Jeremy Riddle - Sweetly Broken / Lyrics

Sweetly Broken lyrics

To the cross I look, to the cross I cling
Of it's suffering I do drink
Of it's work I do sing

For on it my Savior both bruised and crushed
Showed that God is love
And God is just

Chorus:
At the cross You beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees, and I am
Lost for words, so lost in love,
I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered

What a priceless gift, undeserved life
Have I been given
Through Christ crucified

You’ve called me out of death
You’ve called me into life
And I was under Your wrath
Now through the cross I’m reconciled

Chorus:

In awe of the cross I must confess
How wondrous Your redeeming love and
How great is Your faithfulness

7 ways to interrupt the flow of Joy from your heart:

1. Doubt

2. Selfishness

3. Worldleness

4. Critical Spirit
- bitter, negativity

5. Impatience

6. Apothy
- coldness, lukewarmness

7. Rebellion

Well, it has been a very eventful week or so. I knew that Aimee's senior year would be packed full of "stuff", but I never predicted it would be surgery.


Poor girl. Most everyone knows that she has had problems with her shoulder. It has, now, dislocated 3 times. The latest in her basketball game this past Friday against Loogootee. When I heard her scream I knew THAT scream. I'd heard it before. I knew her shoulder was out. The concerning thing to me was that she was wearing her Sully Brace, & didn't really overextend her arm & it popped out again. The first thing in her mind were the words Dr. Love had spoken last year when she partially dislocated it. "Next time it happens you will need surgery".


I am thankful that Will Walker was there at the game Friday. The first one, he said, that he has been to in 10 years. He is the nurse practitoner that she sees at Norris & Love's office more than Dr. Love actually. He came down to the trainer room after Ed & Andy Burkhardt carried her off the floor. He got her Sully Brace off, looked at it & popped it back in. Now the last time she had to have this done it was at Salem Hospital when she was 14. They gave her an IV & pain meds & had her sit for about 30 minutes before they would put it back in place. Will called in some pain meds for her & told us to come to the office on Monday.


As bad as it was when she was 14 to have her mom dress her, fix her hair, & other things that she would rather me not discuss I'm sure. It's probably much worse as an 18 year old. The good thing for me is she slept with me, which put Ed on the couch but, I loved it!


We were in the doctor office yesterday for about 4 hours. Will came in & saw us & then said "I didn't want to tell you this Friday night but I had never put one back in". Aimee & I just laughed & told him how thankful we are that he was there. Dr. Love came in, didn't even examine her, sat down & said well here we are again. Then he reminded us of what he had said last year. He said xrays won't do good at this point but said he wanted a MRI done & said surgery is what he recommends, as soon as next week. We were expecting that but the next part we weren't. He said that at 3 months her arm would be starting to feel better but that 6 months is the target date to be fully released. I saw her mentally adding up the months, when she turned to me & said but that's June... What about softball? It broke my heart, missing her senior year of basketball was bad but softball was devastating to her. She had the MRI at 1230, we will know final information of what exactly they plan to do by noon tomorrow if not before.


While this is a blow to her, she also knows it's best to fix it now. We are so blessed with friends & family that stopped what they were doing to pray & offer assistance. Friday night Andy Burkhardt, Jason Hennette, & Sandy Hovis jumped right in & helped & for that we are thankful. So many others offered help & said prayers, for that we are truly thankful. She has a long road ahead of her but we will make it through.


Tonight I plan on spending some time with Cole, as he has been some neglected in the past few days!!

You're the man!!

What do you think of when you hear "you're the man" today? Probably that someone did something good or just made the winning basket or what not. But I want to look at what it meant in 2 Samuel.


2 Samuel 12 
(New International Version)

Nathan Rebukes David  

1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.  4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."  5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."  7 Then Nathan said to David, "YOU ARE THE MAN,This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'  11 "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' "  13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die." 15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.  18 On the seventh day the child died. David's servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."  19 David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked."Yes," they replied, "he is dead." 20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.  21 His servants asked him, "Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!"  22 He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.' 23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."  24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; 25 and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.


Nathan was sent by God to David. He tells him a story & what does David do? He gets angry with the title subject in the story. When Nathan says to him "you're the man".

OUCH!!

Has this ever happened to you? Some injustice gets you worked up only to have God say to you "you're the man". I dare say we all have at one time or another. BUT the story goes on. David doesn't just wallow in his sin he gets up & goes on. He is forgiven from God as we see. I like to read the Psalms because there is such anguish, such true to life crying out to God for strenght beyond ourselves but there is also hope in the Psalms.


Take some time to read this story & also go to Psalms 51 & read what David wrote. Talk to God today, he's a great listener!!

Pursue the Virtue of Contentment

Pursue the Virtue of Contentment
by Max Lucado

A businessman bought popcorn from an old street vendor each day after lunch. He once arrived to find the peddler closing up his stand at noon. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

A smile wrinkled the seller’s leathery face. “By no means. All is well.”

“Then why are you closing your popcorn stand?”

“So I can go to my house, sit on my porch, and sip tea with my wife.”

The man of commerce objected. “But the day is still young. You can still sell.”

“No need to,” the stand owner replied. “I’ve made enough money for today.”

“Enough? Absurd. You should keep working.”

The spry old man stopped and stared at his well-dressed visitor. “And why should I keep working?”

“To sell more popcorn.”

“And why sell more popcorn?”

“Because the more popcorn you sell, the more money you make. The more money you make, the richer you are. The richer you are, the more popcorn stands you can buy. The more popcorn stands you buy, the more peddlers sell your product, and the richer you become. And when you have enough, you can stop working, sell your popcorn stands, stay home, and sit on the porch with your wife and drink tea.”

The popcorn man smiled. “I can do that today. I guess I have enough.”

Wise was the one who wrote, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Eccles. 5:10 NIV).

Don’t heed greed.

Greed makes a poor job counselor.

Greed has a growling stomach. Feed it, and you risk more than budget-busting debt. You risk losing purpose. Greed can seduce you out of your sweet spot.

Before you change your job title, examine your perspective toward life. Success is not defined by position or pay scale but by this: doing the most what you do the best.

Parents, give that counsel to your kids. Tell them to do what they love to do so well that someone pays them to do it.

Spouses, urge your mate to choose satisfaction over salary. Better to be married to a happy person who has a thin wallet than a miserable person with a thick one. Besides, “a pretentious, showy life is an empty life; a plain and simple life is a full life” (Prov. 13:7 MSG).

Pursue the virtue of contentment. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6 NIV). When choosing or changing jobs, be careful. Consult your design. Consult your Designer. But never consult your greed.

From Cure for the Common Life
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2006) Max Lucado