Please pardon me while I vent a little....
I want to know where my life is going. I want God to break me already...kinda sick of waiting. I want school to be done. I'm sick of having bad days. I want to have good days. I don't want to be confused about what I want and need anymore. I want to be confident. I wish people weren't idiots. I wish that this world would just turn back to God. I'm sick of being safe all of the time. I want adventure. I want to live my own life. I want God to define me. I don't want to live life alone. I want to be successful, but at the same time I want to fail so I can get back up again and show the world what I'm capable of. I don't want to be torn down anymore. I want respect. I want love. I need love. I want the man that God has for me...now....I'm tired of waiting. I hate the phrase "patience is a virtue" because I personally think it's a load of crap. I want a different lifestyle. I don't want people to like me because of my voice....I hate that. I want people to like me for who I am. I don't want fame, stardom, to be in the spotlight...I want to leave a legacy. I'm sick of people judging me....baaah!
Ok...I'm done. Sorry if this seemed selfish. I needed to get it off my chest.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
~The Voice~
So I'm sitting here with guitar in hand and just playing around. Singing, doodling on the guitar and I'm loving it....a lot :) and for some odd reason I stopped and thought to myself "Wow. I'm playing the guitar and singing..."
This may sound completely weird and random, but I never actually stopped to think about how awesome it is to have that fantastic gift of music. I mean the way God designed us is phenominal. Like, vocal cords for instance; we use them every day to talk, sing, scream, make funny noises, etc...but HOW we talk, scream, and sing still blows my mind. I still can't fully comprehend the design of the voice and how we are able to make sound. The brain sends a signal to the throat, the vocal cords mesh with each other and air moves through. That's pretty much how we make sound; at least to my knowledge. I don't know all of the in-depth details of it all yet, but isn't that neat though? God created us in such a phenominal way that we are able to make sound with muscle and air.....I just love it.
Don't even get me started on singing....oh my goodness. I looked up some YouTube videos of people singing with a camera down their throat, showing the vocal cords in action. When I watched those videos I thought to myself "wow....what an incredible God". I mean the human body is so complex to us, but it's so simple to God...wow.
Anyway...my whole point in sharing this (other than the fact that I just couldn't contain myself) is that I take my gift for granted too often. I mean yeah I can sing and yeah I love singing for God, but I honestly don't appreciate my gift as much as I should. I hardly ever just thank God for the voice He's given me. I don't practice every day, I feel like I'm stuck in a musical rut BECAUSE I don't practice every day, sometimes I feel like I can sing anything but I honestly can't, and a lot of the time I let people's compliments get to my head so I trick myself into thinking that I don't need to perfect my craft.
Just because God has given me a voice and I can sing well, doesn't mean that I shouldn't try and learn more or further my gift. I need to continue to learn and to practice in order to give God my very best EVERY time I sing.
God has given everyone specific gifts and talents. We all take them for granted sometimes, but honestly we shouldn't because God could easily take our gifts away just to teach us to not take His gifts to us for granted.
God deserves our thanks, praise, adoration, worship, and our best :)
This may sound completely weird and random, but I never actually stopped to think about how awesome it is to have that fantastic gift of music. I mean the way God designed us is phenominal. Like, vocal cords for instance; we use them every day to talk, sing, scream, make funny noises, etc...but HOW we talk, scream, and sing still blows my mind. I still can't fully comprehend the design of the voice and how we are able to make sound. The brain sends a signal to the throat, the vocal cords mesh with each other and air moves through. That's pretty much how we make sound; at least to my knowledge. I don't know all of the in-depth details of it all yet, but isn't that neat though? God created us in such a phenominal way that we are able to make sound with muscle and air.....I just love it.
Don't even get me started on singing....oh my goodness. I looked up some YouTube videos of people singing with a camera down their throat, showing the vocal cords in action. When I watched those videos I thought to myself "wow....what an incredible God". I mean the human body is so complex to us, but it's so simple to God...wow.
Anyway...my whole point in sharing this (other than the fact that I just couldn't contain myself) is that I take my gift for granted too often. I mean yeah I can sing and yeah I love singing for God, but I honestly don't appreciate my gift as much as I should. I hardly ever just thank God for the voice He's given me. I don't practice every day, I feel like I'm stuck in a musical rut BECAUSE I don't practice every day, sometimes I feel like I can sing anything but I honestly can't, and a lot of the time I let people's compliments get to my head so I trick myself into thinking that I don't need to perfect my craft.
Just because God has given me a voice and I can sing well, doesn't mean that I shouldn't try and learn more or further my gift. I need to continue to learn and to practice in order to give God my very best EVERY time I sing.
God has given everyone specific gifts and talents. We all take them for granted sometimes, but honestly we shouldn't because God could easily take our gifts away just to teach us to not take His gifts to us for granted.
God deserves our thanks, praise, adoration, worship, and our best :)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Chat Room Conversations
A lot of people don't know this about me, but I kind of have a unique little ministry that I do in my spare time. I have Yahoo messenger and sometimes I like to go into the "Christian" chat rooms to see what kind of conversation goes on.
There have been many interesting topics brought up and I found myself really getting defensive of God's Word at times. I had some support from people in the chat room, but a bunch of people kept questioning God's Word and how it's true.
The main subject that is talked about in those rooms is the value of The Bible and whether or not the Bible is indeed true in every aspect. It's really amazing to see what people type up in these chat rooms and at the same time it's really sad that they don't believe that God's Word is true. The Bible even proves it's inerrancy in Romans 3:3-4, "What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:"So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." Whatever God says is true, it's true. No questions asked.
The Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…”). I use this as a defense all of the time, but people get smart and ask questions like "well how do you know that statement is true?" and all I can say is that I know that it is true because I believe in God's Word and I believe that He inspired the words of the Bible. In all reality, if one does not believe that the Bible is true in the first place then it is pointless to argue whether it is true or not.
I also sometimes answer back...."well how do you know that what Mohamed said was true?"
and they answer "because he wrote the Quran"....and I get all like "OHHH....hmmm.....". Then they just tell me to shut up, but anyway that's not the point, the point is that there are tons and tons of people in this world who do NOT believe that the Bible is true. They don't even believe that it is historically accurate (which by the way has been proven. Some archaeologists found the pieces of chariots and armor in the Red Sea, but that's another blog for another time).
Friends who are in Christ, you really do need to know what you believe and WHY you believe it because you WILL be tested and called out on it by this world. Even though people ask a bunch of questions and get mean about the subject of God, just keep in mind that they may never have heard of the Truth and that they are completely blind to what you are saying. One other thing that may be helpful is talking like a normal person. Don't get all preachy on people unless it's necessary. I have found that if you get preachy on people, they instantly get turned off to what you are trying to share. I'm not saying that you should water down the Gospel....I'm just saying that you should try and relate to where they're coming from before you preach "fire and brimstone".
There have been many interesting topics brought up and I found myself really getting defensive of God's Word at times. I had some support from people in the chat room, but a bunch of people kept questioning God's Word and how it's true.
The main subject that is talked about in those rooms is the value of The Bible and whether or not the Bible is indeed true in every aspect. It's really amazing to see what people type up in these chat rooms and at the same time it's really sad that they don't believe that God's Word is true. The Bible even proves it's inerrancy in Romans 3:3-4, "What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:"So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." Whatever God says is true, it's true. No questions asked.
The Bible is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…”). I use this as a defense all of the time, but people get smart and ask questions like "well how do you know that statement is true?" and all I can say is that I know that it is true because I believe in God's Word and I believe that He inspired the words of the Bible. In all reality, if one does not believe that the Bible is true in the first place then it is pointless to argue whether it is true or not.
I also sometimes answer back...."well how do you know that what Mohamed said was true?"
and they answer "because he wrote the Quran"....and I get all like "OHHH....hmmm.....". Then they just tell me to shut up, but anyway that's not the point, the point is that there are tons and tons of people in this world who do NOT believe that the Bible is true. They don't even believe that it is historically accurate (which by the way has been proven. Some archaeologists found the pieces of chariots and armor in the Red Sea, but that's another blog for another time).
Friends who are in Christ, you really do need to know what you believe and WHY you believe it because you WILL be tested and called out on it by this world. Even though people ask a bunch of questions and get mean about the subject of God, just keep in mind that they may never have heard of the Truth and that they are completely blind to what you are saying. One other thing that may be helpful is talking like a normal person. Don't get all preachy on people unless it's necessary. I have found that if you get preachy on people, they instantly get turned off to what you are trying to share. I'm not saying that you should water down the Gospel....I'm just saying that you should try and relate to where they're coming from before you preach "fire and brimstone".
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Too Miraculous NOT to Share
Ok so I've been sick since Tuesday December 1st and it's been a real pain.
I ran a fever of around 102 and had to sing at a concert. Singing with a fever is the worst feeling in the world.
Ever since that night my health deteriorated and kept going downhill. I started getting intense migraines, abdominal pains, hoarseness, fatigue, drowsiness, and just all kinds of crap. I just kept to myself a lot because I didn't know what I had and I didn't want to spread the "love".
It wasn't until a few days into my "sick week" that I realized that all of this was just my body finally reacting to all of the stress that had happened this semester.
The most painful thing about being sick was not being able to talk or sing. I love talking to people and I love making music (i.e. song-writing, singing, etc). To not be able to do that really hurt me a lot and it was frustrating to not know the reason why God was bringing this about. I mean I know that nothing bad comes from God, but He was definitely teaching me something.
I was talking to my friend, Jessica,last night about this stuff going on in my life and she told me that maybe God was wanting me to glorify Him in other ways instead of singing. Like, He has taken away that ability for a short time to see how I could depend on Him and trust in Him and glorify Him in some other way.
When she said that I was kinda mad; I'm not gonna lie. I mean I know what God has called me to do and that is to spread His love through conversation and music, but at the same time.....I knew she was right. I am supposed to give glory to God in all aspects of life; not just one.
So I kept that in mind the rest of the night and I got the chance to hang out with a friend, Savannah Harrell, for awhile. We watched Footloose and ate popcorn. It was a great time and just being with one of my friends was great. I didn't have to talk really at all.
Through that time God showed me that quality time is another way I can show His love to other people. Spending time with people shows them that you care about them and that you value them in such a way that they can't deny the truth of you wanting to be with them. Sometimes you don't even have to talk, but just be there and have fun :)
With all of that said....today, as a lot of people know, is my birthday and when I woke up this morning....I got my voice back!!!! :-) I was sooooo very happy to get it back this morning. I can talk, I can sing, I can make weird noises like I used to....and it's just sooooo good to have a voice again. I know that I still need to be cautious about my voice though....because I just got it back and I still have to sing for voice juries, but I am just really excited to know a God who really does miraculous things such as this. I didn't expect to have a voice until like next week, but He was gracious enough to give it back to me.
I just wanted to share that story with you because I just couldn't keep it inside :) The whole point of this little chapter in my life is that God will pretty much do whatever it takes to teach you something that you may never have known. I have only known that music is the main way to communicate His love to people, but He has shown me that quality time with people is another way.
Take time to listen to what God may be saying in your own life. Do NOT focus too much on the negative because it will do nothing but hurt you. Instead, focus on what God may be teaching you in times of what seems to be darkness, turmoil, trouble, trials, etc.
I ran a fever of around 102 and had to sing at a concert. Singing with a fever is the worst feeling in the world.
Ever since that night my health deteriorated and kept going downhill. I started getting intense migraines, abdominal pains, hoarseness, fatigue, drowsiness, and just all kinds of crap. I just kept to myself a lot because I didn't know what I had and I didn't want to spread the "love".
It wasn't until a few days into my "sick week" that I realized that all of this was just my body finally reacting to all of the stress that had happened this semester.
The most painful thing about being sick was not being able to talk or sing. I love talking to people and I love making music (i.e. song-writing, singing, etc). To not be able to do that really hurt me a lot and it was frustrating to not know the reason why God was bringing this about. I mean I know that nothing bad comes from God, but He was definitely teaching me something.
I was talking to my friend, Jessica,last night about this stuff going on in my life and she told me that maybe God was wanting me to glorify Him in other ways instead of singing. Like, He has taken away that ability for a short time to see how I could depend on Him and trust in Him and glorify Him in some other way.
When she said that I was kinda mad; I'm not gonna lie. I mean I know what God has called me to do and that is to spread His love through conversation and music, but at the same time.....I knew she was right. I am supposed to give glory to God in all aspects of life; not just one.
So I kept that in mind the rest of the night and I got the chance to hang out with a friend, Savannah Harrell, for awhile. We watched Footloose and ate popcorn. It was a great time and just being with one of my friends was great. I didn't have to talk really at all.
Through that time God showed me that quality time is another way I can show His love to other people. Spending time with people shows them that you care about them and that you value them in such a way that they can't deny the truth of you wanting to be with them. Sometimes you don't even have to talk, but just be there and have fun :)
With all of that said....today, as a lot of people know, is my birthday and when I woke up this morning....I got my voice back!!!! :-) I was sooooo very happy to get it back this morning. I can talk, I can sing, I can make weird noises like I used to....and it's just sooooo good to have a voice again. I know that I still need to be cautious about my voice though....because I just got it back and I still have to sing for voice juries, but I am just really excited to know a God who really does miraculous things such as this. I didn't expect to have a voice until like next week, but He was gracious enough to give it back to me.
I just wanted to share that story with you because I just couldn't keep it inside :) The whole point of this little chapter in my life is that God will pretty much do whatever it takes to teach you something that you may never have known. I have only known that music is the main way to communicate His love to people, but He has shown me that quality time with people is another way.
Take time to listen to what God may be saying in your own life. Do NOT focus too much on the negative because it will do nothing but hurt you. Instead, focus on what God may be teaching you in times of what seems to be darkness, turmoil, trouble, trials, etc.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Revelation Song
Many church congregations know of the song "Revelation Song". It's become quite popular among churches, youth events, worship services, etc....but does everyone really understand the meaning behind the song? Here's a look at the lyrics:
Revelation Song
by Jennie Lee Riddle
Worthy is the Lamb
Who was slain
Holy Holy is He
Sing a new song
To Him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat
Worthy is the Lamb
Who was slain
Holy Holy is He
Sing a new song
To Him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat
Holy holy holy
Is the Lord, God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You
Clothed in rainbows
of living color
Flashes of lightening
Rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor
Strength and glory
And power be to You
The only wise King
(chorus)
Filled with wonder
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your name
Jesus Your name is power
Breath and living water
Such a marv'lous mystery yeah
(chorus)
This song was taken from the Word of God. In Revelation 4:8, "Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
What is so neat to me about this song is that it is a clear picture of what we, as believers, have to look forward to. We're going to see God "clothed in rainbows of living color". We are going to see Him in all of His glory.
This was also foreseen in the Old Testament in Isaiah 6, "They were calling out to each other: Holy, holy, holy! The Lord Almighty is holy! His glory fills the world."
The promise of Christ's 2nd Coming was prophesied in both the Old and New Testament.
To know that all of God's children are going to partake in singing "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come" to The Creator forever and ever, just blows my mind. I will finally get to see His face and just physically be with Him.
Revelation Song
by Jennie Lee Riddle
Worthy is the Lamb
Who was slain
Holy Holy is He
Sing a new song
To Him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat
Worthy is the Lamb
Who was slain
Holy Holy is He
Sing a new song
To Him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat
Holy holy holy
Is the Lord, God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You
Clothed in rainbows
of living color
Flashes of lightening
Rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor
Strength and glory
And power be to You
The only wise King
(chorus)
Filled with wonder
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your name
Jesus Your name is power
Breath and living water
Such a marv'lous mystery yeah
(chorus)
This song was taken from the Word of God. In Revelation 4:8, "Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
What is so neat to me about this song is that it is a clear picture of what we, as believers, have to look forward to. We're going to see God "clothed in rainbows of living color". We are going to see Him in all of His glory.
This was also foreseen in the Old Testament in Isaiah 6, "They were calling out to each other: Holy, holy, holy! The Lord Almighty is holy! His glory fills the world."
The promise of Christ's 2nd Coming was prophesied in both the Old and New Testament.
To know that all of God's children are going to partake in singing "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come" to The Creator forever and ever, just blows my mind. I will finally get to see His face and just physically be with Him.
Monday, November 30, 2009
I Want to Be Confident!
So it just hit me today that this is the last week of classes before finals week and....I am drowning in assignments that still are not done, songs that are not ready, and thoughts of having to take certain classes over again.
I'm not looking for a pity party at all; I'm just venting. It's always better to get things off your chest in some way.
As of right now I feel like a complete idiot when it comes to the technical side of music. Part writing, line analysis, harmonic dictation, rhythmic dictation, melodic dictation, among other things are getting harder and harder for me to grasp and understand....IT'S THE LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!! It's basically too late for me to get up to speed on things and knowing that I may have to re-take Music Theory 2 and Sight Singing/Ear Training 2 is not a pleasant thought to have on my mind.
I love music and I love learning new things about it.....it's one of my passions, but for some reason it's just hard to grasp certain concepts at a fast pace. I honestly thought it would be easier than it is. I even cried in class because I failed the ear training part of my sight singing/ear training test.
I guess what I don't understand is that if God placed music on my heart, why am I doing so badly? Why can't I understand it as easily as others?
I'm at the point where I am so frustrated with music that I'm starting to question my passion. Is music really what God wants? What is He doing?
Not being on board with what God is doing is not what I want. I want to be able to know what He's doing right now and be confident. I don't want to doubt myself. I want to throw all of this technical crap out of the window and just sing. All I've wanted to do in my life is sing for God and share His love to the world through my music.
I am just at a loss as to what to do. I know that I need to seek God and converse with Him about what He is doing, but for some reason it doesn't seem like that is enough. I just want His will for my life to slap me in the face and direct me in the right way.
I want to be confident in the passion that He has set upon my heart.
I can't let these little technical things get in the way of the big picture. I just honestly don't want to cry every time I go to Sight Singing/Ear Training....I want to actually be excited to learn something new and to apply it to my music. I really want to succeed and I can't do that without God. He is my success and I need to be more confident in Him.
Ok I'm done venting....promise :)
I'm not looking for a pity party at all; I'm just venting. It's always better to get things off your chest in some way.
As of right now I feel like a complete idiot when it comes to the technical side of music. Part writing, line analysis, harmonic dictation, rhythmic dictation, melodic dictation, among other things are getting harder and harder for me to grasp and understand....IT'S THE LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!! It's basically too late for me to get up to speed on things and knowing that I may have to re-take Music Theory 2 and Sight Singing/Ear Training 2 is not a pleasant thought to have on my mind.
I love music and I love learning new things about it.....it's one of my passions, but for some reason it's just hard to grasp certain concepts at a fast pace. I honestly thought it would be easier than it is. I even cried in class because I failed the ear training part of my sight singing/ear training test.
I guess what I don't understand is that if God placed music on my heart, why am I doing so badly? Why can't I understand it as easily as others?
I'm at the point where I am so frustrated with music that I'm starting to question my passion. Is music really what God wants? What is He doing?
Not being on board with what God is doing is not what I want. I want to be able to know what He's doing right now and be confident. I don't want to doubt myself. I want to throw all of this technical crap out of the window and just sing. All I've wanted to do in my life is sing for God and share His love to the world through my music.
I am just at a loss as to what to do. I know that I need to seek God and converse with Him about what He is doing, but for some reason it doesn't seem like that is enough. I just want His will for my life to slap me in the face and direct me in the right way.
I want to be confident in the passion that He has set upon my heart.
I can't let these little technical things get in the way of the big picture. I just honestly don't want to cry every time I go to Sight Singing/Ear Training....I want to actually be excited to learn something new and to apply it to my music. I really want to succeed and I can't do that without God. He is my success and I need to be more confident in Him.
Ok I'm done venting....promise :)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Random Facts About Me
For some reason I just felt the need to post some things that you may not know about me. These probably aren't really great for "coffee conversations", but I thought this would be fun.
If you do know some of things congratulations; if not, enjoy :)
1) I accepted Jesus Christ when I was 5 years old.
2) I have two brothers. One younger and one older.
3) I have a grade one heart murmur
4) I don't really like being alone most of the time.
5) I love to sing
6) I have never had a boyfriend
7) I have encountered some idiotic men (long story)
8) My favorite meal is my Mom's home-made deep dish pizza
9) My favorite time of the year is fall
10) I like both cats and dogs
11) I'm usually pretty calm and mellow
12) Sometimes I'm too nice
13) I now own a pair of Toms Shoes :)
14) I sometimes don't like "Jesus music" (I know that sounds horrible, but it's true)
15) I officially started songwriting when I was a sophomore in highschool.
16) I took piano lessons when I was 6 but I quit after like 2 months because I didn't want to practice. So I began to doodle on the piano my freshman year of college and that is the level that I am at now. I only like to doodle :)
17) I hate the feeling of not being able to breathe.
18) I hate the feeling of being replaced.
19) My hair is naturally the color that it is.
20) I want a tattoo on my wrist reeeeeeally bad.
21) I've only owned 3 guitars in my 9 years of playing guitar.
22) I attempted to end my "pain" in life when I was 14 (very dumb...don't ever do it!)
23) I hate offending people.
24) I like listening to people's stories.
25) I have been held by God before and it was AWESOME!
26) I like to let people into my life and give them a chance, instead of shun them out.
27) I would seriously be freaked out if I woke up to no family.
28) I have a "sister"...aka seester
29) My favorite verse is 2 Timothy 2:13, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself."
30) My favorite color is Lime Green
31) Favorite female singer is Mariah Carey
32) Favorite male singer is Danny Gokey
33) I'm still single and I don't mind waiting for the man God has for me, although it gets frustrating sometimes.
34) I love to walk in the rain during the summertime. It's refreshing.
35) I've been homeschooled all of my life and people keep asking me what school I went to when I was younger. Every time I answer them they're like "No way! You were homeschooled?" I don't really know how to take that sometimes haha..
36) My lifesong is "None But Jesus" by Brooke Fraser
37) I am really selfish sometimes.....and I strongly dislike selfish people.
38) I want to spread God's love to the world someday with music.
39) Hopefully after I graduate from MBU, I will go to Liberty University to get my Masters Degree in Worship Arts and come back to MBU to help with the Worship Arts program there.
40) I want to go to Italy.
41) I have never tried sushi.
42) I'm not as strong as people make me out to be.
43) I LOVE Starbucks coffee
44) Shania Twain perfume is my favorite fragrance.
45) I love receiving letters :)
46) I tied for 1st place in the iSing Saint Louis Vocal Competition at Six Flags this past summer. JoyFM sponsored this competition and it was my 4th year entering it.
47) I've been in a music ministry group called, SpiritWing for 3 years and I love it :)
48) I opened for a group called NewFire, and they tour with FFH! That was a great experience.
49) I got high off of oxygen one time. Very funny story...haha
50) My butt is ticklish...
51) I am running out of things to put down....so I'm stopping...
Hope you enjoyed this...if you have questions for me, I'd be more than happy to answer them on here.
Have a great day,
-Liz Hitt
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
My Family
I am glad to say that I have been blessed by the family that God has given me. Two wonderful parents who are strong in their faith in God and who raised me in a Christ-centered environment. Two brothers who are sometimes a pain in my neck, but at other times they bless with me unknown facts about certain subjects and with their talents.
Preston, my younger brother, is basically a piano prodigy. He's been playing piano for 6 years. 4 years have been under the instruction of my Mom and the other 2 years have been under the instruction of Dr.Benton from MBU. Sometimes I honestly want to slap him because of how much he knows about music. I'm still trying to keep up with the new
things that I learn about music.....and he already knows it.
Greg, my older brother, is a guitar master. He's been playing guitar for about 10 years and he can play circles around me. His knowledge of the guitar inspires me to learn more.
Both of my parents were Music Education majors in college, but my Dad switched his major in his Senior year to Business Administration. My guess is that he was not a fan of Sight Singing/Ear Training...haha, just kidding.
Being raised in a God-centered home and a musical family is a huge blessing to me because I have learned so much about life, music, singing, faith, and so much more.
Being apart of my parent's music ministry has taught me a lot and has helped me put mine together. Knowing what to do in certain venues and in certain situations is very important in having an effective music ministry.
With all of that said, I am truly thankful for the family that I have and I hope you feel the same way about your family.
Even if your family doesn't seem like the best, God has given you your family for a reason. They were placed in your life to raise you, inspire you, protect you, care for you, clothe you, feed you, love you, and for all sorts of reasons.
Cherish your family, even if it seems impossible.
Blessings,
-Liz Hitt
Preston, my younger brother, is basically a piano prodigy. He's been playing piano for 6 years. 4 years have been under the instruction of my Mom and the other 2 years have been under the instruction of Dr.Benton from MBU. Sometimes I honestly want to slap him because of how much he knows about music. I'm still trying to keep up with the new
things that I learn about music.....and he already knows it.
Greg, my older brother, is a guitar master. He's been playing guitar for about 10 years and he can play circles around me. His knowledge of the guitar inspires me to learn more.
Both of my parents were Music Education majors in college, but my Dad switched his major in his Senior year to Business Administration. My guess is that he was not a fan of Sight Singing/Ear Training...haha, just kidding.
Being raised in a God-centered home and a musical family is a huge blessing to me because I have learned so much about life, music, singing, faith, and so much more.
Being apart of my parent's music ministry has taught me a lot and has helped me put mine together. Knowing what to do in certain venues and in certain situations is very important in having an effective music ministry.
With all of that said, I am truly thankful for the family that I have and I hope you feel the same way about your family.
Even if your family doesn't seem like the best, God has given you your family for a reason. They were placed in your life to raise you, inspire you, protect you, care for you, clothe you, feed you, love you, and for all sorts of reasons.
Cherish your family, even if it seems impossible.
Blessings,
-Liz Hitt
Thursday, November 5, 2009
God is my Healer
Healer
By: Mike Guglielmucci
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
You heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You're my healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
You heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
(chorus)
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands
(repeat)
(chorus)
This is one of the songs that I lead in the music ministry group, SpiritWing, for this year and I have grown so attached to it that I just have to blog about it.
This song actually has a very dramatic background to it. Mike Guglielmucci originally wrote this song when he was apart of Hillsong and his story behind writing that song was that he was suffering from cancer and he wrote this song as proclamation of his faith that God is his Healer.
What is really sad about that story is that it wasn't true. He was not suffering from cancer. In fact he was suffering from an addiction to pornography and his body had unexplainable symptoms. He tried to cover up his sin with the story of him having cancer.
Eventually he came clean and announced that he was going through a rough patch in his life with his addiction. When he was honest with everyone about this issue everyone was really surprised and some even hated him for lying.
Because of this incident Hillsong forced Mike Guglielmucci to sign over the songrights for Healer to some other artist.
Guglielmucci may have really been at fault, but no one should have hated him for it. He took the first step to making things right and the church did not really treat him in the right way. The church is supposed to forgive and forget....we ALL are supposed to forgive and forget, but that's a whole different topic.
My point is that Mike Guglielmucci is a human and humans make mistakes. I know that I have made my fair share of mistakes,but what is so incredible about God's love is that it's perfect. When we fall into those traps of sin God picks us up and lifts us to where He is. His love is offered to us freely and it is ours for the taking.
It is our jobs as Christians to spread the love of God.....not hate other people because of what they've done.
There's a passage in Hosea that talks about God's healing power and it really hit home for me.
Hosea 6:1-2, "1 Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has injured us, but he will bind up our wounds. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
The part that really got to me was when it says "He has torn us into pieces, but He will heal us..." Even though He lets certain circumstances happen to us and we hurt, He still heals us and restores us to Himself. Nothing bad comes from God, but He does discipline His children and sometimes when we get disciplined, it hurts.....a lot, but God restores us and consoles us in His arms of grace and love.
I most certainly believe that God is my Healer and I don't need anything else than Him. I do, however, need to trust in that promise more than I have been.
Keep in mind that when you're hurting, God will lift you up and make things better. He knows what is best for you and your life.
My prayer when ever I hurt is that, yes, He heals me from the pain, but that He leaves the scars behind to remind me of how merciful and gracious He is.
Rest in that promise and rest in God.
By: Mike Guglielmucci
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
You heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You're my healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
You heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
(chorus)
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands
(repeat)
(chorus)
This is one of the songs that I lead in the music ministry group, SpiritWing, for this year and I have grown so attached to it that I just have to blog about it.
This song actually has a very dramatic background to it. Mike Guglielmucci originally wrote this song when he was apart of Hillsong and his story behind writing that song was that he was suffering from cancer and he wrote this song as proclamation of his faith that God is his Healer.
What is really sad about that story is that it wasn't true. He was not suffering from cancer. In fact he was suffering from an addiction to pornography and his body had unexplainable symptoms. He tried to cover up his sin with the story of him having cancer.
Eventually he came clean and announced that he was going through a rough patch in his life with his addiction. When he was honest with everyone about this issue everyone was really surprised and some even hated him for lying.
Because of this incident Hillsong forced Mike Guglielmucci to sign over the songrights for Healer to some other artist.
Guglielmucci may have really been at fault, but no one should have hated him for it. He took the first step to making things right and the church did not really treat him in the right way. The church is supposed to forgive and forget....we ALL are supposed to forgive and forget, but that's a whole different topic.
My point is that Mike Guglielmucci is a human and humans make mistakes. I know that I have made my fair share of mistakes,but what is so incredible about God's love is that it's perfect. When we fall into those traps of sin God picks us up and lifts us to where He is. His love is offered to us freely and it is ours for the taking.
It is our jobs as Christians to spread the love of God.....not hate other people because of what they've done.
There's a passage in Hosea that talks about God's healing power and it really hit home for me.
Hosea 6:1-2, "1 Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has injured us, but he will bind up our wounds. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
The part that really got to me was when it says "He has torn us into pieces, but He will heal us..." Even though He lets certain circumstances happen to us and we hurt, He still heals us and restores us to Himself. Nothing bad comes from God, but He does discipline His children and sometimes when we get disciplined, it hurts.....a lot, but God restores us and consoles us in His arms of grace and love.
I most certainly believe that God is my Healer and I don't need anything else than Him. I do, however, need to trust in that promise more than I have been.
Keep in mind that when you're hurting, God will lift you up and make things better. He knows what is best for you and your life.
My prayer when ever I hurt is that, yes, He heals me from the pain, but that He leaves the scars behind to remind me of how merciful and gracious He is.
Rest in that promise and rest in God.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
~Friends~
For those of you who know me fairly well, you know how much I care about people and how they are doing and what God is doing in their lives and how He is working through them.
Here's my view on friendships.....You can never have too many friends. There are some people who choose to just have a few close friends because to them, having a big group of friends takes a lot of work and effort. They're right when they say that, but it's also reassuring to have such a big group of friends to hold you accountable and to be there for you when you need encouragement.
My philosophy on new friendships is to "let everyone in". Give people a chance. They may surprise you.
I actually made quite a few friends this year. One in particular has been a real blessing in my life. Her name is Ashley Reese and she is a very interesting person, but she's a real encouragement to me. She gives me Godly advice, and she doesn't point me to any other source of hope and comfort apart from God.
I have made many friends this year like Ashley and if I lived with the philosophy of "only having a few good friends" then I would not have all of the friendships that I have now.
Some new friends that I've made this year so far are: Katie Brown, Amanda Ely, Lorenzo Baylor, Travis Page, Zach Walter, Andrew Shupert, Taylor Webb, Kahlyn Slominsky, Ashley McRoy, Megan Caratachea, Taylor Duggan, Rachel Rittman, Lauren Maniaci, Melanie Slates, Ashley Reese, Megan Long,Jen Trapper, Elysha McAdoo.....
God has blessed me with many friends and I wouldn't trade them for the world.
God's Word even says that "a friend sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24).
My encouragement to you is to not shut more friends out. Let them in. Give them a chance. You may be surprised at how God will bless you through those new friendships :)
Blessings,
-Liz Hitt
Here's my view on friendships.....You can never have too many friends. There are some people who choose to just have a few close friends because to them, having a big group of friends takes a lot of work and effort. They're right when they say that, but it's also reassuring to have such a big group of friends to hold you accountable and to be there for you when you need encouragement.
My philosophy on new friendships is to "let everyone in". Give people a chance. They may surprise you.
I actually made quite a few friends this year. One in particular has been a real blessing in my life. Her name is Ashley Reese and she is a very interesting person, but she's a real encouragement to me. She gives me Godly advice, and she doesn't point me to any other source of hope and comfort apart from God.
I have made many friends this year like Ashley and if I lived with the philosophy of "only having a few good friends" then I would not have all of the friendships that I have now.
Some new friends that I've made this year so far are: Katie Brown, Amanda Ely, Lorenzo Baylor, Travis Page, Zach Walter, Andrew Shupert, Taylor Webb, Kahlyn Slominsky, Ashley McRoy, Megan Caratachea, Taylor Duggan, Rachel Rittman, Lauren Maniaci, Melanie Slates, Ashley Reese, Megan Long,Jen Trapper, Elysha McAdoo.....
God has blessed me with many friends and I wouldn't trade them for the world.
God's Word even says that "a friend sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24).
My encouragement to you is to not shut more friends out. Let them in. Give them a chance. You may be surprised at how God will bless you through those new friendships :)
Blessings,
-Liz Hitt
Friday, October 9, 2009
The Cross
I'm sitting in the Perk Coffeehouse with nothing to do and no one is around. Maybe that's a good thing? I don't know....anyway, for some reason I'm just beginning to think of The Cross that Jesus Christ died on for my sins and what The Cross truly means to me.
Knowing what it means to be saved and to be forgiven is very important.
There have been so many times when I have sinned against my God hardcore and I lose sight of how much He loves and how deep His love is for me.
And because I lose sight of that so often, I continue to beat myself up for what I've done to rebel against God just to satisfy myself. What a selfish mindset!!
God created me to glorify HIM...not to seek pleasure in this world just to satisfy my temporary desires. My purpose in life is set my gaze on God's eternal desires for me. To put all of my effort into HIS will...not mine.
Why do I so often lose sight of what Jesus Christ did on the Cross for me? Why do I keep seeking pleasure from this world?
The Cross should mean so much more to me than just a piece of wood that some man died on. The Cross is something that I should compare myself to. The Cross is the place where I need to lay everything down and completely surrender. Not surrender a little bit of my life....ALL of my life. The sins, mistakes, hurts, inappropriate behavior, wrong heartsets, wrong mindsets, songs, talents, burdens, pains, selfish ambitions, possessions, relationships, and just all the good and bad things in my life.
John 19:30 says, "So when he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." What is so humbling about this verse is that Jesus willingly gave up His Spirit. It was not taken from Him; He freely gave it away just so that we could live.
Christ dying for my sins is the humbling portion of His crucifixion. The most amazing part of it all is that He rose again in three days time.
It says in Luke 24:1-12, " 1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened."
Jesus died on The Cross to save me and you from the neverending pain of Hell. He covered us in His blood so that we can be His and so that He can be ours.
He died for me, so I need to live for Him.
You should do the same!
-Liz Hitt
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
What Being Shown Up Has Taught Me
So I went to Guitar Center with my brother the other day. We love going there to see what new guitars they have in stock and stuff like that.
Well my main places that I go to check things out at Guitar Center is the Acoustic Guitar area and the Keyboard area. I was pretty bored with the acoustic guitar area because there wasn't really anything new and exciting to play.
But when I went to the keyboard area I found all of these new Yamahas, Korgs,etc etc...
I try to play each one at least once to get a good feel for them.
Well I was playing this $3000.00 Yamaha, and this black guy comes in to the keyboard next to me and starts playing off of what I was playing. I looked at him and was like "oh okaaay". I continued to play. Then his friends came in and they also played off of what I was playing...They started playing all of these jazz chords and nonsense that I can't even begin to fathom.
So I reached a point where I couldn't hear myself play anymore and I raised my hands and said "Ok you guys win". They laughed and we got to talking. They complimented me on how beautifully I play and I returned the compliments to them. These guys were incredibly talented.
I don't mean this as a racist joke or anything like that, but black people always get the talent. I wish I was black....like for real.
My whole point in this story is that I was tremendously humbled. For the longest time I thought that what I was able to play was good enough for the career that I intend to pursue. These guys showed me that there is much more to playing the piano, then embellishing simple chords. It's about learning my art to the point where I can be as free as I want to and still make my music sound fantastic.
God gave musicians specific gifts and abilities for a purpose. I personally believe that He gives us those abilities to glorify Him and to share His love through our music.
If you're a musician and you think that you're good enough for the career you intend to pursue....don't let that get to your head. There are always things to improve on and perfect in your art.
Silence is our canvas and it is our job to paint that silence with music :)
That's my story and thought for the day.
Hope you enjoyed it,
-Liz Hitt
Well my main places that I go to check things out at Guitar Center is the Acoustic Guitar area and the Keyboard area. I was pretty bored with the acoustic guitar area because there wasn't really anything new and exciting to play.
But when I went to the keyboard area I found all of these new Yamahas, Korgs,etc etc...
I try to play each one at least once to get a good feel for them.
Well I was playing this $3000.00 Yamaha, and this black guy comes in to the keyboard next to me and starts playing off of what I was playing. I looked at him and was like "oh okaaay". I continued to play. Then his friends came in and they also played off of what I was playing...They started playing all of these jazz chords and nonsense that I can't even begin to fathom.
So I reached a point where I couldn't hear myself play anymore and I raised my hands and said "Ok you guys win". They laughed and we got to talking. They complimented me on how beautifully I play and I returned the compliments to them. These guys were incredibly talented.
I don't mean this as a racist joke or anything like that, but black people always get the talent. I wish I was black....like for real.
My whole point in this story is that I was tremendously humbled. For the longest time I thought that what I was able to play was good enough for the career that I intend to pursue. These guys showed me that there is much more to playing the piano, then embellishing simple chords. It's about learning my art to the point where I can be as free as I want to and still make my music sound fantastic.
God gave musicians specific gifts and abilities for a purpose. I personally believe that He gives us those abilities to glorify Him and to share His love through our music.
If you're a musician and you think that you're good enough for the career you intend to pursue....don't let that get to your head. There are always things to improve on and perfect in your art.
Silence is our canvas and it is our job to paint that silence with music :)
That's my story and thought for the day.
Hope you enjoyed it,
-Liz Hitt
Friday, October 2, 2009
How I deal with frustrations is dangerous!
I am so so soooo frustrated at myself right now. Last night in SpiritWing practice, I didn't do so well on the song that I sing called "Healer" and I know that I shouldn't beat myself up over something like that, but I couldn't stop myself from being angry with myself for not doing my best. So that's one thing that I'm really kinda frustrated about.
I am also frustrated with my music courses! Oh my gosh! For some reason today kind of threw me over the edge with music. I actually started to hate it.....HATE it! That's never happened before.
I'm thinking that the main reason why I get frustrated with my music courses is because....well....I don't exactly understand it as quickly as my professor would like. I feel like I'm behind, like everyone else knows what they're doing, etc etc...
Whenever I don't think that I don't do my best at something, I get irritated and frustrated with myself and beat myself down. I don't feel like being around anyone because I don't want to spread the bad feeling of frustration to my friends and family.
You'd think that I would pray hardcore and just listen for God....but I honestly don't do that as often as I should. Instead...I find an open practice room and start pounding my emotions on a piano. Even after I'm done on the piano...I don't feel satisfied.
It's crazy to me how easily I can become frustrated with something that I truly love, yet it's even more crazy/sad that music takes the place of comfort for my frustrations instead of having God as my comfort.
I normally don't do this, but I need your prayers badly. Having music become more important than God is NOT a good thing at all and I need to realize that God is the One who gave me a voice, who gave me talent, and who gave me life. I need to praise His name even in my frustrations....not go off by myself and play piano for 3hours.
I'd greatly appreciate your prayers.
Thanks,
-Liz Hitt
I am also frustrated with my music courses! Oh my gosh! For some reason today kind of threw me over the edge with music. I actually started to hate it.....HATE it! That's never happened before.
I'm thinking that the main reason why I get frustrated with my music courses is because....well....I don't exactly understand it as quickly as my professor would like. I feel like I'm behind, like everyone else knows what they're doing, etc etc...
Whenever I don't think that I don't do my best at something, I get irritated and frustrated with myself and beat myself down. I don't feel like being around anyone because I don't want to spread the bad feeling of frustration to my friends and family.
You'd think that I would pray hardcore and just listen for God....but I honestly don't do that as often as I should. Instead...I find an open practice room and start pounding my emotions on a piano. Even after I'm done on the piano...I don't feel satisfied.
It's crazy to me how easily I can become frustrated with something that I truly love, yet it's even more crazy/sad that music takes the place of comfort for my frustrations instead of having God as my comfort.
I normally don't do this, but I need your prayers badly. Having music become more important than God is NOT a good thing at all and I need to realize that God is the One who gave me a voice, who gave me talent, and who gave me life. I need to praise His name even in my frustrations....not go off by myself and play piano for 3hours.
I'd greatly appreciate your prayers.
Thanks,
-Liz Hitt
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Whose agenda am I living by?
I've come to the conclusion that I am a stubborn, selfish, egotistical, jerkface, human being who needs a good slap in the face.
I often lose sight of who I am really living for and it's stupid. I let my friends and sometimes people who I don't even know, define who I am. My agenda is too often matched with theirs. I don't even make time for God anymore.
People see me as a "great voice" who loves the Lord, and I do love God, but to be honest I feel incomplete. I feel distant, numb, disheartened, angry, frustrated, complex, torn, tattered, far away, and at the same time I feel safe. I feel too comfortable in my faith that it is diminishing my REALationship with my God.
I'm done with that "safe" feeling. I honestly don't want to feel safe anymore. I want God's presence to be so thick that I can do nothing but feel completely uncomfortable and fall on my knees. I long for God to break me beyond belief.
I know that is a dangerous thing to ask for, but I truthfully long for it. I don't want the things of this life anymore. The music, the classes, the stress, the people, the influences....I want God. I want to be broken so He can fix me and make me new again.
Don't get me wrong, I do love my friends and my family, and even people who I do not know very well, but I need to stop letting them define who I am and I need to start letting my Definition of Life eclipse my sorry excuse for a soul. Jesus Christ is the only Sovereign Lord and HE deserves my praise....no one else.
I've looked to these verses for comfort from God and what He's stirring in my heart.
Isaiah 43:1-2 and 4
"But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name. YOU ARE MINE. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; And through the rivers they shall not overflow you. Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored and I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life."
God even promises us people who will come in our lives and be there for us. But I am convinced that I shouldn't continue to let everyone define who I am in Christ. I need to let God be my model of hope and let Him be my agenda :)
I often lose sight of who I am really living for and it's stupid. I let my friends and sometimes people who I don't even know, define who I am. My agenda is too often matched with theirs. I don't even make time for God anymore.
People see me as a "great voice" who loves the Lord, and I do love God, but to be honest I feel incomplete. I feel distant, numb, disheartened, angry, frustrated, complex, torn, tattered, far away, and at the same time I feel safe. I feel too comfortable in my faith that it is diminishing my REALationship with my God.
I'm done with that "safe" feeling. I honestly don't want to feel safe anymore. I want God's presence to be so thick that I can do nothing but feel completely uncomfortable and fall on my knees. I long for God to break me beyond belief.
I know that is a dangerous thing to ask for, but I truthfully long for it. I don't want the things of this life anymore. The music, the classes, the stress, the people, the influences....I want God. I want to be broken so He can fix me and make me new again.
Don't get me wrong, I do love my friends and my family, and even people who I do not know very well, but I need to stop letting them define who I am and I need to start letting my Definition of Life eclipse my sorry excuse for a soul. Jesus Christ is the only Sovereign Lord and HE deserves my praise....no one else.
I've looked to these verses for comfort from God and what He's stirring in my heart.
Isaiah 43:1-2 and 4
"But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name. YOU ARE MINE. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; And through the rivers they shall not overflow you. Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored and I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, and people for your life."
God even promises us people who will come in our lives and be there for us. But I am convinced that I shouldn't continue to let everyone define who I am in Christ. I need to let God be my model of hope and let Him be my agenda :)
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Being Vulnerable
This year God has tugged on my heart to be more open and more vulnerable about my life.
I don't necessarily know why He is wanting me to be vulnerable now but since He's wanting me to be more open about what He's done in my life to others, then all I can do is obey and trust that He will prepare me for any kinds of reactions that may occur.
Being open with people will gain their trust and it will also inform them of how they can be there for you when you need them to be there. Being open is a very hard thing to do but it is necessary in order to grow closer to one another and to have a stronger relationship with friends and family.
When I was talking to a friend on skype one night, I also had my iTunes on shuffle and I came across this song by Natalie Grant called "Safe" and it really spoke to my heart. Read the lyrics and watch the video. Listen to the words and as you listen to those words, I hope the lyrics encourage you to become more vulnerable with the people who are close to your heart.
They love you and will do what they can to be there for you. They won't judge you, they'll listen and encourage you as you grow spiritually.
Safe
by Natalie Grant
How did you know
That I'm all alone today
Oh I feel so scared
And I want to go away
I bleed so deep underneath
My soul is screaming
[Chorus:]
I'm not gonna hide
I'm not gonna run away
I'll uncover the scars
And show you every mistake
Your love has
mended my blisters
And my bruising shame
Now I, I'm not ashamed.
Here with you
I am safe
Drowning the tears
Won't make it go away
It's robbing my soul
I'm taking this
mask off my face
To discover love
And uncover all
It means to live and breathe
[Chorus]
When you uncover
I discover
I am not afraid
But when we're hiding
We end up fighting
To be safe
I don't necessarily know why He is wanting me to be vulnerable now but since He's wanting me to be more open about what He's done in my life to others, then all I can do is obey and trust that He will prepare me for any kinds of reactions that may occur.
Being open with people will gain their trust and it will also inform them of how they can be there for you when you need them to be there. Being open is a very hard thing to do but it is necessary in order to grow closer to one another and to have a stronger relationship with friends and family.
When I was talking to a friend on skype one night, I also had my iTunes on shuffle and I came across this song by Natalie Grant called "Safe" and it really spoke to my heart. Read the lyrics and watch the video. Listen to the words and as you listen to those words, I hope the lyrics encourage you to become more vulnerable with the people who are close to your heart.
They love you and will do what they can to be there for you. They won't judge you, they'll listen and encourage you as you grow spiritually.
Safe
by Natalie Grant
How did you know
That I'm all alone today
Oh I feel so scared
And I want to go away
I bleed so deep underneath
My soul is screaming
[Chorus:]
I'm not gonna hide
I'm not gonna run away
I'll uncover the scars
And show you every mistake
Your love has
mended my blisters
And my bruising shame
Now I, I'm not ashamed.
Here with you
I am safe
Drowning the tears
Won't make it go away
It's robbing my soul
I'm taking this
mask off my face
To discover love
And uncover all
It means to live and breathe
[Chorus]
When you uncover
I discover
I am not afraid
But when we're hiding
We end up fighting
To be safe
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Fear vs. Faith
This past Sunday I had the privilege of leading worship for Fellowship of Weldon Spring Church.
The sermon that morning was just amazing and the atmosphere was incredibly consumed by God.
Jason Porter spoke on the passages 1 Samuel 17 and 21:10-15.
The main thing he spoke about was how our fear is different from our faith. If we come to God with a childlike faith instead of living in fear of being embarassed by what other people might think of our faith in God, fear of being a failure, and fear of not knowing what might happen because of our faith, our relationship with God would so much stronger. Fear is the direct opposite of faith.
One phrase that Jason said that really stuck with me was "The further our focus is from God, the closer we focus on our fear". The meaning behind this phrase is very self-explanatory. If we keep living in fear instead of living in God (who is the perfector of our faith) then all that will consume our lives will be nothing but fear. We will be in constant worrying, instead of living life to the fullest like Jesus wanted us to live- John 10:10.
Lately I honestly have been living in fear. Mainly fear of rejection, failure, and the fear of the unknown.
I hate not being accepted into a group that I want to be friends with. I hate failing people and failing at not bring God as much glory as I want. AND I hate not knowing what God has for me, what's going to happen next, etc....
This next year, I'm hoping to make an impact on at least someone's life for God...not for me. I want people to not focus on my talent. I want people to remember me for my character, not my voice. I want people to see God when I'm on stage singing HIS words, instead of seeing Liz Hitt singing a song she "wrote".
My whole point is....I'm not going to live in fear anymore because God has not given me a spirit of timidity (fear)- 2 Timothy 1:7.
You should not live in fear either. Live out your faith for God as He would have you to do. Don't be afraid to talk about God or have those important deep conversations with a friend or even a stranger. People actually cherish those deep conversations.
God Bless,
-Liz Hitt
The sermon that morning was just amazing and the atmosphere was incredibly consumed by God.
Jason Porter spoke on the passages 1 Samuel 17 and 21:10-15.
The main thing he spoke about was how our fear is different from our faith. If we come to God with a childlike faith instead of living in fear of being embarassed by what other people might think of our faith in God, fear of being a failure, and fear of not knowing what might happen because of our faith, our relationship with God would so much stronger. Fear is the direct opposite of faith.
One phrase that Jason said that really stuck with me was "The further our focus is from God, the closer we focus on our fear". The meaning behind this phrase is very self-explanatory. If we keep living in fear instead of living in God (who is the perfector of our faith) then all that will consume our lives will be nothing but fear. We will be in constant worrying, instead of living life to the fullest like Jesus wanted us to live- John 10:10.
Lately I honestly have been living in fear. Mainly fear of rejection, failure, and the fear of the unknown.
I hate not being accepted into a group that I want to be friends with. I hate failing people and failing at not bring God as much glory as I want. AND I hate not knowing what God has for me, what's going to happen next, etc....
This next year, I'm hoping to make an impact on at least someone's life for God...not for me. I want people to not focus on my talent. I want people to remember me for my character, not my voice. I want people to see God when I'm on stage singing HIS words, instead of seeing Liz Hitt singing a song she "wrote".
My whole point is....I'm not going to live in fear anymore because God has not given me a spirit of timidity (fear)- 2 Timothy 1:7.
You should not live in fear either. Live out your faith for God as He would have you to do. Don't be afraid to talk about God or have those important deep conversations with a friend or even a stranger. People actually cherish those deep conversations.
God Bless,
-Liz Hitt
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Distractions
On Thursday July 2nd, Chelsea and I had the privilege of performing a concert and leading worship for Celebrate Recovery at RidgeCrest Baptist Church.
What was really unique about this particular concert was that it was my first one where my songs were performed and as a matter of fact.....the first one on my own at a different church. I mean I've done concerts before but somehow this felt really different to me.
I've never felt so unprepared in my life and I'm thinking that my friend Chelsea felt the same way :) Both of our schedules were crazy busy and it was nearly impossible to meet up and practice, but we made the impossible possible. We met up as often as we could and we hashed things out the best that we could.
When we got to the church to do sound check, my guitar worked just fine and everything sounded great, but when the time came to start the concert my guitar would not work through the sound system. So I actually HAD to go acoustic :) I also completely messed up on one of my songs....I made up the 2nd verse because I totally blanked on how it was supposed to go. Satan must have really wanted to disrupt mt worship that night, but what's great is that it DIDN'T! I kept going and I let God know how much I loved Him through the words that I've written and through the words that Chelsea wrote.
Even though we felt really unprepared, somehow everything still kind of fell into place and God used us and He moved in a way that I never thought possible.
My point in saying all of this is that no matter how many distractions you may have in life, you should still worship God will all that you have. If you keep letting Satan and his distractions get in the way of you living out your life for God then you're going to miss the big picture. Satan thrives on seeing you mess up and fail. That is why no matter what happens you must sing to God louder,play your instrument louder, and live your life out louder. Don't let distractions mislead you from what God is doing.
What was really unique about this particular concert was that it was my first one where my songs were performed and as a matter of fact.....the first one on my own at a different church. I mean I've done concerts before but somehow this felt really different to me.
I've never felt so unprepared in my life and I'm thinking that my friend Chelsea felt the same way :) Both of our schedules were crazy busy and it was nearly impossible to meet up and practice, but we made the impossible possible. We met up as often as we could and we hashed things out the best that we could.
When we got to the church to do sound check, my guitar worked just fine and everything sounded great, but when the time came to start the concert my guitar would not work through the sound system. So I actually HAD to go acoustic :) I also completely messed up on one of my songs....I made up the 2nd verse because I totally blanked on how it was supposed to go. Satan must have really wanted to disrupt mt worship that night, but what's great is that it DIDN'T! I kept going and I let God know how much I loved Him through the words that I've written and through the words that Chelsea wrote.
Even though we felt really unprepared, somehow everything still kind of fell into place and God used us and He moved in a way that I never thought possible.
My point in saying all of this is that no matter how many distractions you may have in life, you should still worship God will all that you have. If you keep letting Satan and his distractions get in the way of you living out your life for God then you're going to miss the big picture. Satan thrives on seeing you mess up and fail. That is why no matter what happens you must sing to God louder,play your instrument louder, and live your life out louder. Don't let distractions mislead you from what God is doing.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Stop Your Worrying!
So I am at a camp called Windermere with my friends Kelsey, Emily, and Chelsea to lead worship for a children's camp for a few days.
Tonight was a very unique night for me. I don't really know how to explain it, but I will try the best I can.
Tonight as we led worship I was very distracted and worried about playing the right chords and trying not to mess up. Because of all of that worrying, I kinda messed up all over the place. Other people might not have noticed, but I did and because of that, my worship to God didn't really feel genuine or real. It felt like I was there to entertain the kids and keep their attention.
The passage that was read tonight during the session was Matthew 6:25-34 which says,
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
When the camp pastor talked about this passage it broke me because I worry so much about certain things that I don't really need to worry about. I worry about how my future is going to turn out, when I will marry, the unknown future, whether or not music is what God wants for me in the future...the list goes on and on.
After the session was over, recreation was taking place, but I stayed in the conference room and just sat there and played my guitar and sang my heart out to God. As I was singing I felt my heart breaking more and more, and I started to sing my lifesong "None But Jesus" and I couldn't even finish that song because I cried. The line that I stopped on "In the chaos, in confusion I know You're Sovereign still".
If I know that He is still Sovereign, then why in the world do I worry about things so much?? God values me more than a bird! We all should rest in the fact that God values us so much and that He doesn't leave us. No one and no thing can pluck us out of His hand. God knows what will happen tomorrow and He has it all taken care of.
So....NO WORRIES!!!
Tonight was a very unique night for me. I don't really know how to explain it, but I will try the best I can.
Tonight as we led worship I was very distracted and worried about playing the right chords and trying not to mess up. Because of all of that worrying, I kinda messed up all over the place. Other people might not have noticed, but I did and because of that, my worship to God didn't really feel genuine or real. It felt like I was there to entertain the kids and keep their attention.
The passage that was read tonight during the session was Matthew 6:25-34 which says,
25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
When the camp pastor talked about this passage it broke me because I worry so much about certain things that I don't really need to worry about. I worry about how my future is going to turn out, when I will marry, the unknown future, whether or not music is what God wants for me in the future...the list goes on and on.
After the session was over, recreation was taking place, but I stayed in the conference room and just sat there and played my guitar and sang my heart out to God. As I was singing I felt my heart breaking more and more, and I started to sing my lifesong "None But Jesus" and I couldn't even finish that song because I cried. The line that I stopped on "In the chaos, in confusion I know You're Sovereign still".
If I know that He is still Sovereign, then why in the world do I worry about things so much?? God values me more than a bird! We all should rest in the fact that God values us so much and that He doesn't leave us. No one and no thing can pluck us out of His hand. God knows what will happen tomorrow and He has it all taken care of.
So....NO WORRIES!!!
Monday, June 1, 2009
A Promise For All Time!
This past Sunday I had the privilege of attending First Baptist Church of Mehlville,MO to sing special music with my friend Chelsea and I also sang in their choir. It was a fun experience and what was really amazing about that day was what the pastor was talking about.
He was talking about the compromising church (Rev.2:12-17). The message was centered around how the church at Pergamos had several things wrong in their church. Their pagan ways did not please God at all and they either needed to repent or God was going to "come upon them quickly and fight against them with the sword of His mouth (the two-edged sword)." - verse 16.
One particular verse that really got me wondering was verse 17 which says "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except for him who receives it."
What a word?!?!
The manna, the white stone, and the new name are all prospective rewards for faithfulness to God. The manna recalls the food from Heaven that sustained Israel in their wandering in the wilderness. This hidden manna also resembles a special intimacy with Jesus Christ. Those who overcome are promised supernatural sustenance in the resurrected state to enable them to function effectively as co-rulers in Christ's Kingdom.
The white stone signifies acquittal from legal charges, meaning pardon, grace, mercy, a second chance, etc. This was what the white stone signified in John's day.
The new name is the symbol of victory over the enemies of God. This new name that His children will have identifies the obedient believer in the terms of his/her character.
The new name that God will give us will symbolize that special relationship we have with Him. Only He can call us that name; no one else.
Isn't that mind-blowing?? God is gonna have a new name for me....and I can't help but wonder what it would be. That's not the only thing that I wonder about though. The biggest mind-blowing thing about this is that all of His obedient children will receive a new name and not ONE will be the same!! That's a lot of different names!! WOW!
The promise of eternal spiritual sustenance, pardon from God's wrath upon earth, and a new unique name is something that I definitely look forward to!
Anyway, that's all that is on my mind and heart right now :)
I hope you enjoyed my thought of the day!
Have a blessed summer,
-Liz Hitt
He was talking about the compromising church (Rev.2:12-17). The message was centered around how the church at Pergamos had several things wrong in their church. Their pagan ways did not please God at all and they either needed to repent or God was going to "come upon them quickly and fight against them with the sword of His mouth (the two-edged sword)." - verse 16.
One particular verse that really got me wondering was verse 17 which says "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except for him who receives it."
What a word?!?!
The manna, the white stone, and the new name are all prospective rewards for faithfulness to God. The manna recalls the food from Heaven that sustained Israel in their wandering in the wilderness. This hidden manna also resembles a special intimacy with Jesus Christ. Those who overcome are promised supernatural sustenance in the resurrected state to enable them to function effectively as co-rulers in Christ's Kingdom.
The white stone signifies acquittal from legal charges, meaning pardon, grace, mercy, a second chance, etc. This was what the white stone signified in John's day.
The new name is the symbol of victory over the enemies of God. This new name that His children will have identifies the obedient believer in the terms of his/her character.
The new name that God will give us will symbolize that special relationship we have with Him. Only He can call us that name; no one else.
Isn't that mind-blowing?? God is gonna have a new name for me....and I can't help but wonder what it would be. That's not the only thing that I wonder about though. The biggest mind-blowing thing about this is that all of His obedient children will receive a new name and not ONE will be the same!! That's a lot of different names!! WOW!
The promise of eternal spiritual sustenance, pardon from God's wrath upon earth, and a new unique name is something that I definitely look forward to!
Anyway, that's all that is on my mind and heart right now :)
I hope you enjoyed my thought of the day!
Have a blessed summer,
-Liz Hitt
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Just Thinkin'
So Kris Allen won American Idol last night!!!
How exciting!
What's really cool about Kris is that he's the worship leader for his church. Danny Gokey is a worship leader. I just thought that was kinda neat how two worship leaders made into the top 3 in American Idol.
With that said....I am again thinking about auditioning for American Idol this year and Nashville Star (I hate country music, but it's a good show lol)
That's basically all that I'm thinking about right now....how God might use me in any of those shows, so...yeah that's all I have for today.
Have a great day!!
Blessings,
-Liz Hitt
How exciting!
What's really cool about Kris is that he's the worship leader for his church. Danny Gokey is a worship leader. I just thought that was kinda neat how two worship leaders made into the top 3 in American Idol.
With that said....I am again thinking about auditioning for American Idol this year and Nashville Star (I hate country music, but it's a good show lol)
That's basically all that I'm thinking about right now....how God might use me in any of those shows, so...yeah that's all I have for today.
Have a great day!!
Blessings,
-Liz Hitt
Friday, May 8, 2009
How I feel
At this very moment I honestly feel like I am very far away from my Lord even though He is right next to me.
He's been there this whole time and instead of turning to Him, running into His arms and choosing to experience His love, I choose my agenda and the agenda of other people.
I'm honestly sick of living like this. I keep wanting for God to break me big time, but His Word says to "humble yourself" (James 4:10) and somehow, I can't let go of what I keep doing every day.
I feel like giving God my attention takes too much energy and in all reality is does...and yet it doesn't, but it's worth every single bit of my time and energy! Why can't I grasp this?! God created us to use our brains and our hearts....I don't understand why it's so hard to just focus on what He wants and let Him take the wheel of my heart and drive!
There's one song that I led in SpiritWing this year and it's called Lead Me To The Cross. I never thought that I would get attached to that song like I did "None But Jesus" , but it still sticks with me because the message is something that I truly long for. Without the Cross I would not have been redeemed from sin and Hell. You wouldn't have either.
Anyway, there's one phrase in the song that says "Everything I once held dear I count it all as loss"....HMMMM......
At SpiritWing's last concert when I sang that phrase....I kind of choked up because I knew that what I was singing was not true of my own life. I still count everything in my life as things with value....when in fact....they aren't, compared to the things of God.
I'm sick of struggling with this and am not going to anymore.
Here's a prayer that I might continue to pray until it happens:
God,
Whenever I try to live life on my own I ALWAYS fall short of your glory. I'm tired of living like that! Please grant me a new mindset....a new way of thinking. Give me the thoughts of You and Your plan for my life...not my own.
I know that this is a risky request but please break me so that I can be fixed by You and only You. Not my friends, family, music, or anything else but You.
I don't want anything but You.....cause in all honesty You are all that I need. You alone are enough. Help my deceitful heart realize that You are all that I need, that You have everything under control, that Your plan is better, that everything that I hold dear needs to be counted as loss, that my delight needs to be in You so that I can live my life anew in Your plans, that You are Supreme....above all else.
Lord, let me see Your heart for my life....please forgive me for putting earthly/temporary things before You.
All I need from You is to be broken by You, only to be fixed by You. I need Your help...no one else's....just Yours. There's no one else for me but You!!!!!! Nothing else can satisfy like You can. I've experienced Your love and mercy before and I long to experience it again and again until the day that I die.
I am Yours.....
-Amen
Sorry if I seemed like I was venting, but I just needed to get this off of my chest and all of this is truly the longing of my heart.
I need to start being more vulnerable anyways....no more of this sissy, sugar-coated, stuff, but the real deal.
Have a blessed day,
-Liz Hitt
2 Timothy 2:13
He's been there this whole time and instead of turning to Him, running into His arms and choosing to experience His love, I choose my agenda and the agenda of other people.
I'm honestly sick of living like this. I keep wanting for God to break me big time, but His Word says to "humble yourself" (James 4:10) and somehow, I can't let go of what I keep doing every day.
I feel like giving God my attention takes too much energy and in all reality is does...and yet it doesn't, but it's worth every single bit of my time and energy! Why can't I grasp this?! God created us to use our brains and our hearts....I don't understand why it's so hard to just focus on what He wants and let Him take the wheel of my heart and drive!
There's one song that I led in SpiritWing this year and it's called Lead Me To The Cross. I never thought that I would get attached to that song like I did "None But Jesus" , but it still sticks with me because the message is something that I truly long for. Without the Cross I would not have been redeemed from sin and Hell. You wouldn't have either.
Anyway, there's one phrase in the song that says "Everything I once held dear I count it all as loss"....HMMMM......
At SpiritWing's last concert when I sang that phrase....I kind of choked up because I knew that what I was singing was not true of my own life. I still count everything in my life as things with value....when in fact....they aren't, compared to the things of God.
I'm sick of struggling with this and am not going to anymore.
Here's a prayer that I might continue to pray until it happens:
God,
Whenever I try to live life on my own I ALWAYS fall short of your glory. I'm tired of living like that! Please grant me a new mindset....a new way of thinking. Give me the thoughts of You and Your plan for my life...not my own.
I know that this is a risky request but please break me so that I can be fixed by You and only You. Not my friends, family, music, or anything else but You.
I don't want anything but You.....cause in all honesty You are all that I need. You alone are enough. Help my deceitful heart realize that You are all that I need, that You have everything under control, that Your plan is better, that everything that I hold dear needs to be counted as loss, that my delight needs to be in You so that I can live my life anew in Your plans, that You are Supreme....above all else.
Lord, let me see Your heart for my life....please forgive me for putting earthly/temporary things before You.
All I need from You is to be broken by You, only to be fixed by You. I need Your help...no one else's....just Yours. There's no one else for me but You!!!!!! Nothing else can satisfy like You can. I've experienced Your love and mercy before and I long to experience it again and again until the day that I die.
I am Yours.....
-Amen
Sorry if I seemed like I was venting, but I just needed to get this off of my chest and all of this is truly the longing of my heart.
I need to start being more vulnerable anyways....no more of this sissy, sugar-coated, stuff, but the real deal.
Have a blessed day,
-Liz Hitt
2 Timothy 2:13
Saturday, May 2, 2009
A Prayer (song of healing)
On April 30th at midnight, I was just sitting in my bedroom thinking about some stuff and out of nowhere I got some inspiration to write a song.
I wrote it as a prayer to God and when I looked at it after I was finished I was like "wow.....someone, somewhere might be praying this".
This is actually the first "Prayer-like" song that I have ever written and it's not half bad. It's still being tweaked, but here is what I have so far.
A Prayer
by Liz Hitt
Dear God,
It's me again
I don't know why I keep failing You
You deserve so much more than what I can give
My life is a mess
I keep trying so hard to do things on my own
I just dig a deeper hole than before You were in control
Chorus:
Take my heart of stone
And make it Yours
I've lost the will to go on anymore
Only You can heal
Mend and fix
This broken life
And make it real
Dear God,
No one likes me
Or if they do well it's hard to notice
Where is the love that I once felt?
That love of no condition, no regrets, but of compassion
Oh I give up
I am running back to where that love was this whole time
I need You
And in You my life is restored, renewed and reborn
(chorus)
I don't know why God put these words on my heart, but I am glad that He did because hopefully it will mean something to someone. It will give comfort to someone who is hurting. It will give them hope that God is going to redeem them back to Himself and heal their broken lives and make them real.
As I said before, I am still tweaking this song, but what you just read was the un-tweaked version of it :)
I would love to hear your input on it.
Have a blessed day!
-Liz Hitt
I wrote it as a prayer to God and when I looked at it after I was finished I was like "wow.....someone, somewhere might be praying this".
This is actually the first "Prayer-like" song that I have ever written and it's not half bad. It's still being tweaked, but here is what I have so far.
A Prayer
by Liz Hitt
Dear God,
It's me again
I don't know why I keep failing You
You deserve so much more than what I can give
My life is a mess
I keep trying so hard to do things on my own
I just dig a deeper hole than before You were in control
Chorus:
Take my heart of stone
And make it Yours
I've lost the will to go on anymore
Only You can heal
Mend and fix
This broken life
And make it real
Dear God,
No one likes me
Or if they do well it's hard to notice
Where is the love that I once felt?
That love of no condition, no regrets, but of compassion
Oh I give up
I am running back to where that love was this whole time
I need You
And in You my life is restored, renewed and reborn
(chorus)
I don't know why God put these words on my heart, but I am glad that He did because hopefully it will mean something to someone. It will give comfort to someone who is hurting. It will give them hope that God is going to redeem them back to Himself and heal their broken lives and make them real.
As I said before, I am still tweaking this song, but what you just read was the un-tweaked version of it :)
I would love to hear your input on it.
Have a blessed day!
-Liz Hitt
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Struggles
Struggles.....we all have them. Whenever we hear that word we automatically think of something negative that someone is going through.
As of right now my biggest struggle is getting back to God and His will for my life instead of repeating bad habits. The worst part about it is that I realize that those habits are wrong, but I still do them.....and I keep drifting away from the love of God that I came to know as a child and the peace that He alone brings me when He holds me in His arms.
The best feeling that I have ever felt was when God held me when I almost made the biggest mistake of my life. I felt safe and I felt like everything was going to be ok because God said that it was.
I am so glad that God doesn't give up on us, because if He did I would NOT be here. None of us would.
Even though nothing bad comes from God, I personally believe that He lets circumstances happen to people to show them that they need to turn back to Him and depend on Him and nothing and no one else. I mean look at the story of Job. God let Satan take away everything that Job had in order to test his faith in Him.
I seriously need God to break me. I know that probably sounds insane and that I will probably regret asking for it, but I need it.
The greatest thing about being broken by God, is that He picks up the pieces and fixes us again. God brings us back to Himself for His glory and for our benefit.
With that said I am asking for prayer to overcome the struggles that I am facing. I would greatly appreciate them and I am willing to pray for you about anything if you need me to.
God Bless,
-Liz Hitt
As of right now my biggest struggle is getting back to God and His will for my life instead of repeating bad habits. The worst part about it is that I realize that those habits are wrong, but I still do them.....and I keep drifting away from the love of God that I came to know as a child and the peace that He alone brings me when He holds me in His arms.
The best feeling that I have ever felt was when God held me when I almost made the biggest mistake of my life. I felt safe and I felt like everything was going to be ok because God said that it was.
I am so glad that God doesn't give up on us, because if He did I would NOT be here. None of us would.
Even though nothing bad comes from God, I personally believe that He lets circumstances happen to people to show them that they need to turn back to Him and depend on Him and nothing and no one else. I mean look at the story of Job. God let Satan take away everything that Job had in order to test his faith in Him.
I seriously need God to break me. I know that probably sounds insane and that I will probably regret asking for it, but I need it.
The greatest thing about being broken by God, is that He picks up the pieces and fixes us again. God brings us back to Himself for His glory and for our benefit.
With that said I am asking for prayer to overcome the struggles that I am facing. I would greatly appreciate them and I am willing to pray for you about anything if you need me to.
God Bless,
-Liz Hitt
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
All for You
A good friend of mine wrote a song awhile back and I just recently put it to music.
The words and phrases that she used for this song we beautifully put together and well written and now it's turning into a beautiful song about slowing our lives down for God. Letting Him wash over us with peace and letting Him take control.....COMPLETE control.
The song is called "All For You". It's a work in progress, but it has a nice beginning.
All For You
By Chelsea Stockton
Music by Liz Hitt
Verse 1:
Running through this life
From place to place
I feel like I'm serving you
When I'm doing all I can
Pre-Chorus:
Wash over my heart
With water of peace
I'll slow my soul
To move with You
Chorus:
Oh pace my heart
To beat with Yours
Take my thoughts
I don't want them anymore
Everything that I do
And say and pray and muse
Is now slowed down
All for You
I hope you like it.
Let me know what you think
Have a great day and remember to put God first. You can never go wrong when you give God complete control of you life.
Blessings,
-Liz Hitt
The words and phrases that she used for this song we beautifully put together and well written and now it's turning into a beautiful song about slowing our lives down for God. Letting Him wash over us with peace and letting Him take control.....COMPLETE control.
The song is called "All For You". It's a work in progress, but it has a nice beginning.
All For You
By Chelsea Stockton
Music by Liz Hitt
Verse 1:
Running through this life
From place to place
I feel like I'm serving you
When I'm doing all I can
Pre-Chorus:
Wash over my heart
With water of peace
I'll slow my soul
To move with You
Chorus:
Oh pace my heart
To beat with Yours
Take my thoughts
I don't want them anymore
Everything that I do
And say and pray and muse
Is now slowed down
All for You
I hope you like it.
Let me know what you think
Have a great day and remember to put God first. You can never go wrong when you give God complete control of you life.
Blessings,
-Liz Hitt
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Sweet Revelation
I'm sure some of you are anxious to know about my "big decision" that I've made. Well I felt that God has not moved me on to another music/ministry team so I am staying in SpiritWing for next year.
God kinda put me in my place over spring break through my Mom. I was willing to go into another group for the wrong reasons and that is not right. I was wanting to leave a difficult situation instead of meeting it head on and trying to work things out. That is a huge character flaw....I don't care who you are. I can't run away from difficult situations every time that they come up.
If God moves you then you move; if He doesn't then you stay where you're supposed to be. It's as simple as that.
I'm sure that being in a different ministry team as a student director would have been a great experience, but God has not moved me in that direction and I'm pretty sure that if I would have moved on to that group I would have ended up miserable because I didn't follow what God wanted.
I still have a lot more to learn before I can take on a leadership position of any kind and God knew that.
God is good and I am so thankful that He made things clear to me.
Anyway, that's what is new in my life : )
Have a great day and remember to put God first!
-Liz Hitt
God kinda put me in my place over spring break through my Mom. I was willing to go into another group for the wrong reasons and that is not right. I was wanting to leave a difficult situation instead of meeting it head on and trying to work things out. That is a huge character flaw....I don't care who you are. I can't run away from difficult situations every time that they come up.
If God moves you then you move; if He doesn't then you stay where you're supposed to be. It's as simple as that.
I'm sure that being in a different ministry team as a student director would have been a great experience, but God has not moved me in that direction and I'm pretty sure that if I would have moved on to that group I would have ended up miserable because I didn't follow what God wanted.
I still have a lot more to learn before I can take on a leadership position of any kind and God knew that.
God is good and I am so thankful that He made things clear to me.
Anyway, that's what is new in my life : )
Have a great day and remember to put God first!
-Liz Hitt
Monday, January 26, 2009
Big Decision
Ok I've been privileged to be apart of the music group SpiritWing for two years now and for some reason I've begun to think about what I feel God is calling me to do after I graduate from MBU.
I feel God calling me to possibly become a director for some of the music/ministry teams either at MBU or some other Christian college. In order for me to get experience in the leadership position I need to be a student director for a music ministry group. And since SpiritWing already has a student director, I have been offered to student direct another music ministry team at MoBap called Faithful.
They are a women's quartet and I have been told that student directing for them next year would definitely help me get immediate experience in a leadership position.
The decision that I'm faced with is this; to stay in SpiritWing? or move on to Faithful?
I love SpiritWing and enjoy singing in that group. Being in SpiritWing has grown me musically, spiritually,and it's just been a great experience and I don't want to leave.
But Faithful presents a great opportunity and many opportunities to lead, change the sound of the group, help the group blend better, and all kinds of things.
I don't want to miss out on what God wants, but as of right now I don't know what God wants.
The more I think about this decision the more my heart (or my mind) leads toward being in the group Faithful and then I start to think that I shouldn't leave SpiritWing because I might miss out on another learning experience.
I honestly don't know what to do. I've been praying and pursuing God's will but His will isn't really all that clear yet.
I would greatly appreciate your prayers as to what God wants me to do.
God Bless,
-Liz Hitt
I feel God calling me to possibly become a director for some of the music/ministry teams either at MBU or some other Christian college. In order for me to get experience in the leadership position I need to be a student director for a music ministry group. And since SpiritWing already has a student director, I have been offered to student direct another music ministry team at MoBap called Faithful.
They are a women's quartet and I have been told that student directing for them next year would definitely help me get immediate experience in a leadership position.
The decision that I'm faced with is this; to stay in SpiritWing? or move on to Faithful?
I love SpiritWing and enjoy singing in that group. Being in SpiritWing has grown me musically, spiritually,and it's just been a great experience and I don't want to leave.
But Faithful presents a great opportunity and many opportunities to lead, change the sound of the group, help the group blend better, and all kinds of things.
I don't want to miss out on what God wants, but as of right now I don't know what God wants.
The more I think about this decision the more my heart (or my mind) leads toward being in the group Faithful and then I start to think that I shouldn't leave SpiritWing because I might miss out on another learning experience.
I honestly don't know what to do. I've been praying and pursuing God's will but His will isn't really all that clear yet.
I would greatly appreciate your prayers as to what God wants me to do.
God Bless,
-Liz Hitt
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