"Turn Our Eyes Away"

This song is hauntingly beautiful. It's by Trent Dabbs, with Ruby Amanfu... To me, it speaks poignantly and honestly of the struggle we all face in life, while leaving a little room for some hope... Ultimately, we all come to a point where we must turn our eyes away from what we have known and from the various paths we've all taken, and look to some One greater than ourselves to save us (since we have zero hope of saving ourselves). I don't have any idea what Trent and Ruby had in mind when they wrote this song, but it's an undeniable fact that what they describe can apply to anyone. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and that it will inspire you to turn to God today.

I'm a broken soul
I'm an open book 

With many torn out pages
And I walk through fire
But I thirst for truth
For what I've never tasted
And it calls to me again
The comfort of the sin

Turn our eyes away
Turn our eyes away
From this path we've taken
Washing clean our faces
Turn our eyes away
Turn our eyes away
Leaning on the hope that
One day even we
Oh one day even we
Will be saved

I got a war inside
With a flag in hand
I'll wait to cry surrender
While the pride in me
Is fighting who I am
Why is it that I linger?
I guess every man decides
To take or save a life 

Turn our eyes away
Turn our eyes away
From this path we've taken
Washing clean our faces
Turn our eyes away
Turn our eyes away
Leaning on the hope that
One day even we
Oh one day even we
Will be saved

Ohhh

Turn our eyes away
Turn our eyes away
From this path we've taken
Washing clean our faces
Turn our eyes away
Turn our eyes away
Leaning on the hope that
One day even we
Oh one day even we
Will be saved

One day even we
Will be saved

(P.S. Some of you get emails whenever I publish a blog, and if you do, then the video mayn't show up. Here's the link to see it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xThEAs-K9U)

Pray.

Faith is only as good as the object in which it is placed. Prior to recovery, I'd made a habit of placing my faith in things or in people that let me down. My best thinking, combined with misplaced faith, resulted in a crisis of identity and belief... which led me to doubt God's ability and authority, and my prayers reflected my unbelief.  

There's a saying: Only God can make a tree. The Lord is the Author and Creator of the universe, of time and space and the laws of physics. God created the world simply by speaking. He is the only one who can right wrongs, forgive sin, redeem the lost, heal the hurting, repair brokenness and restore faith and "the years that the locusts have eaten." Only God can bend the rules of time and space and physics; He can do beyond what we can ask or think; He can work miracles and do the impossible. The Lord's ability and authority are omniscient and absolute, yet I prayed as if this were not so. 

My recovery journey led me to ask myself some questions. Some easy, some not so easy—to ask or have answered. But ask them I did, and God literally blew my mind sometimes, especially when I was at my most desperate and too weak to do anything else BUT pray.

I still make a habit of asking myself, and asking God, the hard questions, and it has revolutionized my prayer life—the daily habit of it, how I do it and what I expect to come of it. If you "feel stupid" praying, or don't know how to pray or where to start, ask yourself: What things or people have you given up on? What seems completely impossible to you? What things do you keep coming back to in your life over and over and over again? Pray about THAT! For example:  

• What negative things have you been told about yourself? To what extent do you accept those things as true?
• How do you rebel against those things?
• What do you need from life and relationships that you aren't getting? What do you need from GOD that you aren't getting?
• How is giving your life up to Jesus different from giving your life away to others?
• How is being selfish different from simply being yourself?
• If you never doubted that God's ability and authority are LIMITLESS, and you KNEW that He could do ANYTHING, how would you pray? 
• What would you ask God to do if you KNEW He wouldn't fail? What impossible things and miracles would you ask Him to do for you?

The majority of prayers that we send up are ineffective because we come AT God with pretty phrases and religious platitudes. God wants your most honest, truest soul. Recovery taught me how to TALK WITH God. My "prayers" turned into conversations. Lay it all at His feet with brutal honesty. Don't hold anything back! Keep it REAL. Empty yourself of every single thought and emotion... He's big enough to take it, and what's more, you can't really hide it, yeah? After all, He already knows everything you are thinking and feeling. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God? 

So just TALK to Him, get it all out and when you've got nothing left... Sit back, keep your mouth shut, and LISTEN. Then watch Him work miracles and do the impossible.

Prayer has TEETH. And prayer is never more powerful than when JESUS does most of the talking.  

You can learn to pray like this! And if you do, I promise, it will re-energize your faith and light a fire under your rear like nothing else can. When you see God start to move your mountains—the ones you thought would be there for the rest of your life—well, that kind of power will fundamentally change a person. Then you will be introduced to a God you only THOUGHT you knew!

Peace be with you.

I'll be on the front porch.

In the beginning, God set about creating the world.

On the first day, God created the dog. He spoke to him and said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

        

The dog replied, "That's a long time to be barking! How about cutting it to ten years, and I'll give You back the other ten?" And God saw that it was good.

        

On the second day, God created the monkey. He spoke to him and said, "Entertain people, do tricks and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span." 

The monkey replied, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform! Whaddaya say I give You back ten years like the dog did?" Again, God saw that it was good.

        

On the third day, God created the cow. He spoke to him and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years." 

The cow replied, "That's an awfully tough life you want me to live for sixty years! Can we make it only twenty years, and I'll give back the other forty?" God agreed that it was good.

        

On the fourth day, God created humans. He spoke to them and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years." 

The humans replied, "Only twenty years? That's it? Could You possibly give me my twenty, PLUS the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back and the ten the dog gave back? That makes a total of eighty years. Is that okay?" 

God replied, "Okay." He then added, "But remember, you asked for it."

        

This is why we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves for our first twenty years. Then for the next forty, we slave in the sun to support our family, followed by another ten years of doing monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. Then during our remaining ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

        

Life has now been explained to you.

        

(There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service. If you are looking for me, I'll be on the front porch.)

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die, 

a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal, 

a time to tear down and a time to build, 

a time to weep and a time to laugh, 

a time to mourn and a time to dance, 

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 

a time to search and a time to give up, 

a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

a time to tear and a time to mend, 

a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

a time to love and a time to hate, 

a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him."

—Ecclesiastes 3:1-14