This last week, at our home church in Alabama, there was a Casting Crowns concert. My Facebook feed was dotted with posts from the concert. Many of them included a particular song..."Thrive". I realized that I had been listening to it a lot too....but Saturday I decided to really listen to it-Not just sing words out in to the air....but to let the lyrics penetrate my heart. And they did just that.
Every Sunday at ten, we have a special prayer time before the service. We take prayer requests, we pray for our church, we pray for each other and we just stand together and hand it all over to God and say-Here God. We want you to have these. We would rather put all these requests and hopes and fears in your hands than any where else. It never fails, every Sunday, I rush over and struggle to get my head and heart in the right place.....and then God moves in. He ALWAYS meets me where I am. But, every Sunday, with heads bowed...in a dark and quiet church....holding hands with my Moldovan family....I feel Him in the most tangible way....when I am calling out to Him to pour His spirit out on our church....He does just that....He pours it out....and I FEEL IT! When I cry out to Him in authenticity right where I am....He is there. He knows when my heart and my spirit are genuinely seeking Him. Friends, I wish I could bottle up that feeling and ship it to you...I would send it along with a postcard from Moldova....and you would open it up and be flooded with His love and you would want to stay in that moment forever. Ahh....when you are truly aware of His love being poured out on you...it is good stuff. It pushes me beyond just living..just surviving.
This Sunday I was responsible for leading our service (just MCing). I had spent the previous day listening to Thrive and I couldn't shake it and felt like I needed to share it with our church....a church full of young people longing to know Him more. I decided I MUST share the lyrics to the song. Here they are in English (And Romanian):
"Thrive"
Here in this worn and weary land
(În această lume devastată și ostenită)
Where many a dream has died
(În care multe vise au fost ruinate)
Like a tree planted by the water
(Asemenea unui pomp sădit lângă apă)
We never will run dry
(Nu ne vom usca niciodata)
So living water flowing through
(Ca după apa vie care curge)
God we thirst for more of You
(Dumnezeule, suntem însetați după Tine)
Fill our hearts and flood our souls
(Umple-ne inimile și inundă-ne sufletele)
With one desire
(Cu o singură dorință)
Just to know You and to make You known
(Să Te cunoaștem și să Te facem cunoscut)
We lift Your name on High
(Înălțăm numele Tău)
Shine like the sun make darkness run and hide
(Strălucind ca soarele faci întunericul să dispară)
We know we were made for so much more
(Noi știm că am fost făcuți pentru mult mai mult…)
Than ordinary lives
(…decât pentru a trăi vieți obișnuite)
It's time for us to more than just survive
(E timpul pentru ceva mai mult decât a supraviețui)
We were made to thrive
(Am fost creați să prosperăm)
Into Your word we're digging deep
(Ne adâncim în Cuvântul Tău)
To know our Father's heart
(Să cunoaștem inima Tatălui)
Into the world we're reaching out
(Ne îndreptăm către lume)
To show them who You are
(Pentru a Te face cunoscut)
So living water flowing through
(Ca după apa vie care curge)
God we thirst for more of You
(Dumnezeule, suntem însetați după Tine)
Fill our hearts and flood our souls
(Umple-ne inimile și inundă-ne sufletele)
With one desire
(Cu o singură dorință)
Just to know You and to make You known
(Să Te cunoaștem și să Te facem cunoscut)
We lift Your name on High
Înălțăm numele Tău)
Shine like the sun make darkness run and hide
(Strălucind ca soarele faci întunericul să dispară)
We know we were made for so much more
(Noi știm că am fost făcuți pentru mult mai mult…)
Than ordinary lives
(…decât pentru a trăi vieți obișnuite)
It's time for us to more than just survive
(E timpul pentru ceva mai mult decât a supraviețui)
We were made to th(rive
(Am fost creați să prosperăm)
Joy Unspeakable, Faith Unsinkable, Love Unstoppable, Anything is possible
(Bucurie de neexprimat, Credință de nescufundat, Dragoste de neoprit, Totul este posibil)
Just to know You and to make You known
(Să Te cunoaștem și să Te facem cunoscut)
We lift Your name on High
(Înălțăm numele Tău)
Shine like the sun make darkness run and hide
(Strălucind ca soarele faci întunericul să dispară)
We know we were made for so much more
(Noi știm că am fost făcuți pentru mult mai mult…)
Than ordinary lives
(…decât pentru a trăi vieți obișnuite)
It's time for us to more than just survive
(E timpul pentru ceva mai mult decât a supraviețui)
We were made to thrive
(Am fost creați să prosperăm)
I love this song....I shared it with our church (which is predominantly young people in their teens and very early twenties.) God had pressed this in to my heart. I can remember so many times in my life when I was just waiting for the next thing....waiting for Friday to come so I could enjoy the weekend. Waiting for the next thing whether it be a vacation, a new movie, a visit with a friend. But, I felt so convicted by this. When I live waiting for the next big thing. I am not fully living right now...I am not thriving....I'm just surviving from event to event...I am missing out on so much! I feel like I have been surviving from Sunday to Sunday -when I would actually still my heart and ask God to fill up the church and pour into me. I don't want to Survive on powerful Sunday meetings with God....I want more of Him every single day. I want to do more than just survive and get by...I want to Thrive in Him. I want to know that I am a tree planted by a river....I will never run dry. I want to let His water flow to my very roots...every....single....day. Whew! Pray for me yall! I am praying this for all of us. Pray it for our church....pray that we will stand up...to get out of our comfy chairs or pews and start THRIVING. I know that God has big plans for Moldova and I KNOW He is going to change this nation with the very young people that surround me at church every Sunday....pray that He starts pushing them beyond survival...which is all that some of them have known in their physical and emotional lives...pray that He starts meeting all those needs....and that they push beyond it and begin THRIVING....PROSPERING in the life He has for them.
What a powerful post. I know what you mean about that feeling. I have stood in the pulpit many Sunday's and felt overcome by something bigger than I am. I love you.
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