What is my name???

Today I have finally taken the time to sit down and write for awhile. I can't begin to tell you the number of blogs I have written in my head...I have quite a few...but one thing after another pops up and so I store them in the vault inside my head and heart....for safe keeping until the time arrives to publish them here.

That brings me to this blog today. I write this on the heels of spending a great weekend with my dad, my two daughters, my granddaughter and her father. We had a great time!!! With all the fun activities going on during this time, I put off to the side some of my devotions that I read...and today decided I should catch up. Funny thing how you can start to read different devotions and scriptures and realize that there is an underlying message that is continually being mentioned...that brings me to this blog today.

I read a devotional about the James and John and how Jesus called them Sons of Thunder...and then pondered some of the questions that arose in me regarding this devotional...What is my name? What nick name would Jesus give me??? That led me to thinking about one of the books that I was drawn to last year...not only did the title capture my attention...but I felt it was a description of me...or at least who I felt
god wanted to be. The book is called The Worship Warrior. Awesome book..one worth reading many times! But I felt that God was calling me to be this....a worship warrior......a warrior...not a very feminine word. These days I find myself really wanting to be seen as a woman...not a masculine uniformed paramedic...not a lonely, single mom...so when it seemed that God was calling me to be a worship warrior...I was a little concerned. Most people probably don't realize that I struggle with the image my job tends to portray women as....I wear very unflattering, masculine uniform clothing..designed for men...in a career that used to be dominated by men...and that many women who do this job often are labeled as lesbians if they are not married and wear their hair short...sounds silly and stupid doesn't it...but it is true!!! I can't tell you the number of times I have been asked if I was married...and when I answer no...I am immediately asked if I am a lesbian...what gives!!!!! So I make every effort to walk the walk of a feminine woman...so when hearing God say He wants me to be a worship warrior...imagine my issue with the word warrior!!! And of course after reading the devotional about the names of James and John being called the Sons of Thunder...I am also reminded that I have often been called loud and a big mouth ....once again not very feminine at all....so I sat here this morning thinking on the labels that I have had to battle, and I am reminded by my God that He has called me to sing. Sing in all things...worship Him in all things...no matter what!!! And then He reminded me once again in todays reading of Streams in the Desert..July 23...page 283....

Sing ....to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.

( Ephesians 5: 19-2-)



No matter the source of the evil confronting you, if you are in God and thereby completely surrounded by Him, you must realize that it has first passed throug Him before coming to you. Because of this, you can thank Him for everything that comes your way. This does not mean thanking Him for the sin that accompanies evil, but offering thanks for what He will bring out of it and through it. May God make our life one of continual thanksgiving and praise, so He will then make everything a blessing.

I once saw a man draw some black dots on a piece of paper. Several of us looked at it yet saw nothing but an irregular arrangements of dots. Then he also drew a few lines, put in a few rests, and added a treble clef at the beginning. Suddenly we realized that the dots were musical notes, and as we began to sound them out, we were singing....

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Each of us has many black dots or spots in our life, and we cannot understand why they are there or why God permitted them. But when we allow Him into our life to adjust the dots in the proper way, to draw the lines He desires, and to put rests at the proper places to separate us from certain things, then from the black dots and spots He will compose a glorious harmony.

So let us not hinder Him in His glorious work! C. H.P.



Would we know that the major chords were sweet,

If there were no minor key?

Would the painter's work be fair to our eyes,

Without the shade on land or sea?

Would we konw the meaning of happiness,

Would we feel that the day was bright,

If we'd never known what it was to grieve,

Nor gazed on the dark of night?



Many people owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties. Charles H. Spurgeon.

When the organist presses the black keys of a great organ, the notes are just as beautiful as when he presses the white ones. Yet to fully demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument, he must press them all.



After reading that...I am encouraged to walk in my nick name...worship warrior...to sing and worship Him in all things no matter what. It isn't just singing on the worship team at church...yes...He wants me to sing...and He has taken a woman with an average voice and at certain times He blesses me with a song!!! But that isn't the end....He calls me to sing who I am in all that I do....and reminds me that He knows the troubles and difficulties I face...He hears my hurts when I cry because once again someone has labeled me as someone I am not. He tells me to walk on...to press on...or keep singing....sorta like when Dori in the movie Finding Nemo sings her little song....Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming , swimming...and no matter the terrors, the darkness or the handicaps...she is happy and just keeps swimming....

Today I am not so afraid of the word warrior....after all...the prophetess Deborah in Judges warriored when she instructed Barak to fight and he asked she go with....and I bet no one called her names....or thought she was a man!

Then I can go too....and warrior in worship for God!

Ask God what name He has for you...and trust Him that He will support you in that name!

Lorrie

Scriptures read today....Judges 4-5, Psalm 18, Ephesians 5: 19-20, Isaia 62:2, Isaiah 43:1, and Mark 3:17 to name a few! These besides the scriptures in on One Year Bible....

Funny little side note....several weeks ago I started to fashion a blog called worship warrior....and then saved it and didn't publish it....hmmmmm....nothing is a coincidence you know...God is amazing!!!!!!