Ill Rise Up Again Karaoke

I woke up this morning to brightness of the orange and yellow leaves piercing through my window. It was completely calm outside and 65 degrees too I might add. So my first instinct was to get myself out of bed, enjoy this beautiful weather and ride my scooter to the gym. I'm cruising along while listening to music through my ear pods, taking in all of God's beauty. The fresh fall air and stillness of the day put a smile on my face. As I'm admiring the fall colors (while paying attention to the road of course), the song "Rise Up" came on through my headphones. I've heard this song before, most recently at our women's conference, Sparkle, but never had I taken the time to really soak in the sincerity of these lyrics.

Chorus:

And I'll rise up

I'll rise like the day

I'll rise up

I'll rise unafraid

I'll rise up

And I'll do it a thousand times again

And I'll rise up

High like the waves

I'll rise up

In spite of the ache

And I'll do it a thousand times again

I found myself taking an extra-long scooter ride just to hit repeat over and over again. God spoke to me during the fifty times I listened to it, scootin' around Apple Valley. Music has always been a huge part of my life. As a child, I used to fall asleep in front of the kick drum as my parents would have their weekly band practice. It is very therapeutic to me and more often than not, I hear God speaking to me through particular lyrics. If I'm having a rough day and don't know how to handle my emotions, he provides a song to calm me down. When I was going through some extremely painful break-ups, he blessed me with a song to know he was with me. Even the days that I'm happy as can be and not really sure why I'm so cheerful, he puts on a song that gives me a reason to dance and rejoice. It's just something I've shared in my relationship with God for as long as I can remember.

When this song came on today, I heard God say, "You will have your low days, but you will rise up. In spite of the aches and pains, you will rise up. When you're tired of the struggle, you will rise up. And you'll do it a thousand times again, because I am with you." I thought to myself, "wow, even in the midst of the pain of your past, you rose up. You thought your world was crashing and you'd never overcome the pain and fear you faced years ago- look at you today. You rose up. And you will do the same in years to come for today's hurts. You will look back and see that you rose up when you felt like you may never overcome." We rise up in spite of the aches and we will do it a thousand times because through God's strength we can conquer anything and we will do it unafraid.

When you dedicate your life to serving Jesus, your problems become a whole set of different problems. I've been saved since I was 10 years old, however, I wasn't always dedicating my life to him. Years ago, when I went through an abusive relationship, I thought about giving up. I couldn't see past my circumstances. I couldn't see that someday, I would be more than okay and this was just a "bump" in the road. I didn't give it to God. I still believed and I still went to church, but when it came to giving my whole life to him (including my circumstances), I failed. I truly believe I went through far more pain that I ever had to because of not fully trusting God with my life.

Here I am today, still with problems and struggles, but there's difference between my problems in my past and the problems I have today; God-given confidence.

The dictionary defines it as:

con·fi·dence

noun: confidence

1. the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.

So what is God-given confidence? It's the grace of God. Typically, we hear grace defined as undeserved favor from God, but it's really more than just that. When we are saved, we are given free access to God's power, to which will enable us to defeat any struggle we could not have on our own.

In Ephesians 2:8 it says, "For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God."

When we accept Christ as our Savior, we are taught that we are saved by grace, through faith. With this said, the same way we are saved, is the exact way we are supposed to live out our lives. Everything in our lives is by grace, through faith. Not just when we need him most or when it's most convenient for us. The more we apply this to our life, the more our problems become less of a problem and more of a solution because we know that God's power can overcome anything.

Never did I think I would be saying this, but I'm excited to see what God does with my struggles today. Now having the key to his power and confidence, I can look forward to the future and the growth I'll receive during these "trying" times. I've come a long way since those dark days in my past and it's amazing to see how God used me. My new prayer to pray during difficult times is, "God if your plan is not to deliver me from my struggle right now, please use me through it." Often we pray for God to take away our pain when he wants to use us in the midst of the pain. It's all on his timing and we all know God can take as llooooonnngggggg as he wants, but we have a choice: to stay knocked down and wait for him to take your problems away, or we can rise up and be used through the struggle. Either way, it our choice and God's timing. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even when God delivers us from our problem, there will come a time when another one will occur. You're not guaranteed a life without problems. You're guaranteed a loving God who will give you the strength to get past the problems. So if that's the case, let's learn to rise up so when the next trouble surfaces, we are trained to have the endurance to stand back up in spite of our circumstances!

XO,

April

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Source: https://apriljonesblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/ill-rise-up/