A new song

"But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." Psalm 5:11-12

"I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High." (Psalm 9:2)

"...A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance...Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. " (Ecclesiastes 3:4a, 11)

Bob Gass once wrote that as a Christian you will always have crisis in your life, that you are either coming out of one, are in one or you're on your way to one. He said it can't be helped whilst we are here, because the same wind that blew in our backs on our way to hell, blows now in our faces on our way to heaven. I agree one hundred percent, but this is just one side of the story. These last few days, I told you many things about the pains and frustrations of a Christian, what it means to live in a foreign land, which is what this earth is for most of us (Philippians 3:20). And it's true, there are many such pains and frustrations. C S Lewis said: "If the flesh that I fight is at best only light and momentary, than of course I'll feel nude when to, where I'm destined I'm compared."
But life with God is more than just pain and frustration, if it would be only this, I don't know how long we would last. You know how you wake up one morning after being sick for days and you feel well again, that relief that comes over you? That's just a small comparison to how His hope and joy comes over you after a hard day. You wake up the next morning and you find yourself smiling, and it's all because of Him. You know it, because if it would be up to you you would not even get out of bed. Life with God is full of many small joys, things that I never used to notice and now bring a smile on my face and make me feel Him near. I never liked flowers. I always said "I am a practical girl, if you want to make me happy buy me a perfume or make-up". I still don't like to pay for flowers, but I love to look at them where they are in the wild, and ask myself why did He make them that way? Does He like green, or purple or blue? He must, otherwise why would He use it so much. I love to spot a butterfly and follow it all the way until it flies in the distance. I love to stare at the sun (don't tell my brother-in-law, he's my optician and he won't be impressed with me ruining my eyes). I once heard one of God's witnesses tell his story. His name is, Ian McCormack, and he was in clinical death for something close to half an hour. What's scarier is that it's all medically documented and nobody can explain how this man is still functioning. His was declared at the time, the most profound near death experience ever documented. He came out of it and he can't stop talking about God, whereby before he used to be a crazy surfer

http://www.google.co.uk/#q=ian+mccormack+near+death+experience&hl=en&prmd=v&source=univ&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&ei=WuwdTKGrAo7u0gTxieS1DQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDIQqwQwAw&fp=be8fd41e0a386f13

Anyway, in his story, Ian was said something that's stuck with me since I heard it. He was trying to explain how God looks like. He said it feels as if you would look at the sun except your eyes don't hurt. So ever since I heard this, I try to stare at the sun and imagine how it feels like to look at my Beloved. I've been through many things that broke my heart along this journey, some things I thought I will never get over. I know how pain feels like with and without God. One of the reasons I follow Him, is because pain with God is never hopeless. I never knew hopelessness since I met Him. Christians compare pain with God like walking through a storm. It's true. The wind blows, cold drops of rain seems to slash your skin and there are scarry thunders and lightnings everywhere around you, but deep inside, you know you can walk through the storm. It's not pleasant but the storm doesn't have the power to stop you from walking through it. And then you get to other side of it and realise "Hey, I couldn't do that before! I've made it." And the joy and happiness are so great you feel like laughing and dancing and singing a new song. I said this before, all my life I was a coward running from pain. I numbed it with anything I could grab. Pain is still not my friend, but we learnt to live with each other. We almost give each other a smile like two adversaries determined they will be the one winning: "Go on then, show me your worst:-)"

Today, I'll let my heart sing to Him a new song. I'll look into the sun and give Him my best smile because in my storms, He is always my Rock and in my joys He is always my Smile.

"Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I'll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He's my God." (Psalm 43:5, The Message)

"But all who are hunting for you— oh, let them sing and be happy. Let those who know what you're all about tell the world you're great and not quitting. " (Psalm 40:16, The Message)