Quips of the Day

I love it how certain things I read or see or hear during the day speaks to me of God's knowledge and plan for my life.
This morning I woke up with the words - "grace for today". My back hurt, I was still tired, the birds were chirping, cars were pulling into the seminary, there was no sun yet. Yet - grace for today. His mercies are new every morning (from yesterday's blog).
Michael Card was in chapel. He sang about the lament psalms. I am afraid that any generation after me will miss out on the Christian songwriters like Card, Keith Green, and Rich Mullins. He taught us a song (old-style) - "Come Lift up Your Sorrows" - and then reading this entry on Justin Taylor's blog from Powlison on quiet times - my quiet times are much too quiet. Praying yesterday aloud with a friend about the harder times we are going through or the questions we have - our God wants to know these. It is ok to voice those.
We sang "Come Thou Fount" which I absolutely love. God is our helper and our victor - He reigns supremely and will get the victory (for all of you wondering what ebenezer means in that hymn). Here are some of the lyrics that drill me every time I hear them (including today):
"Tune my heart to sing thy grace, streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise; How his kindness yet pursues me; o to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be; Here's my heart Lord take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above; Oh that day when freed from sinning, I shall see thy lovely face. Come my Lord, no longer tarry, take my ransomed soul away."
Hebrews 2.10-13: For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.”
"Great is Thy Faithfulness" - we sang our closing hymn acapella led by Michael Card (no organ!) - He could have played it on the piano and that would have been fine, but I love acapella in Alumni Chapel. More lyrics I love:
"Thy compassions they fail not (this means that God will ever love me as He does right now); all I have NEEDED thy hand hath provided; pardon for sin and a PEACE that endureth - thine own dear presence to cheer and to GUIDE, strength for today."
Then I was flipping through the girltalk blog and came across this from a years ago: "Rather than take matters into my own hands, I stepped back and realized that I didn't "need" answers, as some had said. I needed to trust in the Lord." So this is where I stand: grace for today, louder quiet times, trust in a God who provides all my needs in HIM, seeking His face and not His hand, and did I mention trusting HIM!