My Whole Heart

"We pour out our misery, God just hears a melody . . . "

Better Than a Hallelujah ~ Amy Grant.

This is me.

I give You

what I have to give.

My whole heart.

My searching.

My anger.

My desperation.

My complaints.

My crying.

My distress.

My shame.

My unforgiveness.

My anxieties.

My cares.

My worries.

My grief.

My doubt.

My brokenness.

My trust.

My joy.

My hope.

My boldness.

My timidity.

My faith.

My belief.

My love. 

My praise.

My song.

My victory.

My triumph.

My milestone.

My celebration.

My confidence.

My courage.

My worship.

My authentic heart.

Right now.

All of it.

Here it is.

This is me.

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I am getting ready to start

Stepping Up: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent

by Beth Moore

with a group of ladies.

I picked up my book today.

You know I couldn't resist reading the first day!

To close the day's lesson,

Beth suggested that we could worship

in our emotions instead of pushing them aside to worship.

Then she suggested thumbing through the Psalms

and writing down some of the expressive words.

As I thumbed through,

the most common words I seemed to see were

"cry out".

It reminded me of Amy Grant's song quoted above and here:

"God loves a lullaby in a mother's tears in the dead of night

better than hallelujah sometimes . . .

God loves a drunkard's cry, a soldier's plea not to let him die

 . . . beautiful, the mess we are, the honest cries

of breaking hearts

are better than a hallelujah."

Which inspired me to write "my whole heart".

He wants our whole heart . . . all of it.

Not just the good image stuff.

All of it.

Living sacrifice.

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Sharing some of my latest art.

A little hand-sized commissioned piece

with the theme verse from the women's retreat.

A surprise piece that I will unveil soon . . .

I just keep getting new ideas for it.

And the shadow box that I finished a month ago

for my sweet friend

to remember God's miracles.

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Copyright 2011 ~ Jodene (Jodi) Shaw.