I'm not ashamed to tell the whole world,
Without you, I'm nothing at all
That I have strings in need of mending
I'm out of tune in certain parts
So strum the chords of mercy
Restore my soul completely
Lay your hand upon me
And this instrument will breathe
'Cause you're the music of my heart
The melody within my soul
The song that holds me in the dark
The fire that warms me when I'm cold
The symphony that calms my fear
The lyric that I long to hear
The masterpiece, the work of art
Complete before I start
The music of my heart
Creator of all that is lovely,
Write a tune upon my heart
And when you finish will you play
Like a beautiful guitar?
So strum the chords of mercy,
Restore my soul completely
Breathe life into me
And this instrument will sing
'Cause you're the music of my heart
The melody within my soul
The song that holds me in the dark
The fire that warms me when I'm cold
The symphony that calms my fear
The lyric that I long to hear
The masterpiece, the work of art
Complete before I start
The music of my heart
It's amazing the things I am getting to experience here at CIU. A year ago, I never imagined all of this. Every day here, I get a chance to interact with people from all over the world, praying with them, learning from them, building connections that I know will last a lifetime. The things that I am learning about this man - Jesus, are amazing. I know some of you get what I am talking about, but it's so hard to even describe how this learning is impacting my life.
Today, my class project group made jambalaya. Anita and I cooked the stuff for the first time, and it was GOOD. heh..so some Southern cooking is not all that bad. So we met around 5:40 and we talked and talked and talked, but not at first about our group project. See, there was Erwin (a Pastor my dad's age) and his ideas about looking out for the gang kids in his neighborhood. James (in mid 40s and from Chicago) started at my school in 2004, but it's hard raising a family and studying at the same time...but he's not giving up. Anita (a few years older than me and from Hongkong) is gonna try to start up a team from my school to work among the Hui people in China. And of course me, the youngest, just here cuz of God's grace. Where are we gonna be in the next 3 years? Only God knows!
And my Chinese is getting better!
And I want to just study and learn and work and serve and do so much and try so much and live...to the fullest.
Am I afraid? You bet I am! but it's that joy that really gives the strength to keep going no matter what the fear. no matter if I'm gonna always be not-ready for the job. It's so precious...this joy...and it's only because i know what Jesus did. Another name for Jesus is Immanuel...which means "God with us"
on earth there is no power, there is no depth or height could ever seperate us from the love of God in Christ
Immanuel, our God is with us and if God is with us, who can stand against us? our God is with us, Immanuel.
