Worship Over Worry

 Somedays it's hard to know if what we're walking through comes from heaven or the depths below...All I know is whether our view is from a mountain top looking down or in the valley looking up we didn't travel this way alone!Because no matter where God's taking us he's been there with us all along.This past month we've been asked so many times about the origin of this disease that's taken residence in our home...anything from medically to spiritually and our answer has been the same, regardless...It's not where it comes from, but who is carrying us through it.These verses have been guiding our steps and are the result of our response lately...'We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;perplexed, but not in despair;persecuted, but not abandoned;struck down, but not destroyed.We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake,so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.'2 Corinthians 4.8-11Because when our lives suddenly change, our view shifts and the things of God take on greater meaning. It is in this place,our stories minister deeper...and reach higher until they spill over...with nothing restrained,because there's no longer a risk that's greaterthan the one worth taking. ...I recently learned a new Hebrew word it's 'Tehillah' meaning 'a spontaneous new song. Singing a melody in your heart by adding words to it'.Friends, did you read that...a spontaneous song from our story...it gives words to the song that is growing within our hearts...It also says how...'it brings tremendous unity to the body of Christ.'Singing in this place moves us into the presence of God...any and every time and it unifies us with the body of Christ.Each of our songs written from the hard and holy places of our hearts come together in the presence of God as ONE song being sung together in worship to our heavenly Father. Friends, we live out our worship...created to live it out in both the best and the hardest of days.Our sacrifice is singing out our praises to God even when are our hearts are racing and our hands are trembling....because some days even though worry can feel like it's winning, it's really not. Because God awakens us in worship and revives us when we set aside our worry and we choose to worship him...We lift up all of the loose ends....all of the undone details...all the unknown that's raising up all kinds of fear and we say not only with our voice but with our empty hands-'God we trust you!'We trust you regardless what we must go through,we trust you when life feels overwhelming and we're learning a new rhythm...because God we not only yearn to trust you morebut we also long to worship you in this place!It’s in these moments when our thoughts shift from what seems to be weighing us down to being overwhelmed by the goodness of our God....We experienced this very thing the other night as we'd just gotten home from yet another surgical biopsy.Joe was feeling awful and I was scared because I knew this might be the beginning of these ugly moments.And I did the only thing I knew to do...As we crawled into bed I pressed play on our ‘Worship Over Worry’ playlist that we recently made because when hard times come like this you need a continuous stream to drown out the worry in the waiting.These songs seem to be ministering to us so deeply these days as if they were written from our own story, from the inside of our hearts. So, as we laid there my eyes were closed because the honest truth is I needed those words to flow out of my heart and into the presence of God. I needed God to hold what was feeling like too much and most of all I needed him to hold me ever-so-tightly that night...And you know what happened...he did just that!As I opened my eyes a few moments later my heart was so moved as I looked over at Joe who was laying there beside me worn out but with his hand raised up in worship...because he knew there's something healing about singing a hallelujah when your body feels broken. It was in that moment I knew that our choice to worship God over worry was exactly what God's using to strengthen us and calm our worries.  This isn't some gimmick we've chosen, it's truly our Tehillah, a spontaneous song from our story, the song that's growing within us which gives all the glory to God...both in the hard days as well as in the better ones.And Friends, we all have a Tehillah from within the depths of our soul to sing and what's even more mind blowing is these beautiful songs are what God uses to bring us together.Because these songs are what usher in hope and remind us that God is winning this battle!