Over All I Know - Vertical Worship

I'm having one of those days. You know the type. The days where you are just that aware of how little you know. Of how desperately you need Jesus. Where you are reminded that you are weak. 

It's not like any one specific thing has happened today. Today's actually been a pretty "good" day. I got to shed some past insight on how something was done, and speak into the future of that project - that it could go in a different direction completely if people want it to. The kids are pretty much getting along, in a way that makes me remember how very blessed I am. People have been emailing and texting very nice, supportive, prayerful things. I got my grades posted, correctly, before they were due. I feel like I am doing compassionate things to help kids have "no harm done" after this wacky wacky trimester. And yet...

Yet...

There is still this niggling naggling feeling. The reminder that on my own I am nothing. The reminder that without Jesus it could all come crashing down. That HE is the one that calms the storms. That HE is the one who controls sickness. That HE is the one who tells fear it has no place, it can't win.

And while that feeling can sometimes feel a lot like unease, what a freeing reminder that can be!

You are the one above it all

I stand in awe, 

You're the God over all I know

Guess what friends? We don't have to know it all!! We don't have to be the solution to everything. He already is. Lean in and listen. Believe it. Stand in awe. And listen.

You tell mountains they must fall and they fall

You tell oceans to be still and they're calm

You tell sickness it must leave and it's gone

In my weakness God I know You are strong

You are the One above it all, I stand in awe

You're the God over all I know

No higher name, no greater throne, You stand alone

You're the God over all I know

Over all I know

You tell broken things be healed and they're whole

You tell fear it has no place it must go

You tell death it has no chance, it won't win

And if You are for me, God, what can come against?

You are the One above it all, I stand in awe

You're the God over all I know

No higher name, no greater throne, You stand alone

You're the God over all I know

You are the One above it all, I stand in awe

You're the God over all I know

No higher name, no greater throne, You stand alone

You're the God over all I know

I believe it Lord, I have seen it

I believe it, I have seen it, My God is over all

I believe it, I have seen it, My God is over all, oh yes, yes

I believe it, I have seen it, My God is over all

I believe it, I have seen it, My God is over all

You are, You are the One above it all, I stand in awe

You're the God over all I know

No higher name, no greater throne, You stand alone

You're the God over all I know

You are the One above it all, I stand in awe

You're the God over all I know

No higher name, no greater throne, You stand alone

You're the God over all I know

Over all

You're over all

That I know

You're in control

I believe it, I receive it, My God is over all, oh yes he is

I believe it, I receive it, My God is over all

And I believe it, I receive it, My God is over all

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jess Cates / Jason Ingram / Andi Rozier

Over All I Know lyrics © So Essential Tunes, All Essential Music

Original Recording:

Where's Your Goodness - Wendy Droke

Over a year ago Josh spoke on Good Friday this message. It was a message he had written before the service, and in getting ready to lead the worship for that service, I spent a lot of time with the written out message notes for the service. Somewhere in there I started writing this song. Much of the words from this song come from that message - about grieving well. I wrote the song, made a rough recording so I wouldn't forget it, and then it sort of went into the "someday maybe I'll finish it" pile.

But this week I pulled it back out, as I wrestled with grief. As I wrestle with senseless death. As I wrestle with things not being what I thought they would be. As I struggle through searching for the truth. As I lie awake, in the middle of the night, hope lost, feeling like the sun won't rise. When darkness wins and the walls cave in. What do we hold on tight to?

That His goodness feels better in the hard times, His light shines brighter in the darkness.

As Josh says, "fast forwarding cheats us from the lessons that God wants to teach us in the darkness." Give his podcast a listen (http://www.easthillsalliance.org/podcast/2019/4/20/good-friday-meditation-pastor-josh-droke) and then listen to this song. Maybe it can help you find some peace in the darkness.

Friends, don't run away from grief. Lean in, process it. Grieve the things you have lost, the dreams that aren't as you thought they would be. And then look for the light shining in the darkness.

Senseless death, innocent life lost

Enough's Enough

Where's your goodness and light

Sweep aside the signs of grief and loss

Just be tough

Where's your goodness and light

Good faith, no room for doubt or hurt

Don't show the pain

Where's your goodness and light?

Your goodness feels better in the hard times

Your light shines brighter in the darkness

Your goodness feels better in the hard times

Your light shines brighter in the darkness

The same Lord, who wept for Lazarus

He weeps with you

There's Your goodness and light

The same God who thundered at His death

He waits with you

There's Your goodness and light

The same Christ, went to His end for you

Holds you, at your end

There's Your goodness and light

Your goodness feels better in the hard times

Your light shines brighter in the darkness

Your goodness feels better in the hard times

Your light shines brighter in the darkness

When I lie awake in the middle of the night

My hope is lost and the sun won't rise

The darkness wins and the walls cave in

I will hold on tight.

To Your goodness that feels better in the hard times

To Your light that shines brighter in the darkness

Your goodness feels better in the hard times

Your light shines brighter in the darkness

In the Hands of the Potter - Casting Crowns

Are we shape-able?

I don't know a ton about ceramics and the art of making awesome clay things. When I was young, in an effort to keep me from summer boredom I think, my parents signed me up for a couple of pottery classes. They were a lot of fun, although I was honestly terrible at it. What I envisioned in my head rarely became a reality. But I do remember some of the basics.

Clay is an amazing material. Too wet, it becomes slippery, it won't hold its shape, it's not sturdy. Any adjustment causes the pottery you were making to completely lose its form. Too dry and it becomes brittle, breaking easily. Adjustments are no longer possible if you want to keep the pot whole. At either end of the spectrum it can't be formed into something new, either because it won't bend that way, or because it won't stay that way. 

And this morning it got me thinking... where am I on that spectrum? Am I so fluid that when someone pushes on me I flop over? Am I too rigid, to where I can't be reshaped or reformed? I find in my life that I hesitate to engage with people on either end of this spectrum. People who will not push back, won't stay true to their own convictions, who will simply cave to whatever pushes on them are difficult to talk to, for fear of something you say causing them to swing too far. People who are so firm that there is no room for conversation are difficult to talk to, for fear of hitting up against something that will cause them to shut down, or break. 

So how are you doing in the area of spiritual water saturation? Are you diluted to the point of slopping every where when God tries to make a course correction? Are you so dry that you will break if God asks something of you? 

I'm all alone with my questions, I'm dry and cracked open, and I thirst for You

I remember a conversation with our ceramics teacher at school. What do you do with the dried out clay? Is it garbage? No, she said. Break it up, soak it in water, and it will turn back into clay that can be used. I know from experience that the same is true with wet clay. Let it sit and it will eventually dry out enough to be usable. 

Where are you on this spectrum? In the Hands of the Potter, how useful are you? Do you need to be left in the sun (Son?) to dry out, to remove some of the water of the world, so that God can shape and use you to make a beautiful creation useful to Him? Or, do you need to be broken up, have some Holy water poured over you, and be worked until you are ready to be shaped? 

Friends, both of these are painful processes. But, the other side will be so worth it. Lord, make me shape-able by your master Hands. When my world is breaking me, Your love is shaping me, and now the enemy is afraid of what You're making me.

And as I fall apart

Come flood this desert heart

Fall like the rain, Living Water

And I know Your way is best

Lord, help me find my rest

And I'll be the clay

In the Hands of the Potter

I still remember when I heard You call me by name

I'd follow You anywhere, knew I could trust You in anything

But now sorrow beats down on me, waiting for You to come through

I'm all alone with my questions, I'm dry and cracked open

And I thirst for You

And as I fall apart

Come flood this desert heart

Fall like the rain, Living Water

And I know Your way is best

Lord, help me find my rest

And I'll be the clay

In the Hands of the Potter

My world is spinning, my life seems so out of control

Nailed, scarred hands tell the story of love that will never let go of me

Through the sunshine or rain, I know where my hope is found

What You started in me, I know You will complete from the inside out

And as I fall apart

Come flood this desert heart

Fall like the rain, Living Water

And I know Your way is best

Lord, help me find my rest

And I'll be the clay

In the Hands of the Potter

My world is breaking me, Your love is shaping me

And now the enemy is afraid of what You're making me

When my world is breaking me, Your love is shaping me

And now the enemy is afraid of what You're making me

My world is breaking me, Your love is shaping me

And now the enemy is afraid of what You're making me

And as I fall apart

Come flood this desert heart

Fall like the rain, Living Water

And I know Your way is best

Lord, help me find my rest

And I'll be the clay

In the Hands of the Potter

And I'll be the clay

In the Hands of the Potter

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Mark Hall / Jonathan Smith

In the Hands of the Potter lyrics © Essential Music Publishing