Song Break Down Songs

I know that I didn't put a video link for any of the songs I talked about. Here they are now.

Things Are Looking Up
Video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=89puZ3_ejIc
Studio Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BGl1UvgP-A

Try
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8
Dancing With the Stars Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWupNGOYXk

Don't Forget Where You Belong
Audio
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LXzCtPQVVA

Easy Love
Studio Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb-zu9Bg5O8

Song Break Down- Easy Love

This is going to be my last post for this series. The song I chose is "Easy Love" by R5. This is also off their new EP, and like their song "Things Are Looking Up" from Wednesday, I really love this song. This one is going to be different from the others because I am just going to focus on the chorus of the song, which goes:

Lovin' you ain't easy
Nothin' ever is
But I will keep on fightin'
For a love like this
You know I wouldn't have it
Any other way
Even when times get tough
I don't want no easy love

Many of believers fall into this trap that one we follow Jesus, that our lives will get easier. The exact opposite happens though. Our lives get harder when we follow Jesus. Matthew 16:24 says, "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." If you are truly following Jesus, then you will stop living for your own will and desires and you will live for his. For all of us that is hard to do because we can’t see the future, so we don’t know what is to come, and as a result we want everything now. Another part of following Jesus is being persecuted. I know that I have talked about this before, but it is a huge part of a Christian life. If you are truly living out the love that Jesus has for you, then you will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” There are people in the world who are dying because of their faith, and it is not easy to give up your life for something that you can’t even see. But take heart in that fact that your persecution won’t go unnoticed. Matthew 5:10 says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The persecution that you face down here, will equate to a great reward in Heaven. You will be rewarded for the hard work that you put in, and your faithfulness even when things did get hard.
Following Jesus is hard. If loving Jesus was easy, then everyone one would do it, and there would be no real faith, because there would be no persecution. If loving Jesus was easy, we as humans wouldn’t grow to our full potential in Jesus. If loving Jesus was easy, than a relationship between Jesus and us would only be a weak little bond, because we wouldn’t have to rely on him as much or at all. Sure it may be hard to follow Jesus, but for “I wouldn't have it any other way,” because have a love that is difficult is what is needed for us to grow closer to God.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for your love that is renewed daily. I know by following you, my life will be difficult, but without the challenges, I can’t build a strong relationship with you. Thank for all the struggles we face, and thank you for every time we get persecuted because we know that we are truly loving you. For nothing in this life will be easy, but with you by our sides nothing is impossible. Amen. 

Song Break Down-Don't Forget Where You Belong

This is going to be my last week of this miniseries.  I know that it doesn’t cover every secular song, but I hope that I have provided you with some great examples, and the one today is no exception. Today’s song is “Don’t Forget Where You Belong” by One direction. I know this isn’t one of their megahits, but I love this song, from the lyrics to the music, and the tone of the song.

With this song, I want to start with the chorus, which goes, “Don't forget where you belong–home./Don't forget where you belong–home./If you ever feel alone–don't./You were never on your own./And the proof is in this song.” The key factor in glorifying God in this song is defining where home is. Normally when we think of home we think of where our family is. For us, our family is in God.  Galatians 3:26 says, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” When we believe in God, we all become sons and daughters in God’s family. Our home is in God, and our family is all other Christians . The second part of this chorus, is saying that you never be alone. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” This song talks about traveling, but no matter where you go, you belong at home, and that you are never alone. Now the good news with God is that no matter where you travel he will always be with you. As Christians we don’t have a stationary building that we can call home, but wherever God is, then that is our home, and he is everywhere. So matter where you go, you are home, when you are with God.

When it comes to the first verse, the idea of just traveling, and the changes with that, still doesn’t affect where your home is. “Been a lot of places./I've been all around the world./Seen a lot of places./Never knowing where I was./On the horizon./Oh, well, I know, I know, I know, I know the sun will be rising/Back home./Living out of cases,/Packing up and taking off./Made a lot of changes/But not forgetting who I was./ On the horizon./Oh, well, I know, I know, I know, I know the moon will be rising/Back home.” Now most of us may not get the opportunity to tour the world, but most of us move, or go on vacation. For seniors, next year you are going to college, and for some of us we are going out of state which requires moving away from what you know.  For some of us, or parents may have moved you a lot when you were younger, and every time you moved, you had to change something, whether it was your friends, habits, or clothing. We all have to make these changes, but as I have mentioned before, God is still there with us, and we will always have a place to call home.

The bridge of this song I like a lot. Lights off when they should be on./Even stars in the skies, they're wrong./Short days when the nights are long/When I think of the things I've done/Don't matter how far I've gone–/I'm always feeling at home.” When I heard this, I had a though that we all walk away from God, from time to time. If you read in look 15 starting at verse 11, there is the parable of the lost son. For those who don’t know the story, it is about two sons, who asked for their father’s inheritance. One son took his part, and stayed with his father to work for him. The second son took his and he spent it and he eventually had to come back to his father poor, and asking for a job at his father’s place. His father, overjoyed to see his son threw him a party, for his son was lost, and he had been found. All of us at some point in our lives, walk away from god, and his house, thinking that we can do it alone. The thing is we can’t do it by our self, that is why Jesus was sent to earth, to save us when we could save ourselves. Just like the father in the story, he is overjoyed when you come back home. If you have strayed, come back home to God for he is waiting for you.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for sending you son to die for us, so that we may be apart in your family, and we will able to call you home. I pray for forgiveness for when we stray, and I pray that if anyone has strayed from you, that they will turn around and come running back. Thank you for always being with us, so that we may be with you where ever we may travel. Thank you for your never ending love. Amen.

Song Break Down-Try

For the second song that I’m going to break down is “Try” by Colbie Caillat. This song is just inspirational by itself, but there are verses in the Bible to back up the meaning of the song. This song is so true in its meaning that you are perfect just the way you are, and I feel like more girls need to hear this in their lives.

For the verses, the song tells a story of a girl who is out to impress the people around her. The first verse goes “Put your make up on/Get your nails done/Curl your hair/Run the extra mile/Keep it slim/So they like you. Do they like you?/Get your sexy on/Don't be shy, girl/Take it off/This is what you want, to belong/So they like you. Do you like you?” I love the question that is proposed in the verse, “Do you like you?” We all try to impress the people around us, but if we don’t love yourself then what is the point. If you have to drag yourself out of bed every morning and you work hard  to look a certain way that you don’t like, then what is the point of putting all your energy in.

The second verse continues on and I love what the second part of the verse talks about. “Wait a second,/Why should you care, what they think of you/When you're all alone, by yourself/Do you/Like you? Do you like you?” When you can’t even love yourself when you are by yourself, you are ingrained in trying to please people. When you’re by yourself, you should be able to be who you really are. There is no one to judge who you are, except yourself. Shouldn’t you try to please you who is there in that moment, than people who aren’t there.

The last verse talks about becoming who you are. The last line though is what I love the most that goes, “Cause I like you.” Now up to this point, I have talked more about the song, than how it is to glorify God. This last line is a more direct question, and every time I hear, I imagine God asking me that question. Many of us feels like we don’t deserve God’s love because of what we have done, but once you are saved, God doesn’t see you that way before. There are many Bible verses that speak on how wonderful you are made, it is just so hard to believe it.

Matthew 5:48-“ You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Proverbs 16:4-“ The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”

Psalms 139:14-“ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

Ephesians 2:20-“ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

These four verses are just a small sample of verse that talks about how God sees us. It may seem hard to believe these verses, but they are true. This song, wasn’t necessarily a song to directly glorify God, more than it is to show you how God thinks of you. Once you believe theses verses though, God is able to use you for many of other things that will glorify him. We just need to start with the foundation so that later in life God can build a house on it that will glorify him.

When it comes to the chorus, I’m not going to break it completely down. I challenge you to give up control of everything that you are doing to try to fit in. when  you give it to God, you don’t have to continuously try to please people. God’s love will flow from you and you’ll make friends who like you for you and not for that outer looks.

You don't have to try so hard
You don't have to give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try, try, try, try
You don't have to try
You don't have to try

Dear Heavenly Father

Thank you so much for creating me the way you wanted me to be created, for I know that I have a purpose and that I am made in the image of you. I know that it is hard to believe this truth, because the world throws so many lies at us. I pray that you help me, and anyone else who is reading my blog right now Lord, to understand that we are loved just the way we are, and that we don’t have to put on a show to win affection. Thank you Lord for making me.

Song Break Down-Things Are Looking Up-Part 2

If you haven’t read part one yet, I encourage you to do so before you read this one. For the second part of this song break down, I’m going to focus on the chorus. I find that my favorite part of the song is the chorus because it is so upbeat.

The first part of the chorus, or the pre-chorus, goes “I couldn't get it right/'Til you opened up my eyes/You turn my whole world upside down” When we were all still sinners, we saw the world one way. When we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we saw things a whole different way. We saw how he loves us (1 John 4:16), how he has a plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11), how we are viewed in his eyes (Matthew 5:48), and how he saved us even when we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). He took the old way of knowing, and he flipped it on its head.

For the chorus of the song, I am going break it down out of order. When you listen to the chorus, there is a theme that runs throughout that talks about looking up. I find that it is talking about looking up into the stars. In Isaiah 40:26 it says, “Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.” When we look up, we are looking to God’s beauty that he created, and we are realizing how great our God is. He created all the stars in the sky, and he knows them all by name. When we look up, we all that God has done, and how he can do incredible things in your life. The verse from “Praise You in This Storm” talks about looking up through all that is going it. The verse is Psalms 121:1-2 and it says, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.” We look up when we need help, and when we surrender to God.

Another thing that the chorus mentions is that you had enough looking at the ground. As humans, whenever we are ashamed, we tend to look down. When it comes to God, we mess up and we try to hide from God, but God still sees us. So instead of trying to hide our face by looking down, we should look up to the skies and just surrender it all to God. After this, read the chorus below, and connect what I just said to the words of the song.

Things are lookin' up/Things are lookin' up/I couldn't find a star in the sky/But now that I found us/Things are lookin' up/Even when I'm down/Had about enough/Lookin' at the ground/I couldn't find a star in the sky/But now that I found us/Things are lookin' up

I pray that you found this to be helpful.  We don’t need to separate what we can use to glorify God, based on what category the song falls into. This is just one example of how something secular can glorify God. I will post two or three more of examples, it might not be this long, but I pray that you read them all. I would love to hear your feedback on this, so please leave your

comments below.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for creating the Heavens and Earth. You are so great in all that you do, and your love is overwhelming. Thank you for forgiving our sins so that we may stand before you unashamed. We look up to you for your guidance and your love. Thank you so much for the music that we listen too. Amen.

Song Break Down-Things Are Lookin' Up Part One

In my Song Break Down Series, the first song that I’m going to break down is “Things Are Lookin’ Up” by R5. This one will look a little different from the others because I broke it into two parts. The second part will post at noon, because I just have so much to say. This song is off their new EP that they just released and I really enjoy it, and it was the one that really inspired me to do the song break down with secular songs.

The verses in the song are lines of comparison. The first line is “You were a business, I was a start up.” The verses are just praising how much better you are than I. Now think, if we put God in the place of the “you”, then aren’t we praising God about how much greater he is than us. Psalms 147:5 says, “How great is out Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!” With the line that I used, you are saying that God already knows what to do, and you are just starting, and you need his help. Below are a few more examples on how to take these lines and focus them on God.

I needed caffeine, you were a Starbucks/A Starbucks/(A double-shot). Many of us tend to hit Starbucks before school or work to get energy we need that is found in a cup of coffee. God is like our spiritual Starbucks. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” Every morning when you wake up God is there waiting to hand you a boost of spiritual energy, you just need to take what God is offering, whether that be through prayer, reading your Bible, or just taking time every morning to worship God.

You were the sunshine, I was a rain check We all have our bad days, and our really stormy ones, but God can be the light that breaks through the clouds.  John 1:5a says, “The light shines in the darkness.” God is the light and no matter what you are going through he will be there to be a light of hope in your rain storm.

You were a free-way, I was a stop sign God wants us to trust him completely so that he can lay out his plan for our lives. But there are times were we put on the brakes because we think that we know better than God.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” If his plans are to give us a future and hope, then why do we keep stopping. We just need to trust God and just on God’s freeway and drive.

You were a diamond, I was a coal mine God is perfect and spotless, just like a shining diamond. Us in our sin, look more like a lump of coal. 1 Peter 2:22 says, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” Take heart in this though, while you were a lump of coal God is refining us every day. Psalms 66:10 says, “For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver.” God takes the love he has for us, to make us better, and less like a lump of coal.

Dear Heavenly Father,

You are so much greater than I am. You know more about me, and you know what my future holds. I pray that even through the secular music that we listen to, we may glorify you. You are so great and powerful and mind-blowing that there aren’t enough songs to sing of your love. Thank you so much for all that you do Lord. Amen.

Song Break Down-Intro to Something New

Many of my readers who have read my blog for a while may know that I do these song break downs. For those who don’t know, I take a song and take it apart and analyze it. I traditionally would do this with a Christian song, but I’m going to do a couple of secular songs. God created everything on this earth to glorify Him, it is just that sin has crept in and diluted everything. There is a way to glorify God with everything, it may just take some effort.

A good place to start is with the love songs, and that is where I’m probably going to focus the most. They are everywhere and there a plenty of them. Now they are suppose to be sung or listened with your date, but some of them can be used to worship God. The greatest commandment that God gave us is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”(Matthew 22:37) There aren’t enough words to express how much we love God, but singing some love songs is a good place to start.

Now as we do this we need to remember that it is all about our hearts. If you are sincerely worshipping God with what you sing, then it shouldn’t matter if you sing a non-secular song or a secular song. I’m not saying for all your worship songs to be secular, but I do know that some non secular songs aren’t the fastest, most up tempo songs, and that every once and a while you need a song that you can just dance to. If you struggle with secular music, than that is fine. Everyone is different in how they worship, and maybe this isn’t for you. Just find what works for you.

With that, I’m going to be doing some song break downs to secular music, and I hope you keep an open mind.

Dear Heavenly Father,

You know how passionate I am for using everything on Earth to glorify you. As I launch into this new series, I pray that the Holy Spirit will lead the way, so that I still glorify you while talking about secular music. I pray that this will touch my readers too. Amen.

How to go Deeper- Part 2

So on Saturday I talked on how to read the Bible so that you can understand what you are reading. Today, I am going to talk about taking what you learned and apply it to your life. God gave us the Bible, as a way to shape our lives after him, and to do that, we need to implement what we learned into our lives. To refresh your minds, this is where we left off last time.

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Comments

Red:The disciples trusted Jesus enough to follow Him into a boat in the middle of an lake.

Orange: Everything happened so fast that they couldn't prepare for it, like getting off the lake. But Jesus then calmed the storm as fast as it came up. Time wasn't an issue for Jesus. 

Yellow: He was there and he could be called upon when needed. Nothing disturbs him. 

Green: Desperation of the disciples whose trust was now gone. 

Blue: Showing how little trust the disciples had in Jesus, that he had everything under control. 

Purple: New to them, never seen before in any one else.

Pink: Shows how Jesus is the ruler over everything. 

So we have the annotations. Because I'm going to write from my perspective, you might think something different and that is totally fine. The storm in my life right now is my math class, again. My grades plummeted so fast, like the storm in the story, and there was no way I could stop it.  While I was desperately trying to figure out what to do about my grade, God had everything under control. Through this, I was never left to drown, or left on my own. But like the disciples, I had little faith in the storm. I saw how last year God used my math grade to help me become a better person, and I have seen the amazing things that he has done in my life over and over again, but the storm made me near sighted. Jesus is the ruler over everything, and I need to trust that he has everything under control.  Even when he feels far away he is still there.  

From the comparison I made to the story, I found out that I struggle with trusting God.  This is an area that I need to work on, and to read more about. I may also want to pray for trust in God, before I go into a difficult situation. Now we each have our own weakness and strengths, and God gave us the Bible to helps us find those, and to grow in them and in Him. You may not have time to read this deep everyday, but doing it once a week can make a difference. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for giving us your word. Help us to read and understand what it is saying. And as we read and discover more of who you are and who we are in you, help us to implement it into our lives,so that we can be a light to the world.  Amen.

 

How to go Deeper

Many of us know that we are suppose to read our Bibles. We have either heard it from our pastors, family, friends, or just from reading my blog. Reading the Bible is very important. But there is a difference between reading the Bible, and understanding what it says. Anyone can pick up the Bible and read it, but it takes time and effort to understand it. I know I have talked about reading the Bible, but today I want to provide an example of what it means to actually understand what the Bible is saying. So I'm going to go through one of my readings. Below is the verses and it is the story of when Jesus calmed the storm. This will be broken into two days, because if I put it in one day, it would get to long.

Matthew 8:23-27

Jesus Calms the Storm

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

The first step is to read the passage. You can't understand something that you didn't read.

The second step that I do is to ask any questions that might help clarify the passage, like traditions back then, or the history around an event. One question I had was how sturdy was this boat? Back then they didn't have the ships like we do today. The boats they had weren't sturdy, and they could be easily overturned. 

The third step I do is to reread the passage and mark it up. That could be highlighting it, making comments or connections, just whatever you do to understand the passage better. So below is my highlighting and comments. 

23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Comments

Red:The disciples trusted Jesus enough to follow Him into a boat in the middle of an lake.

Orange: Everything happened so fast that they couldn't prepare for it, like getting off the lake. But Jesus then calmed the storm as fast as it came up. Time wasn't an issue for Jesus. 

Yellow: He was there and he could be called upon when needed. Nothing disturbs him. 

Green: Desperation of the disciples whose trust was now gone. 

Blue: Showing how little trust the disciples had in Jesus, that he had everything under control. 

Purple: New to them, never seen before in any one else.

Pink: Shows how Jesus is the ruler over everything. 

Now this is where I am going to stop for today. Next time, i'm going to talk about how you take your comments and annotations and relate them to you. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for giving us your word to read, so that we may get to know you better, and we are able to follow your will for our lives. I know that it takes time to truly sit down to figure out the meaning of a passage, but I pray that you will help us find time, once a week at least, to go deeper into your word. Thank you for saving us from what ever storm we are in Lord. Amen.

College Visit

So last week was my fall break, and my family and I went and visited colleges. I'm not going to preach today, but I would love to give some advice for what I found to be helpful over the last week.

Advice 1-Go and visit the colleges- I know that this isn't always possible, but visiting the colleges can give you so much help in choosing which one is best for you. There was a college that I wanted to go to, it was in my top three, but then I visited the college and I wasn't as impressed. It was really big and it wasn't me. Another college in my top three blew me away when I visited. If you can also spend the night, that is just like icing on the cake.

Advice 2-Money is something but not everything- Most people are worried about how they are going to pay for college. I have a college that is offering to pay my tuition, but I visited the campus and I wasn't blown away. The college that I liked from above is giving me some scholarship, but not full tuition. If you are worried about money, go and try to find other scholarships. There are plenty out there and you just need to find them. If you ask for help from Jesus, he will help you provide for college, he may not give you full tuition, but he will most definitely help with the burden.

Advice 3-Learn from the experience- This whole experience has been a huge learning opportunity. I learned how to not completely lose my mind  when I'm stuck with my family in a car for the whole day. I learned that what I'm doing at school, is helping me prepare for college, and I should take it seriously. I found out more about what I want to study, even though I haven't clearly made up my mind yet. There is so much to learn with each new experience.

 I know that all my readers aren't applying to college this year, or that they are already in college, but I pray that you can take something from this to apply to your life.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for a chance to continue my education. I pray that you will help me follow your will for my life to choose what college I will go to. I pray that you help me find a way to finance college. I pray for any of my readers who may be going through the same period in life, that you will be with them to help guide them. Thank you Lord for you love, and a safe trip. Amen. 

Finding Me-Conclusion

So if you have been reading the whole week, then you would have read some of the discoveries I made this week. If you didn't read every post then hear is a recap. (Or you can go back and read them)

Austin and Ally-The use of my friends could help me overcome my fear of talking to people, and they can help make the dreams that I write down into reality.

Hamlet-Sometimes my thinking can get in the way of my actions. Finding a balance between the two is what I need to work on.

Frozen-By locking out my friends to protect myself, I actually caused more damage to me, when I could have let their love come in and help me.

Ross Lynch-It doesn't matter where you are from, if you work hard, and want it bad enough, you can achieve your dream.

Jesus's Life-That going to find a quiet place isn't a bad thing, for it helps me connect to God. My actions can also show God's love, and that I don't have to be the best speaker in the world.

A common theme that I found is that I am shy, but that doesn't need to stop me. God has placed friends in my life to help me and encourage me. With some hard work, and determination, all these limitations and fears wouldn't be an obstacle, but it would have been something that I would have overcome.


This series was mostly about me, but I encourage all of you who have read my post over the past week to take sometime, and reflect on the TV shows, movies, role models, and books, that influence you to find out what they say about you. It is also important to take what you find, whether it be a strength or a weakness, and practice it in your life. It is one thing to reflect and think about what you need to change, but it is another thing to put it in action. This series I was trying to set an example of what a reflection looks like, but it is going to be up to you to actually put what you find into practice.

Dear Heavenly Father
Thank you for allowing me to reflect on my life Lord, and I pray that you help me put the things that I have learned into practice. I pray that my readers may find time in their life to reflect on what they like and how it can be implemented in our life. You place things in our life for a reason, and I pray that you will help us take full advantage of it, Lord. I also pray that we will read the bible so that we may see Jesus's life in our own. Thank you Lord for everything you have placed in my life. Amen