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Taste and See That the LORD is Good
“Taste and see that the LORD is good.” -Psalm 34:8 Sometimes it’s difficult to see God in our lives. And then there are days when it’s so easy. Saturday was one of those days. It was my birthday, and my family and I spent the day at an apple orchard. It was easy to taste that the Lord is good. We walked through the rows of trees, sampling the sweet and tangy apples in more varieties than I have ever heard of. It was easy to see that the Lord is good while gazing upon the beauty of creation on a gorgeous September afternoon. It was easy to see His…
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Writing as Worship: Writing Prayers
Every Saturday I’m writing about some ways to incorporate more writing into your worship times. Last week I wrote about my process for writing spoken word. This week, I want to talk about writing down your prayers. Here are three reasons I love putting my prayers on paper. 1. It keeps me focused. Sometimes my mind feels so crazy and scattered that I don’t even know what to pray. The act of writing keeps me focused on the prayer, and helps me sort out what I need to pray about. 2. It helps me process. Sometimes, I will start a prayer feeling or thinking one thing, and by the time…
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Spoken Word: Depression (I Am Not Lost)
I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced times of depression, or darkness, or heaviness in your life, but I certainly have. I started writing this several months ago, during a very dark season of my life. Hopefully it will be an encouragement to you if you’re going through some dark moments as well. The world is broken like a hand painted plate crashed on my kitchen floor sharp fragments lying everywhere painful to touch threatening to damage me as I pick them up. Oh the plans I had for this dish, the dinner parties it was supposed to see. It hurts, In more ways than one this brokenness. My…
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Writing as Worship: How I Write Spoken Word
As I mentioned in my last post, every Saturday for the next few weeks I’m going to be posting some ideas for using writing as worship, and incorporating writing into your quiet times. You can read my previous post for a few basics. Today let’s talk about spoken word! Spoken word is basically poetry that’s meant to be read out loud. If there are any rules, I don’t know them. Spoken word can sound different based on the topic and the artist reciting the piece. Each writer seems to have their own rhythm, and I love listening to the different unique styles. You can find tons of examples on YouTube.…
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Writing as Worship: An Introduction
A couple of weekends ago I had the great privilege of speaking at the LifeLight music festival. In addition to speaking, I taught a spoken word workshop, which unexpectedly became one of my favorite parts of the weekend. To be honest I was more than a little nervous, because I don’t actually know how to write spoken word. I just write it. I took a creative writing class in college and actually didn’t do that well—especially in the poetry section. I never knew what to write about, and forcing the words to have a certain rhythm and rhyme that conformed to the rules stripped me of the freedom and joy…
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Spoken Word: Identity
Hey there! Here’s a new spoken word piece. I performed it at the LifeLight music festival over the weekend. Here’s the video! Some days I look in the mirror and forget who my Creator is. Because it feels like I don’t just have curves, I’ve got rolling hills and cliffs and potholes. Like I need to wear a sign that says, “Caution: Under construction. Please excuse our mess.” And some days it seems like when God created me He went a little more Picasso than Michelangelo and I’ve never cared for abstract art, so Some days… I grow weary, of pieces of me, being called problem areas and unsightly…
