So, as some of you may remember, three weeks ago I wrote about joy and finding reason to celebrate. Truth be told it was not an easy thing for me to write, and neither is this. Putting myself out there in front of people, whether in written form or physically being up in front of people, has never been an easy thing for me.
I feel in my heart that this is something God wants me to do, however, and so here I am, writing again. At first I wasn't sure what song I should choose, but after today's church service I felt it the perfect choice. Our pastor's entire sermon was about the way our hearts need to be circumcised for the Lord. As if that wasn't clue enough, one of the main lines of this song was in one of the verses she quoted.
The song is, again, by the praise and worship band Rend Collective Experiment, and is again off their CD The Art of Celebration. It is called 'Create in Me', and though I love all the songs on the CD, this is one of the ones that I love the most. It has touched my heart greatly, and it is my hope that it touches yours as much as it did mine.
A link to their music video. Also, the lyrics:
Create in me a clean, clean heart
Create in me, a work of art
Create in me, a miracle
Something real and something beautiful
x3
Create a miracle in me
You're not finished with me yet
You're not finished with me yet
By your power I can change I can change
'Cos you're not finished with me yet
You make all things new oh
You're not finished with me yet
You're not finished with me yet
By your power I can change I can change
'Cos you're not finished with me yet
Celebrate your freedom
Create in me a clean, clean heart
Create in me a work of art
Create in me a miracle
Something real and something beautiful
Create a miracle in me
You're not finished with me yet
You're not finished with me yet
By your power I can change I can change
'Cos you're not finished with me yet
The lyrics of this song are pretty self explanatory. They are, more or less, the same two verses repeated several times, but what powerful verses they are.
Though the song is upbeat, to me it is a cry, a plea. Perhaps this stems from my own experiences with the song. I started listening to it when I was in a very hard place, during a time when I really did not like myself very much. It spoke to me in a very big way and it became my own cry to God.
Though that was my own experience, I feel that everyone can apply the lyrics of this song to their life in one way or another. We all have those things in our lives that hold us back. We all have things we struggle with, be they addictions, a particular sin we keep going back to, anger or bitterness, etc. Sometimes, or perhaps even oftentimes, it can even be more than one of those.
To me, the very first verse of this song is all about reaching that point where we finally say “Enough” to the things that hold us back. When we finally reach that point where we can call out to God, and ask him to take our dirty and broken hearts and make them clean again. To turn the darkness of our lives into a work of art for his glory. To create a miracle in us.
He can do that, all of it, if we let him. We have to reach that point, however, where we are willing to surrender to him the things we hold onto that hold us back from him. If you are anything like me, this is one of the hardest things to do. So often I hold onto things, and it is only through much screaming, fighting and yelling that I finally give them up. Yet once I do, I often find that the thing I thought I loved and didn't want to give up...really wasn't all that great to begin with. I often find myself much happier and feeling much more free once I finally do give it up, to the point where I often wonder 'why didn't I give that up sooner?'
Thank God that he doesn't ever give up on us, huh? I don't know if anybody else ever feels this way about themselves, but there are moments where even I don't like to deal with myself. But praise the Lord, he always loves me, no matter how stubborn I may sometimes get. I am so grateful for that, and I am so grateful that through him, I am able to change.
That is what the second verse is all about. Do any of you have a side, or even sides of yourself that you aren't very fond of? I know I certainly do. There are parts of me that I wish I didn't have. By the grace of God I am not who I used to be, but there are still things that I know I need to change. Thank God though, that I am a work in progress. He is not finished with me and he has not given up on me. By his power alone, I can change. I don't have to stay where I am, I can continuously climb the path to becoming the woman God wants me to be. This is true not just for me, but for all of us. We are all works in progress. He is not finished with any of us. Through his power, we can all change. He is a good God indeed, that he would be willing to take sinful creatures like us and turn them into his works of art.
