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| by Stephanie Pauline |
Forgiveness is: Yes
This will be the last article I write for a few months
here. I'm going to do my best to lay low and just
be present with my family for six months or so. I'm
excited about that and about giving some of the others
involved with More than Music an opportunity to take
the floor and share their hearts with you through this
newsletter. Melanie Sorensen, our environmental
missionary, who has been circumnavigating the globe
these last nine months, is going to field next
months' "From the Heart" section. Also look for entries
from Nathan, (my husband and fellow MtM board
member),
Kathy Morford, (our Booking and PR Manager),
Genny Moellring, (the Treasurer for MtM), and others.
It's going to be a fun time where I get to sit back and
be blessed by this phenomenal team of people God
has brought around this ministry.
With the release of my new album "Deep Blue Sky" I thought I would choose a subject that fits with the theme of that CD. As mentioned, all the songs from that CD were written for my husband, (save the one for my Dad). I wrote them at the onset of our union some four to five years ago. They are characterized by a deep sense of commitment and love for this man. That commitment and passion has only been fueled by these years spent together as husband and wife. I would like to share the lesson I have learned that I have found to be of greatest lasting value in our marriage, the seeds of which can be found even on this album written before marriage's trials and tests. In the second verse of the song "Yes" the lyrics go like this: "I know the day will come when years have gone by. You've hurt me somehow, and the tears fill my eyes. Your defenses will crumble. Your voice, it will break. As you stand and consider the cost of your mistake. Then, I know you so well, you will get on your knees. You'll say, 'Oh my Love, will you forgive me please? I'm doing my best. I'll do better, I pray.' But before you're even done, I know just what I'll say." Then the chorus goes on with the refrain "I'll say, 'Yes'". It's a beautiful moment in the song, and it's the line that has most caused tears to come to both mine and Nathan's eyes in these last years together. I don't think I knew the price of those words when I wrote them, although I think I had an inkling. The fundamental difference between playing house and really living and loving in an epic way in a marriage relationship is commitment and forgiveness. I've asked myself so many times over the last few years, "What does forgiveness really mean?" It's easy in an abstract sense, especially when you don't have to live day in and day out with the culprit. ;) These are the things I think God has shown me in answer to that question. First we need to recognize, and accept that to love means to be hurt in this fallen reality in which we live. We all sin and struggle. We need only look to Christ on the cross to see what loving us costs, but like Mother Theresa once said, "I love until it hurts and then I keep loving. In time I find there is no more hurt, only love." We need to be willing to stop running from the pain, and instead let God use it. Either way - it's going to come. God isn't going to take away our freedom and our power to hurt one another, but this way it can be purposed pain; used to fashion us into something wonderful. I don't know sometimes why God allows the things that He does, or why real relationships in general are so taxing, but I know that through my own marriage experience I have better learned how to believe beyond myself and my own faculties, and even those of my husband. God is God and I am not. God has brought so much good through other great challenges, and failures in my life, how could I ever not trust Him with this. I have learned more concretely what it cost God to believe in me even when I believed in nothing; to see my value when I was wallowing in my own filth, as we all do from time to time. If God can love me like that: so purely, so completely, then how can I hold anything against my beloved, my fellow partner. Finally, I am learning that forgiveness is more than just a word - it's a willingness to believe even when your heart is hurting. That is the greatest lesson I have yet learned in marriage. I just keep saying "yes" and I keep receiving the resounding "yes" I get from God through Christ. If God can keep forgiving me, then I can keep forgiving too. When I think I can't muster my own "yes" I hear God's voice warm within my heart. I look within and find more than I thought I had. Only divinity could dream it...only God could sustain - this love. Smile. |
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| by Genny Moellring |
We continue to be grateful to our friends and
supporters who encourage us with their prayers and
gifts. We trust the Lord to continue to meet the needs
of More than Music, Inc. so that hearts and lives can
be presented with the message of God's love to them
and we can see lives changed with the Truth - Jesus,
Himself.
We have a need for funding of grant writers who can present the mission of More than Music, Inc. and obtain monies to further this ministry. Specifically we are looking to fund a 50-concert detention and treatment center tour in 2008. If you would like to contribute $3,000.00 toward a grant writer, this will give us the money to have a grant writer prepare 5 grant proposals. $5,000.00 will give us the money for 10 grant proposals and $7,000.00 will provide for 15 proposals. We are still in need of a trailer to haul all of our gear for concerts. All contributions are tax deductible. As you feel led by the Spirit of God to provide a gift to MtM, please write your check to More than Music, Inc. and send it to: More than Music, Inc. PO Box 31 Farmington, MN 55024 |
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Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. I trust this month will see you blessed as you choose to let the "yes" of God's reply to your need for forgiveness seep into your soul, freeing you to love - to really love.
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