Mac- A whole new world

Hello Everyone,

I am playing around with my new Mac, and had some fun with Garageband. Not perfect by any stretch, and it took me a while to figure out how to make this a mp3 and then a video to upload, but here you go.. I will be starting my blog back up in January but think I need to rename the tag line into something like.. Deb's Weekly Musings..haha.. The daily thing was not working out for me but I can swing a weekly blog..

Until Then.. Have a safe New Years!

Listen..

“Be still and know that I am God”..
Psalms 46:10

Have you thought about what it means to be “still”?
For some it means stopping what they are doing and physically being still while for others myself including, it means to quiet my heart, leave the anxiety behind, breathe deep and listen.

Be still..
Be quiet, Be at peace, Be hopeful, Be joyful, Be expectant, Wait for me.

And know..
Be intimate with me, Be in relationship with me, Talk to me, Listen for me

That I am God..
I am the beginning and end to your questions, I am involved in your process, I am aware of your life, I am strong, I am here for you to run to.

Today, find a way to quiet yourself from all the noise of the world.
Listen to the sound of quietness within you. What is the quiet speaking to you today?

Next blog entry.. Stillness..

Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out.

Pulling Together

“It's better to have a partner than go it alone Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, But if there's no one to help, tough!. “ Ecclesiastes 4:9 (The Message)

I love the truth that this passage of scripture communicates. How many of us have struggled with being a lone ranger at times? While it is true, that there are some things that you need to do yourself and initiate yourself and take responsibility, that does not mean that you do not have a strong core of support behind you to keep you on the right path, to counsel and encourage and to speak up when your path takes an odd turn.

I want to encourage you today to be the best friend that everyone wants to be around.
Be the person that everyone runs to in a time of need. Did you know just by being there and encouraging your friend, that you are helping them on their journey.
Your smile, your letter of encouragement, that extra phone call, or email are all ways that you are “pulling with them”.

Think about a tug of war match and how the contestants are straining so hard. What would happen if one of those people let go of the rope? Their friend would fall in the water, or pit or whatever was in the gap. Consider again the scripture I started the blog with. “It's better to have a partner than go it alone Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, But if there's no one to help, tough”

Remember.. “One can put a thousand to flight, but two can put ten thousand..”

Anyone want to pull together today and see what we can do?

Pastor Debbie

Living a life of Worship from the Inside Out.

Is your Passion bigger then your Problem?

Authors note...

These devotionals are meant to be raw and honest.
My hope is that I might say and acknowledge things that most of us might keep quiet about out of fear of what someone might think if they knew what were struggling with.
God has not called me to worry about what others think (although I do at times)
What I have been asked by God is to be transparent with you the reader. So while others might want to hide all their fears and challenges, I think it is important that I write real life, real emotions and real solutions in my own life. You may not agree with it all, or have the same experience, and that is fine. My story after all is my own, but like I mentioned earlier; I am not all that unique, just transparent, and that leads me to believe that you will be able to relate to all or part of what I am about to share.
All that to say this…


It has been a difficult week.

Ever noticed that when your navigating through a difficult season in your life, how much harder it can be to keep your heavenly perspective? How much harder it is to be positive and along with that, how incredibly easy it is to become negative or find reasons to fault or have doubt about other things that present themselves during your day or week?
Ever noticed that when you’re going through one of those seasons how easy it is for resentments to come roaring back into your thinking and start to dominate your day?
You can find yourself falling into old ways of relating quicker then you imagined possible. This has been my experience the last several weeks. One negative thing after another has presented itself and snowballed into an avalance of disappointment within my soul. Disappointed with myself, with other people, with situations in my life, you name it I could probably tell you that the last couple weeks, I have hit on most categories.

So what do you do when that happens? How hard is it to praise when your down?
For me the answer is simple and complex. I must praise. I must worship. I must take every thought captive and be very purposeful in my praise. As I did that this week, I realized how much of my passion for Jesus had been sapped by the weight and worries of the world. I went to war this week and I feel battered and bruised yet I know I am not alone, I know that the Lord is with me and pleased with my determination to worship him regardless of the storms around me and within my own soul. And God; merciful and rich in grace, always meets me, comforts me, corrects me and strengthens me. I would love to tell you that all the battles go away and everything is perfect now. That simply is not true, maybe that happens in the old time movies, all the happy endings. What I do know is this.
My Passion must be bigger then my Problem.. I must not allow myself to become luke-warm when things go wrong. So today I set my face like flint that I will praise the Lord,
I will give him my worship, I will give him my burdens and I will give my passion to him who is worthy.

Renew your first love today. It might not be easy, but it will heal you.

Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out

Mary & Martha.. Can I be both?

If you have read the story of Mary & Martha then you know that one was busy working while the other was sitting at the feet of Jesus. As Martha complained that Mary was not helping her, Jesus told Martha that she was anxious about many things but that Mary had chosen the better way.

As a pastor / worship leader / songwriter I have considered myself to be much more on the Mary side of my relationship with Christ. If I do not spend time with my God, I have no songs to write, no heavenly counsel to give etc. If I do not spend that quiet alone time, I tend to dry up like a plant with no water..

Recently, while away on vacation, I had a interesting dream, one in which I was busy with many things that upon reflection were weighing me down. It was made mention to me that I was doing too much administrative work in the church and that I needed to just focus on my primary gifting and role which is leading worship. Upon reflection, I can see that I have indeed taken on the Martha role for quite a while now. So what do you do when you feel like you need to be two people at once? Can I be a Mary and a Martha, is there a balance? I think for the first time in my awareness, I can really relate to Martha more then ever before.. If I give it enough time, I am going to find reasons to stay in Martha mode but instead will choose to go back to what helps makes me the person I am and that is deep intimacy with the Lord.. So back to my first question; Mary or Martha, Can I be both?

The answer for me is not yet… While I am sure there is a balance, this last season has proven that I have not yet learned what it is. Nothing can or should get in the way of your first love and the passion that you have for your God. So today friends, I must put my Mary hat back on and I will put all those concerns back on the Lord and stop carrying them. And even as I write this I can hear the Lord whisper to me.. “daughter, you have chosen the better way, I will never leave you or forsake you. Trust in me to accomplish all that you have set out in your heart to do. I will guide you, I will carry you and I will settle your heart and bring you into peace and prosperity.”

Going back to his feet today.

Pastor Debbie
Living a life of Worship from the Inside Out

Want a better connection? Lose your bars..

If you have a wireless phone, blackberry, or some other type of pda device, you know that access is important. In the wireless world we live in today, no bars equates to no emails, internet, etc. I recently found out this weekend just how much I had become accustomed to always having that access when we stayed in an area with zero bars, which I found out much to my chagrin that first night. The next morning however, proved to be one of the most delightful times I had experienced in a long while that I would not trade for any amount of cell coverage. Can you guess what we did? Way out in the wilderness with nothing but beautiful mountains all around us, we did something that we used to enjoy on a much more consistent basis before this world of technology. With no link to the outside world we simply sat on the deck and talked. Of course, we were not completely roughing it and coffee was part of the equation, but what a joy to sit and just be with my sweetheart and really connect on so many different levels. We talked about our dreams, our hopes, our future plans. We talked honestly about how we felt about how things were going in every aspect of our lives. We were open about what we had faith for, and what things posed a concern and together we came up with a plan to push through obstacles to get to the place that we want to be.

It was a wonderful weekend of exploration both of the natural beauty all around us but also of the beauty within ourselves and of the spouses that we fell in love with.
We rediscovered how much we enjoy each others company without all the distractions.
I realized once again this weekend how much I thoroughly enjoy the company of my spouse and just how much I need that companionship. My phone can not tell me it loves me and is supporting me. It can’t make me laugh or encourage me to try again when I have failed. I am thankful for all the technology that is available when I am away from family and friends, I love staying connected in that way. I did learn however that the very technology that connects me can distance me.

Get connected today, the old fashioned way.
Face to Face.

Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out

Celebrate the Victory

Today is a big day for me in the story of my life. The cd’s are coming today and it marks the completion of a project that started with a big vision years earlier and today I get to hold in my hand the completed product. When I woke up this morning, the discussion in our house did not center on how great a day it is going to be, or how excited I was. Instead, my morning started out with a bullet list of critical issues the needed to be addressed in other areas of my realm of responsibility and they had to be addressed today before I leave on vacation.

Isn’t it just like life to come along and let the air out of your balloon on a day that is marked for celebration?

My general lack of excitement comes from letting urgency of my responsibilities weigh me down, when it would be far better for my soul if I allowed myself to soar today. I have worked hard, dreamed big, persevered through setbacks, and never gave up and that my friends is reason to celebrate. So here is what I am going to do today.
Visualize with me if you will. I am sitting with my family on a mountain very close to the peak. It is a natural spot to stop and rejoice in all the beauty all around me and to celebrate the distance we have climbed so far. The sparkling cider is out, and we are laughing and enjoying the moment. There is activity all around me that is screaming for immediate attention. I am not oblivious to them but I have decided to enjoy the mountain peek first and then when I have celebrated this great victory, I will with a joyful spirit take on the next challenge in front of me.
There will always be things that want our attention but my encouragement to both myself and you the reader is to take time to enjoy the work you have already done. Thank God for giving you the vision, the gifting and the drive to see a vision through to completion and know that God rejoices with you over your victory. Why should I be downcast today, when there is a party going on in heaven over my accomplishment?

Party on!

Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out.

Take the garbage out.

Garbage in, Garbage out.

This is a phrase I have heard often in my adult life. Sounds kind of gross, but the message is true. What you put into your spirit, what you think about and mediate on, will eventually come back out. When it does finally come to the surface, it appears at the most inopportune times and leaves a mess. I would love to tell you that this has never happened to me, but then this is my blog, so of course I speak from experience that I am sharing with you for any to read as they wish.

Have you ever noticed how hard it can be at times to correct your thinking?
I know we have many self help books, and meditations and other ways to encourage us to center ourselves, but really, some days it is just plain hard. There is a battle that rages around us as we take the necessary steps to move forward in our lives and if we have not filled ourselves up with enough positive affirmations and stay grounded on the goodness of God and all the blessings in our life, then when the tough times comes, and they will..Out comes the garbage..

I was reminded of something last night and that is basically this simple fact.
I have an enemy and he is a liar, and a deceiver. Perhaps a new name for the devil should be the garbage man? For really that is all the enemy brings. Garbage and deception and if we let it sit around rather then taking it out to the curb, then it messes up our surroundings.. So take your garbage out today, and watch the air around you freshen and your outlook change. There is life out there for you to enjoy and to stop and smell the roses of life once you remove the pile clouding your vision.

Take your thoughts captive today, sort through them and get the garbage out of your mind so you can enjoy this great day set in front of us.

Pastor Debbie
Living a life of Worship from the Inside Out

Pray Yourself Happy!

Today as I was waiting for the sleep from eyes to clear up, I started to say a quick prayer and thank the Lord for the people in my life. My family, Susan, Benjamin, family, co-workers, friends, church members, other pastors and people in different states.
As I prayed; I was reminded that I am Loved, Blessed and Cherished by the people that God has placed in my life. What an amazing feeling of love and peace came flooding into my soul!

That simple prayer of thanks this morning has brought me so much joy and peace to go into my day with. The bible says to “Bless the Lord oh my soul (mind, will & emotions) and to forget not all of His benefits”..

This morning; as I put that principle into practice, I “prayed myself happy”

Take a moment today wherever you are and think about the good things in your life
And feel your soul awaken fresh today to the love that you have.

Pray yourself happy!
Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out.

Put your order in

There is a certain level of confidence that we have when we order at a restaurant. We give our directions, complete with all of our substitutions or additions and then we sit back and wait for our food, knowing that it will come eventually.

The key is in the ordering..

It may sound too simplistic, but you if you do not make your request known,then how can it be filled?

This morning I found a journal entry from Feb 08 that had listed out my vision for several large projects that I wanted to accomplish within a year. They were lofty goals some of which I have done and others are still a work in progress. What really grabbed my attention was a section where I listed out in detail everything I thought I would need to reach a particular goal. I can see from my journal that I was feeling a tad overwhelmed with the scope of the vision, but it did not stop me from listing out everything I needed and then committing it to the Lord to bring it about. Fast forward to 18 months later and I can see how every single need I listed in that journal was met without me really doing much. The needs I had were beyond my skill or financial level to achieve on my own but God who is intimately concerned with your needs and desires made a way for it to all come together
. Their were many days when I did not think the vision was going to happen, but one thing I kept doing was being specific and intentional with what my request was.

I put my order in with heaven and heaven answered with something bigger and brighter then I had even asked for. Is that not just like God to do it up big in our lives!. I believe God delights in seeing us delighted.

It brings me back full circle to wondering why I spend any time at all be anxious about anything?

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication (asking) with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus" Phil 4:6-7

Make your request known to Him today..
Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out

Never Alone

I wrote a song that ends with the words “ I am never alone”
How many times have we felt all alone and found ourselves in despair and holding onto pain because we have isolated our pain from our family and friends. We feel all alone in our circumstances and can not see a way out of the situation. I myself have often caught myself sitting in my situation with my mind twirling in a hundred directions and have found myself getting more frustrated with every moment that goes by and then I remember to call out to the Lord.My favorite prayer is a very simple one. HELP LORD. Amazing how quickly the clouds can roll back from my mind and peace can enter my heart when I say these simple words. Help Lord!!

We are truly never alone, God says he will not leave you or turn his back on you.

He wants us to know that He is always close by us. He sees all, He hears all and He knows all our concerns. When we remind ourselves that God is intimately concerned with what concerns us, we can take comfort in knowing the very real presence of God himself.
Right now, where you are, just remind yourself that you are Truly Never Alone!
Let the peace of God fill you today where ever you are, what ever your situation.

God, Your word says you are with me where ever I go. I need your peace today.
Open my heart to know your presence today. I am Never alone!

Pastor Debbie

Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out

Don’t run past your checkpoints

Hard to believe that it is June already. The year has just gone by and I have accomplished a lot but I still wonder what more I could be accomplishing in spiritual things.

I have done much this year. I have grown and stepped out in faith and vigorously pursued my dreams and visions for ministry. At times; I hear that persistent inner voice that says go faster, work harder, do more, do it better…That is not the voice however that I am going to listen to today.

I must remember that I am in a race and not a sprint. This world is full of sprinters, and perhaps at times, I want to compare myself to them but I must remember that I am on a journey and I want to take time to stop and enjoy every aspect of it along the way.

This is a special race with plenty of check points to view my progress along the way.

You stop, check in, get some water, check your course, rest a little and then move on with a clear determination of where you’re going next. If you have been running for a long time, perhaps you’re due for check point today?

Sit, relax, share with a friend, find the joy in what you’re doing today and when your ready get back up and run

Pastor Debbie

Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out

What is fear holding you back from?

Joshua 2:23-24

“all the people are melting in fear because of us.”

I find this piece of scripture interesting and a good reminder to keep my hope and focus not on what I can accomplish in my own strength, but in what God can do in and through me.

The original group in the dessert did not enter the promised land because they were scared and did not trust in the promise that the Lord had given them. As the second generation is ready to possess the land, they see that even 40 years later, the people of Jerhico are scared of them, because they know God maker of heaven and earth is on their side.


I find this fascinating and humbling to know that the fight was already won forty years earlier, but because of a fear, God’s people completely missed out on their blessing.
The reality was that the people of Jerhico were melting in fear because they knew that God was the defender of the people of Israel. They knew that God would perform mighty works on behalf of his people. They knew the power of God more then the follows of God did.

We often shake and tremble at what God has called us to do because our perspective is clouded. Our perspective gets skewed with the thinking that we ourselves must posses all knowledge and strength ahead of time to accomplish the task, the dream or the vision that we have in our hearts. If the story of Jericho tells us anything at all, it should be that where God says go, God will make a way for you to go. Your never alone in your journey and it never has been and never will be about doing it in your own strength or intellect.

So what has God called you to do, what promise has He given you that you have not started to posses? What walls need to come down in your own life, to allow you to enter into all that God has for you today?

Believe God today and see yourself walk into your inheritance.

Pastor Debbie
Living a life of Worship from the Inside Out.

We give Him our worship by giving Him our burdens.

What is perfect peace? Can we really attain that?
If we believe the word of God, then yes we can attain that, it is already ours. The problem is not in God’s ability to do what He has said He will do, it is in our understanding that we already have the promise. Keeping our mind stayed on the Lord means to continually keep Him and His promises in front of us. I have gone through many trails and have learned over time that the quicker I am to keep my thoughts on the Lord and not on my circumstances, then that peace of God stays with me.

When I am at peace deep in my spirit, I can sing in the rain. I can play during a lighting storm, I can have everything swirling around me and still stay in faith. This does not mean, that I do not feel, that we pretend that all is well, for indeed all might not be well in your surroundings, but it can be well within yourself. We can not control other people or situations so there will always be opportunity for us to practice this aspect of worship to the Lord.

The showers can be loud and hard but the word says in Isaiah 26:3
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

Give Him your burdens today. He is able to carry all that you cannot.

Pastor Debbie.

Living a Life of Worship from the Inside out.

Singing In the Rain

There is great strength in be able to praise through the storms of life.
Life is not without our sorrows and storms but it can be filled with joy, rest and peace even in the middle of the trails. It is not how much we can “sweat it out’ during our trials that develops strength in us. It is about being in the middle of a storm and keeping your peace.
The song singing in the rain, was not about a gloomy person trying to get out of the rain.

In the movie, the actor is dancing, twirling his umbrella and skipping along with the water all over and the clouds grey.Consider the lyrics to this popular song it comes from a secular movie but could easily be a worship song -

A clarion call to our soul to rise up and praise the Lord.

I'm singing in the rain Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'I'm happy again.
I'm laughing at clouds So dark up above
The sun's in my heartAnd I'm ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain I 've a smile on my face
I walk down the laneWith a happy refrain
Just singin',Singin' in the rain
I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain!
I'm dancin' and singin' in the rain...
Why am I smiling
And why do I sing?
Why does SeptemberSeem sunny as spring?
Why do I get upEach morning and start?
Happy and head upWith joy in my heart
Why is each new taskA trifle to do?
Because I am livingA life full of you.

********I love these additional lyrics I found on the web.Why is my heart full of joy?

Because I am living a life full of you.
And that is the key..Living a life centered on the Lord, will keep you singing in the rain.

"I will sing to You today, Out of the depths of my being, shall my voice raise to You.In You is my strength, my hope and my delight"

Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out.