It's the week after Valentine's Day and the first post post-Valentine (get it?) on 1 + The One!!
How was Valentine's Day for you? Any stories? Any updates? What happened? Oh, I had a blog post all set in my head and I was looking forward to giving you the gist of what happened over the weekend!! Alas, work took the better of my time and I just couldn't do it..
Well, summary of it was that the highlight of the weekend for me was church on Sunday!! (figures right?? :-).. On Valentine's Day itself, I was waiting on all the 'mystery'
Anyway, I had a wonderful time at my cousin's birthday party and I got the opportunity to spend some beautiful time with some of my darling family members + food was involved.. So, One = a happy girl..<3 p="">
Then on Sundayyyy!!! Woohoo! I had been feverishly looking forward to it ever since it was announced in church that that was how we would be spending Sunday after Valentine's Day!! (Have I told you recently how much I love my church?? :-D).. The theme was 'A Love Affair' and oh la la... A Loveee Affair it was!! *smoking*!! Hehehe.. Seeing as this is NOT a Valentine's weekend post, I shall stop here.. If you want to know warrapens, come to RCCG City of David in Oniru Lagos on Sunday to get the 411! :-)
Now, after that very lonnggg digression, we nicely 'enter' in to today's beautiful Music and Me post hosted this week by a lady that I really admire and respect, a fellow blogger who blogs brilliantly at www.imperfectlyperfectlives.com and someone that I randomly run into on the streets (or halls) of Lagos! Ladies and Gentlemen, Frances Okoro does the honours today and before she proceeds, I must say that I LOVE this song and I LOVE Matt Redman!!!!
Ok, let's go, Frances, take the wheel!!
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I remember the first time I heard Matt Redman's 10,000 reasons.
I was in my final year in the University and I had just been told that I didn't get to the 2:1 mark.
I had been praying for it for a long time and I sincerely thought that that semester would be when God would give it to me.
If not then, then when?
I had just one semester to go and everyone knows that you can't get a 2:1 anymore if you don't get it before the last semester... right?
It was like "get the 2:1 in 500L first semester or never"
So I cried.
I cried so hard and so long after I saw my results that day.
Final year students were the only ones in school so I locked my door and drowned myself in self pity.
Angry with God for my faith that had gone 'un-noticed'.
I can't remember how I got to play Matt Redman's 10,000 reasons, but I remember that I was playing "Casting Crowns - Praise You in the Storm" and somehow stumbled on "Bless the Lord oh my Soul".
My bruised faith was like "Bless God for what?"
I couldn't open my mouth to sing shi shi.
It was bad, really bad.
Every time I heard Matt Redman say "I worship your holy name", I cried.
10,000 reasons to worship God? When He didn't give me my 2:1? No, I wasn't that strong.
But it didn't take me long to realize that there were indeed 10,000 reasons to praise God.
In fact, there were a million and one reasons to praise God and the lack of a 2:1 in my life didn't deflect from that.
So I made a decision to sing along with Matt Redman and mean it from my heart.
I sang:
"Bless the Lord Oh my soul, Oh my soul...
Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, oh my soul.
I worship your holy name"
I sang and I cried.
I sang and I cried.
I sang with the pain in my heart and still, I knew that God is worthy to be praised.
2:1 or not.
Tears or no tears.
Laughter or no laughter.
God is worthy to be praised.
That was the start of real worship to God for me.
God sifted and filtered my faith then and He is still doing that with me.
He taught me what real faith and true praise is.
I realized that I couldn't just praise God when all was well, I will praise Him when all goes "seemingly" awry.
Even in those tear filled moments, God is still God and worthy to be praised.
So bless the Lord oh my soul!
Bless the Lord oh my soul!
Sing like never before oh my soul!
There are 1million and more reasons to worship and praise His holy name!
P.S - I did graduate with my 2:1 from the University.
God suspended every of man's thoughts and mind sets and gave me my 2:1 in my last semester in the University - the semester where everyone said that it's impossible to move higher on the ladder of G.P :-)
Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, oh my soul.
I worship your holy name"
I sang and I cried.
I sang and I cried.
I sang with the pain in my heart and still, I knew that God is worthy to be praised.
2:1 or not.
Tears or no tears.
Laughter or no laughter.
God is worthy to be praised.
That was the start of real worship to God for me.
God sifted and filtered my faith then and He is still doing that with me.
He taught me what real faith and true praise is.
I realized that I couldn't just praise God when all was well, I will praise Him when all goes "seemingly" awry.
Even in those tear filled moments, God is still God and worthy to be praised.
So bless the Lord oh my soul!
Bless the Lord oh my soul!
Sing like never before oh my soul!
There are 1million and more reasons to worship and praise His holy name!
P.S - I did graduate with my 2:1 from the University.
God suspended every of man's thoughts and mind sets and gave me my 2:1 in my last semester in the University - the semester where everyone said that it's impossible to move higher on the ladder of G.P :-)
Bless the Lord oh my soul!
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Oh, I smiled when I read Frances' post, particular the end... Wow! What a Mighty Good God!
I can imagine that a lot of us have been through that situation or indeed are in that place where praise seems to be the very LAST thing on our minds. When the strength to sing a line of praise seems like a herculean task or even unworthy at that time because we felt, or feel let down, disappointed or had our hopes dashed.. Particularly when we seemed to have prayed and prayed and prayed, yet the outcome still remained unfavourable!
Like Frances said, it may be tough, but if we did a sincere soul search, we would discover that despite ALL, there are still over 10,000 (and even a million) reasons to bless the Lord and worship His holy name! <<< That right there, is the sacrifice of praise.. Praising through ALL circumstances.
The beautiful thing about praise like Frances testifies and demonstrates is that when you praise God, it does not matter how impossible the situation may seem, God is able enough (more than able!) to turn it around in your favour... No matter how dire it looks, praise God... He is worthy of every praise, and of course, He alone has the key to open ALL doors and answer ALL prayers too!
As you praise Him through ALL circumstances, may He turn what seems impossible to a mighty testimony in Jesus name. More than that, may we all understand the true essence of praise and worship - not just in the good times, but at all times!
Bless the Lord oh my soul, and ALL that is within me, bless His holy name!
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Would you like to share yours too? Remember it could be a song that struck something in you when you listened to it, it could be a song or worship that you used during a down-time in your life and it made a huge difference, it could be a song that takes you into the 'God-zoneee', it could be a song that helps you express what mere words cannot quite convey, it could be a song that brings a zest and zing to your heart and steps whenever it comes up!
Each song will be accompanied by a story, introduction or reason why it is the choice of the week..
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10,000 reasons is arguably one of the best and most uplifting worship songs of all time. Lol this might be a big statement, but I just love love love this song. I especially like to sing the first stanza ("The sun comes up...") in the morning :)
ReplyDeleteI can also recommend "Rend Collective"s version of 10,000 reasons, it's a nice calm version. Should be on youtube too.
And thank you Frances for your beautiful story, glad you found reasons to worship Him even though you couldn't initially. And congratulations that your law-thing still worked out in the end :)
Thanks for the recommendation Sebs!
DeleteThank you so much for the song you recommended Sebastain.
ReplyDeleteI totally love Rend collective, will check for and download it...
And thank you Ayo for publishing this!
And I soooo smiled when I got to "who I run into randomly on the streets of Lagos"
I sooo miss Lagos and miss you too.
We'll see soon...randomly again. hehe.
Thank you soo much...
and your words at the end of the post? Just awesome..just awesome and spoke to me still.
I miss you too and I look forward to seeing you very soon by God's grace. Thank you very much for writing, it is a real blessing xxxx
DeleteAwwwwww.. I'd never forget playing this song through one of my most trying times; when I had to battle a very severe health condition, I cried as I listened to it and sang along. Even till date when things are wrong I just go back to the song and allow my soul to bless God when I have no words to.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Frances ND Ayo! Much love
Thank God! It's such a beautiful song.
DeleteWhen I first heard it, I played it on repeat (very loudly) lol.. It blessed me so much! God bless Matt Redman and God bless you too! xx
First heard the song from a friend that I was in a relationship with at the time. It was one of his best songs...always had it playing on repeat. When the relationship ended and I was so devastated, that was one of the songs that I kept playing. (lol). 'Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me, Let me be singing when the evening comes' is a reminder to thank God at ALL times. Thank you Frances and Ayo for sharing #Hugs
ReplyDelete