My God is Mighty to Save...

So, it's currently cold season in Niigata...and I don't mean chilly, I mean coughs and sniffles and the like. :( Since Sunday I've been wandering around with a sore throat and I think I'm finally giving in to the runny nose and cough too...blah!

A person doesn't realize quite how much singing or talking he or she really does until you're suddenly without a voice. :( Teaching is definitely a profession where having a voice is rather important, and I do SOOOO much singing every week...however, singing "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" yesterday at the kindergarten produced a sound somewhere between a bullfrog and a squawking parrot...interesting! (Thankfully, my 3-year-olds didn't mind at all. :))

While I wouldn't recommend adopting a cold, I have been struck by how much more listening I've been doing rather than singing. Usually, if a song is on, I'm singing along, or humming along, or something along those lines...now I'm mouthing the words, but not even really trying to get out a sound and am forced to hear, loud and clear, the words and message behind the melody.

It's always useful to shut up and listen for awhile, isn't it? :)

I've been listening to Hillsong's "Mighty to Save" song over and over since last night, and have been struck by the blatant, confident words:

"Savior, He can move a mountain. My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save."

Over and over, "He is mighty to save..." It makes me stop, give myself a palm-to-forehead smack, and be reminded how often I go through the days thinking, "What can I save?" rather than thinking about the true Savior.

We've been talking about spiritual gifts in my Wednesday morning class (there's a whole story behind how that started, but that's another time), and I've labelled myself and been labelled by others as a "mercy" person. A mercy person, just to give a quick definition, is driven by people's needs. Mercy people go through life driven by seeing pain and sorrow, hunger, etc., and try to figure out how to heal, help, and provide. Ask me about truth, and I don't have so much to say. Ask me about pain and love and God's presence in human life, and I have a lot to say...

Anyway, the main point is that it's easy...so easy!!...for me to run around thinking that I'm the savior...because that is part of my job, my calling--to help "save" people. But I can't actually do the job--and Jesus did the ultimate saving--and sometimes I just need to remember that while saving is my calling it is God's CHARACTER...the essence of who He is. Love, saving grace, strength and power that is unmatched...this is my God.

When I think of that, I just want to sit and curl up and cry...with relief, because it frees me...with shame, because of how often I try to solve things without going to the real Savior...with the sorrow of knowing that right now, I am separated from my Savior and see Him as "in a mirror"...sometimes the longing "to see face to face" is so strong!!!

Ok, and maybe some of the curling up and wanting to cry has to do with the fact that I'm sick and want to go to bed. :) But really, leave it to God to give you good listening even when you can't sing and feel miserable...it is good.

Anyway, I'd recommend hitting up the song on youtube at least...and taking a moment to bask in the fact that God truly is "mighty to save"...