Tag: song lyrics

Bekah's Heart, Music, Poetry/Songs

The Walls that Divide

Rebekah Freed

This afternoon, I found myself thinking about a lot of things.

Mostly… about the walls that often divide us… walls in schools, homes, churches, friendships, and more.

These walls often come from areas of pain in our individual lives.

Following is a musical response I wrote this afternoon… not perfect… recorded only on my computer in my spare bedroom… voice cracking at times due to the cold I think I’m starting to get… but for whatever it’s worth… here’s my prayer that God would begin to restore our lives and as he does so, restore some of the brokenness in our relationships and in our world.

(If you’re reading this in some kind of blog reader, you’ll likely have to go to my actual website to listen.)

 

 

 

The Walls That Divide

Verse 1: The rain outside my window
Echoes rain inside
Of souls I walk past
Each and every day
Their storms of life
Overwhelm
Darkness looms
Shame destroys
Lord, please shine your light

 

Chorus: Break through the walls ’round our hearts
The hurt and the pain I see everyday
Restore our lives, I pray
Break through the walls that divide
Teach us to love, to care, and to serve
Restore our world today
Please break through

 

Verse 2: I am so frustrated by all the hurt I see
People caring less and less about humanity
How did we get so rotten?
How did we get so mean?
Gossip and lies
Please, open our eyes
Lord, please make us clean (Chorus)

 

Verse 3: Alone we are so powerless
Together we are strong
And with God on our side we will be defeated no more
Let us stand up and fight the enemy that seeks to destroy.
Instead, Lord, restore. Please have your way in me. (Chorus)

 

Bridge:
Break through.
Break through.
Break through, today.
Break through the hate
Break through the judgement.
Break through the walls that divide.  (Chorus)

 

 

Bekah's Heart, Blessing, Joy

Vacations are for Detours

Rebekah Freed

I come ‘round the last curve in the road.  A smile grows on my face as contentment grows in my soul.   If I wasn’t sure before, I’m now convinced that this impromptu detour down “J-Hill” road was a great idea.

I can’t wait to get down the drive and park the car, quick turning off the radio allowing for the silence this place demands. 

I look around for a rock to carry up. Unsuccessful, but decide the rocks don’t have to be literal, my figurative ones will work just fine for today.

The ascent begins and I ponder… Was it really nearly 10 years ago that I made this climb for the first time?  I also recall some of the “rocks” I laid down here nearly a decade ago… some of the same burdens I’ve come here to lay down again today. 

I pass the crossbar and continue the hike, thankful that the frozen ground makes this journey a little easier than the typical summer day with shifting dirt and sliding rocks.  Near the top, I finally turn around.  The awe-inspiring view steals my breath once again.  

As if there were an automatic recording, the familiar tune and words begin to come out of my mouth…. “Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary…”

I ponder again… how many times have I climbed this hill?  How many times have I sung that song?  How many rocks have I laid here… my sins, my burdens, my hurts, my joys.

I linger for a while but eventually begin the hike down to the car… hearing in my head the instructions that for many years came out of my mouth… “If you turn your feet sideways it makes it easier to get down without slipping.”  (As this thought passes through my head, I also slightly regret not changing into the gym shoes that were in the trunk.)

On my way down I pay specially attention to the names that remain on weather-worn rocks.

Luke.

Kylie.

Trina.

Julius.   I pause a little longer here.   

I wonder… What burdens or pains or hurts or sins might he have left there with his rock only weeks before he left every burden behind forever and went to the place of no more tears. 

Luke.

Anneka.

The names and rocks continue, some more familiar than others.  Each name representing the same thing…  a life changed in this place.  Each rock carries a story… one often known by God alone.   Each rock left there together forms a certain shape reminding… We are free.  Over the last decade, hundreds have made that same climb leaving behind their “junk.” And now, collectively, that “junk” is somehow able to point to our risen Lord.  To God Alone be the Glory!

Thanks God for today… for that spontaneous voice in my head that prompted my journey to 7821 Lyons Creek Road… one of the places in this world that has the label “home” in my heart … a place that gives a little glimpse into what our forever home will be like.

Bekah's Heart, Internship Highlights

‘Tis Good, Lord, To Be Here

Rebekah Freed

Today was a beautiful day.  I’m currently back at school in Nebraska for a Mid-Year Conference with all of the DCE interns from all over the world. These few days back on campus are hard to describe.  Most of us interns have used the word “weird” in that description more times than we probably can count.  It’s this interesting dynamic of loving this place but not really fitting in… at least not in the way we have in the past.  Our roles have shifted, and that’s okay.  In the midst of this awkward, indescribable, mid-way check point, it has been such a blessing to just see God presence everywhere I turn.  Here are just a few examples of where that was found today alone:

  •  A conversation with a beautiful woman with whom I’ve literally had one prior face to face conversation with before, yet somehow our hearts just know each other.  I don’t get it, but was so thankful for our time together this morning and God’s presence there.
  • Chapel.  I miss chapel.  What a wonderful REST was found in the very SIMPLE yet profound proclamation of the Gospel today as it was describe as a song, a melody that can, in a way, be the “background” music to our life.
  • Lunch (at Dragon Palace) with fellow interns, talking about anything and everything and nothing.
  • A chance to share with other DCE students our experiences and where we’ve seen God at work through our internships.
  • Being able to “pick up” friendships where they left off and just get straight to what really matters… to know and be known.  

As corny as it may sound, I really felt like the last verse of a hymn we sang in chapel today encapsulates this trip back to Concordia for me.

’Tis good, Lord, to be here.
Yet we may not remain;
But since Thou bidst us leave the mount,
Come with us to the plain.

It is so wonderful to be able to reflect and see all the many ways God has blessed my life through Concordia… to be able to come back and be overwhelmed in a good way… to realize the number of people through whom God has blessed me and made me who I am.  But now, as good as it is to be here, it’s obvious that this is not where I belong right now… and God comes with me to what’s next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord, ’tis truly good to be here… to behold Your beauty… to see You at work in my life and the lives of others… to hear and remember your gospel melody that accompanies my life.  And now, as I prepare to wrap this time here up, may You remind me of your promise to go with me and continue to open my heart and ears to that beautiful melody of Your love.  ‘Tis good Lord, to be Your child.  Thank You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Music

The Stuff God Uses…

Rebekah Freed

On my way to work this morning, I heard a new song I hadn’t heard before.  At first I thought it was just one of those goofy “morning” songs the announcers sometimes sing as it talked about lost keys and cell phones.  But, as it went on I realized it was a real song about the sometimes simple things, “little” things, that God uses to get our attention and teach us what he has for us.  Check out “This is the Stuff” by Francesca Battistelli: 

I lost my keys in the great unknown
And call me please ‘Cuz I can’t find my phone

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that’s getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I’m blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I gotta trust You know exactly what You’re doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

45 in a 35
Sirens and fines while I’m running behind  Whoa

This is the stuff …. It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

So break me of impatience
Conquer my frustrations
I’ve got a new appreciation
It’s not the end of the world

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff
Someone save me
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I’m blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
And I’ve gotta trust You know exactly what You’re doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord, in the middle of my mess, remind me how much I’m blessed!  Use whatever it takes. Amen!

31 Days of Hope

Hope {Day 28} – My Hope by Matt Redman

Rebekah Freed

A beautiful song by Matt Redman called My Hope. ENJOY!

 

 

My Hope by Matt Redman

Verse 1

My hope is built on nothing else
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly live on Jesus name

 

Chorus

When the mountains are falling
when the waters are rising
I shall be safe in you
Through the nations are quaking
Every kingdom be shaken
Still I will rest in you

 

Verse 2

When darkness seems to hide your face
I rest on Your unchanging grace
In every high and storming gate
My anchor holds within the veil

31 Days of Hope

Hope {Day 19} – Made New

Rebekah Freed

I’ve heard the stories again and again.

Each one so distinct and unique, yet, so similar at the core.

Something happened-

Many things maybe.

Something so horrifying it rarely,

if ever,

gets any attention in conversation.

Yet, it gets all the attention in the heart.

 

Neglect.

Rape.

Abuse.

 

The death of a loved one.

The death of a marriage.

The death of a friendship.

 

An eating disorder.

Depression.

Self-injury.

 

A monstrous mistake.

A horrific memory.

A crippling fear.

 

“I’m not good enough.”

“Will I ever change?”

 

The shame is too much.

The guilt is too heavy.

 

Forgotten.

Alone.

Afraid.

 

Whether it was “their fault” or not, the pain obviously runs deep as the story eventually flows out. But it’s not just “them.” 

 

It’s me

and

it’s YOU. 

 

We all have had those secret things buried deep in our hearts… those times when we seriously wonder…

 

Is there any hope?

 

Can God REALLY do anything with this messed up life of mine?!? 

Through the darkness comes a marvelous Light responding:

“YES! THERE IS HOPE!  I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW!

No matter what mess you’ve gotten yourself into… no matter what anyone has done to you… no matter how much sin has messed up your life and messed up your heart, I can, and will, through Christ, make something BEAUTIFUL out of your life! 

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

 

Isaiah 43:19 See I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Things
by Gungor

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll even find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

 

You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new

31 Days of Hope

Hope {Day 17} – LIGHT Part 2

Rebekah Freed

I was hoping to put this up yesterday in continuation to Day 15’s discussion about LIGHT but after fighting with my computer for entirely too long yesterday, I gave up.  Thankfully, I was victorioius over my computer today and have this song, or the startings of one, to share: (Click the triangle to play.)

This prayer asks God to let his light shine in our lives… to give us a little hope.  Sometimes when God shines his light into the dark places of our lives it’s scary, but there is freedom when we step into the light.

I hope you enjoy.  Maybe eventually it’ll get some verses and be a full song. 🙂  But for now, here are the lyrics for the chorus:

Break through the darkness
Break through the night
Break through the shadows
Lord, shine Your light
In the deepest places of fear and shame
Lord, shine Your light again.

Bekah's Heart, Devotional, First Trinity

Joyfullyblessed…It’s kinda weird…

Rebekah Freed

It’s kind of a weird thing to attend a funeral for someone you’ve never met, but definitely a unique opportunity that I’ve had a few times since being on internship, including once this week.

Normally, funeral are associated emotions of grief and pain and confusion.  Of course there is hope and glimmers of joy in the resurrection, but most of the funerals I’ve attended I sit there just not even knowing WHAT to feel.

The funeral that I ran sound for this week gave me an opportunity to understand more of those feelings I always feel but can’t quite name in that moment.  Most of all, I realized that somehow, everything seems so to impact lives so much deeper at times like these… verses from God’s Word, lyrics from hymns… everything just seems so much more profound… so much more… well… ironically… more ALIVE!

To hear things like: “… NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.” (Romans 8 ) takes on new life when heard at a funeral.  

“For as we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be untied with Him in a resurrection like His.” (Romans 6)…means something different when you contemplate someone coming to the end of their life… or well, in another way, the beginning.  

Or how about these words from a well-loved hymn:

“Yet when this flesh and heart shall fail and mortal life shall cease.  Amazing grace shall then PREVAIL in Heaven’s joy and peace.”

We can sing that song on just any given day, but to hear those words at a funeral gives it so much more depth.

I think my favorite part of the funeral this week was to hear the soloist sing these powerful words:

“Then sings my SOUL, my Savior, God, to Thee.  How great Thou art. How GREAT Thou art!” 

My prayers go up for those I know who have lost loved ones recently (or maybe even not so recently).  In those moments when there just aren’t words, may our very SOULS sing out to our great God! Even when we can’t understand, may He give us the strength to trust.  May he draw us closer to himself and give us new life in Him.

First Trinity, Music

Joyfullyblessed… “Blessed is the One”

Rebekah Freed

I was on the way home from church today and the song “Blessed is the One” by Daniel Doss Band was playing in my car.  It really fit well with Pastor’s sermon series right now about the “Round-About Ways of God”.  Many of the words connected with the point in the sermon last week about how God uses the desert times in our life to teach us patience… to trust him one day at a time. It also connects with one of today’s points that those desert times make us strong in Christ.

These two sections especially jumped out at me:

 

“Suffering through the desert places
You never said it would be easy
You just promised you’d be with me
For blessed is the one
Blessed is the one who trusts You”

 

“I will trust in you in the pain, when I can’t see past today
When it’s hard to lift my hands to praise you, I will trust you.”

 

Check out the song here (for some reason it’s only part of it):

 

Bekah's Heart, Music

Joyfullyblessed… to simply be His child

Rebekah Freed

So, I always appreciate when people are real with me, so here I am, being “real” with the world. 

 

It finally happened.  All the events, emotions, and adventures of the past few months of my life just hit me like one of those giant wrecking balls taking down a house.  I knew it would happen at some point, but just didn’t know when.  Maybe that’s not quite the best analogy because that makes it sound like a really bad thing, but it’s not at all! 

 

Sure, I’ve been dealing with the various emotions throughout the process of graduation, living in Africa for a month, moving to New York and everything in between, but I think tonight everything just hit at all at the same time… and out of nowhere…. yet, in God’s perfect timing. 

 

All the joy of God’s many blessings, the sorrow of loved ones dying, the excitement of a new job at a wonderful church with beautiful people, the loneliness found in missing familiar relationships, being overwhelmed with responsibilities, anticipating (and experiencing) new adventures, my heart being touched by conversations and relationships, my soul being attacked by the Evil One, the freedom in letting go, the anticipation, yet uncertainty of the future, the peace in just living for today in God’s presence  … it’s just a lot to process and like I said… for a few moments tonight, I was down for the count.

 

BUT down, I think, is where I needed to go.  I needed to sort through all the “stuff” in order to understand the deep peace in coming back to the beautiful simplistic truth, that I AM GOD’S DAUGHTER… AND HE LOVES ME! 

 

Below is a song by Moses Hogan that we sang almost every year in one of the choirs I was in.  I think it describes that simple truth of being God’s child and hope illustrates the peace that has now covered my heart in words I don’t have of my own.

 

“I may not be all that You are.

I may not be a shining star.

But what I am, I thank the Lord, for making me His child!

Thank You Lord, for hearing every prayer.

Thank You Lord, for just being there.

Thank You Lord.

Thank You Lord, for I am not worthy of Your love.

“I may not be all that You are.

I may not be a shining star.

But what I am, I thank the Lord, for making me His child!”

 

 

I truly am JOYFULLYBLESSED to simply be God’s daughter…beautiful and loved.