Mourning Into Dancing

Time for another "song that is ministering to Ann" post. Last week Judith was kind enough to let me borrow her Zoe Group, "Deep Calls to Deep" CD. If you don't know the Zoe Group, they are an acappella praise and worship ministry. I thought it was funny that I was craving acappella praise music. I've never really been a big fan. :) But hey, homesickness can come in many forms. And I have to admit that there's something very powerful about pure voices worshipping the Lord.

Anyway, it's a great CD. You should check it or any of their other many CDs out here. One song in particular stayed with me this week. It goes a little something like this:

This is How We Overcome

Your light broke through my night
Restored exceeding joy
Your grace fell like the rain
And made this desert live

You have turned my mourning into dancing
You have turned my sorrow into joy

Your hand lifted me up
I stand on higher ground
Your praise rose in my heart
And made this valley sing

This is how we overcome
This is how we overcome

If you've heard it, you know this is a great clap along/raise your hands and worship song. I think this just became my prayer for the last week. It comforted me in my current struggles with homesickness, culture shock, and adjustments to change at work. It also helped me to look back on all the places I've been in my life and remember how God has brought me through. I don't claim to have suffered any pain uncommon to humankind, but I have seen some low times. I definitely don't have a history of dealing with times of adversity with grace, but the grace of God has brought me through this far. I believe faith is a gift from the Lord, and He has blessed me with faith to peek through those darkest moments in my life. Even though I'm not over this hump of trial I'm going through yet, I do have faith that there will be dancing again after the mourning. My sorrows will turn to joys and these trials will be overcome.

Isn't that the beautiful victory we have in Christ? Tonight at LKT we talked about the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and I was struck by how these so perfectly sum up the power of the Gospel. Christianity doesn't claim to take away pain and struggle-- in fact in many ways it guarantees to increase it. But our hope doesn't lie in the seen-- the day to day, apparent "ways of the world." It lies in our faith that God has a plan, and although we don't know or understand it at times, we know that His plan is good and will come to fruition in the perfect time and way.

Okay, enough theological rambling from me. It was just on my heart and I thought I'd share. Go listen to some Christian music and be blessed by it! :)