is O Holy Night.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise His holy name
Christ is the Lord!
Let ever ever praise Thee

Let us remember that we are praising GOD this Christmas, with all that we do!

I Believe - Natalie Grant

I know Wendy's Weekly Words is a Wednesday thing (because it illiterates so well!) But there aren't enough Wednesdays to cover all the awesome Christmas music! So... Bonus posts it is!

Today's song is probably one of my all time favorite Christmas songs... I love the way it tells the story of Christmas while foreshadowing Easter. I love the truth in the chorus:
I believe
The Wiseman saw
The baby boy the angels
Called the son of God
Heaven's child
The great I am
Born to take away my sins
Through nailed pierced hands
Emmanuel has come
I believe

Be Thou My Vision - Ascend the Hill

Be Thou My Vision has been one of my favorite hymns for a really really long time. "Thou my best thought by day or by night" is a constant reminder to me to keep my eyes and thoughts fixed on Jesus, because those thoughts are the best.

The Ascend the Hill version adds an interesting new chorus:
Oh God be my everything
By my delight
Be Jesus my savior
My soul magnified
My Jesus, you satisfy

What a reminder that God is our everything, that only He can satisfy. This is the cry of my heart today... God, by my everything, be my delight... Help me to delight in You today, and everyday!

I Shall Not Want - Audrey Assad

There's a lot I want to say about this song, but not enough words in me to say it. So I'm going to let the words speak for themselves:

From the love of my own comfort
From the fear of having nothing
From a life of worldly passions
Deliver me O God

From the need to be understood
And from a need to be accepted
From the fear of being lonely
Deliver me O God
Deliver me O God

And I shall not want
No I shall not want
When I taste Your goodness
I shall not want
When I taste Your goodness
I shall not want

From the fear of serving others
Oh and from the fear of death or trial
And from the fear of humility
Deliver me O God
Yes deliver me O God

Come Like the Wind (revisited)

I posted this song a few weeks ago, because it hit me hard then. As I process through the horror that my friends in Chico and Paradise have watched and experienced in the last week, this song has struck me differently, and I wanted to try to sum that up.

 In this song we ask God to "Come like the wind, come like a fire, burn in our hearts, our one desire, we want to you know you God, we want to know you God."

 And I think I realized this week how DESTRUCTIVE fire can be. I think when I first sing this song, I thought "yaay, God - come burn a passion in me" but really, that also means "burn up all the ugliness that is inside of me"... burn to the GROUND my desires, my sin, anything that isn't God. That all that is left is wanting to know and be known by God. Fire fueled by wind leaves nothing behind. It tears through and leaves a trail of ashes, a vacancy.

 And I wonder - maybe that's the point. That God can burn everything up that we might be completely dependent on Him. Knowing Him. Being known by Him. And that while we still have all our "stuff" - our coping mechanisms, our sins, our desires... we're less dependent on Him.

So these words have new meaning to me today... new images of what they could look like are seared into my brain by the pictures I have seen of ashes where homes used to be. Prayers that God would bring beauty from the ashes, that we would depend on Him, that we would know and be known by Him.

Come Lord. Come. 

Boldly I Approach - Rend Collective

Today I have had this song firmly stuck in my head. But I love the meaning... because of what Jesus has done we can boldly approach the throne of God with confidence that our past is erased, that we are blameless. By grace we are allowed to stand in God's presence.

Allow yourself to be pulled into His arms by his nail-scarred hands!