Our God Delivers Us From Evil

This has been one of those spectacular weeks of seeing God at work!

I met Gaile Owens on my first visit to Master Life, a Bible study held every Sunday night in Freedom Chapel at the Tennessee Prison For Women. I started volunteering on a regular basis 12 years ago. Eight years ago the new warden decided that since Gaile was on death row she needed to be segregated from the rest of the inmates so during those years I was able to see her only at the Christmas party that was held in her unit.

In the spring of this year the Supreme Court declined Gaile's appeal of her death sentence and set the date of her execution for September 28, 2010. You can read her story at www.friendsofgaile.com. Her lawyer and friends organized a massive campaign to solicit signatures on a petition and letters to Governor Bredesen pleading that he commute her death penalty to a life sentence On Wednesday, July 14th, Governor Bredesen commuted Gaile's death sentence to life in prison and she goes up for parole in 2011!

On Sunday night, July 18, after eight years, Gaile was free to attend Master Life in Freedom Chapel and what a celebration it was to hear Gaile give God all the glory for her deliverance.

Another account of God's deliverance...

Early last week I just happened to look out our front window and saw a strange car backed into our driveway. I walked out the door and saw a stranger putting two large pieces of construction equipment belonging to a carpenter doing renovations on our home into the back of his pick up truck. The wanna be thief had been watching for when Jeremy would leave for lunch and within ten minutes he had backed his truck into our driveway. Side note, my car was also parked in the driveway.

When I asked him what he was doing he came up with a carefully rehearsed story but I told him to put the equipment back where he found it and he did! I tried to write down his license plate but the license plate was bent up in half so it was impossible to see the number.

Here's where the story gets even better - I was suppose to be on a conference call with a songwriter during this time but I got a text saying that he didn't have any reception so needed to reschedule for later in the day. He felt very bad about changing times at the last minute but when he heard about my thwarting a robbery we both recognized the lost reception as a divine intervention by God.

I am fully of thanksgiving for seeing God at work and how he keeps watch over his kids!

WRITE WITH ALL YOUR HEART

This week I was listening through the Billboard TOP 200 albums and the #39^th album is a metalcore artist Parkway Drive and the featured song was “Alone”.

Let’s just say if my 85 year old Mom listened to Parkway Drive she would have thought Provident Label Group artist Red’s performance at the Dove Awards was close to heavenly! But again I digress from the point of this blog…

So I am listening to “Alone” and I had to look up the lyrics as I couldn’t understand any of the words. Here are some excerpts “Stranger to the world, alone in my abandonment” “Darkness, erase this lonesome place from my every existence” “No light to guide. No ties, no ties to bind. “

The song has a very despairing message.

Then in the #40 spot is Hillsong’s “A Beautiful Exchange: Live” and the song that plays is “Our God Is Love”. Some lyric excerpts “Every distant and broken heart, every prayer, every outstretched arm, finding hope in the love of the Father” “Our fear is overcome Our God is love”

WOW - what a tremendous contrast between the two songs!

What Hillsong and Parkway Drive do have in common is that they both are from Australia!

In my last blog I talked about how I want a song to make me feel something. In the case of the Parkway Drive song I didn’t like what it made me feel but it made me feel something.

I know that this is an understatement but songs are a powerful vehicle for communicating one’s beliefs.

I am very thankful that my work is focused on equipping songwriters to create art that is reflective of a creative and redemptive God. Whether they are writing metalcore or Southern Gospel they have a responsibility to create songs that bring glory to God. Whether they are in a Christian band or if they are Christians in a band, each is as valid and needed in reaching the lost and communicating the good news of Jesus.

In a couple weeks the GMA Immerse Conference is being held in Nashville and I have had the privilege of putting together the Songwriting Track for the week. We are having a panel called Writing For The Mainstream Market and the guests are Tom Douglas, Andy Dodd and Amy Stroup, all who are believers and have had tremendous success writing for mainstream artists.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Colossians 3:23

I encourage you songwriters to work at your craft with ALL YOUR HEART so that you can continue to creatively and effectively communicate the truth of our very great God.

The Most Important Thing In A Song

I had the privilege of spending a couple days with 90 plus songwriters who were attending the Texas Christian Songwriters 2nd Annual Conference. One of the writers asked "If you had to name THE most important thing that you look for in a song what would it be?" Almost immediately I answered "It needs to make me feel something".

I remember my very first meeting with Jason Ingram. His manager at the time, Tamara Alan, brought him in to meet with me while I was a publisher at Word. He played me several songs and one of his songs deeply moved me. I ended up signing him to his very first publishing deal and needless to say that was a great signing!

This Sunday at Church of the Redeemer, where my husband and I attend, I was deeply moved by a song.

I have been singing this song since I was a child attending the Bible Baptist Church in Lincoln, Maine where my Dad was the pastor. It even has my name in it!

Instead of Where Is Waldo? (a great book series), Where is Wilt?!

Great is Thy faithfulness, oh God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Written by Thomas Chisholm and William Runyan.

Our worship leader hadn't had planned on singing the song during the service but felt the Spirit prompting her to lead us in a verse and chorus.

Sometimes songs are so familiar to us that we miss the impact of the truth in the message.

I felt this overwhelming surge of gratefulness that I worship a God whose love for me does not change when I am ungrateful, complaining, fearful, and a compulsive worrier.

In fact in God there is NO SHADOW OF TURNING - I just love that image.

Daily I am amazed by God's new mercies being lavishly poured out on me. I have a God who promises to provides everything I need and I can take him at his WORD - "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua 1:5

I pray that your heart is encouraged by the reminder that your Heavenly Father delights in you and that in Him you have everything that you need.

Blessings,
Cindy