Just got back from Nashville. Played last night at a Just Cause event. You can check out that organization at justcausenashville.com. Had a really great time. There were 3 or 4 social justice organizations there sharing information about what they do and how one can help.

One organization I became interested in is Project AK-47. They rescue children in Asia who are forced to fight in the wars of their country. Some are even as young as 4 years old. It is an atrocity! Check their website out. It is projectak47.com. You really can help. It can be a one time donation or you can sign up for a monthly donation of $7 a month. That’s cheap folks! I can find that laying around my house and in my car. Anyway, just wanted to share something that had made an impression on me.

Also, got some great footage of my tour mates, Carolina Story. Check out the video. Good stuff.
See ya.
Joy

This picture has been floating around in one of those chain emails that I so often delete, but this picture made me pause. You?
Joy

I let my mom hear Brandi Carlile for the first time today and she is hooked! I found her in the living room with my cd….

Hello all. Sitting here on this beautiful Friday afternoon in the great city of Memphis. We have finally gotten some awesome weather. I am gearing up for GMA week in Nashville in just a few short days. Heading out Sunday afternoon to do a showcase at 12th and Porter. Really excited about that because immediately after my set, Wavorly plays….and I LOVE Wavorly. If any of you peeps are in the Nashville area Sunday night, come on out! Attending a few seminars and then some interviews on Tuesday. Finishing up my stay in Nashville with a youth event on Wednesday night. BUT…I will be back Saturday to play at a social justice event. Check out the banner below. And check out justcausenashville.com.
Thanks for reading guys! Will be in touch….
~Joy

I came across Psalms 22 today in, of all places, the grocery store. While waiting in line, I was flipping through a book about Bible prophecy. I know…..crazy, isn’t it? Anyway, it stuck with me, so I came home and flipped open my Bible and couldn’t even get past the first 5 verses. There are 31 in all. There is so much in the first 5 verses that I cannot move on yet.

The name of the psalm is ‘A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise’. What?! How can those 2 things be in the same song? I mean, ‘anguish’ is an extremely strong word. It’s not like the word ‘hurt’. ‘Hurt’ sounds like child’s play compared to ‘anguish’. Hurt is what happens when you fall down. Anguish is what happens when your heart is ripped from your chest.
Here are the verses for you…..

“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer;
And by night, but I have no rest.
Yet Thou art holy,
O Thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
In Thee our fathers trusted;
They trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
To Thee they cried out, and were delivered;
In Thee they trusted, and were not disappointed.”

This is a psalm of David. And of course, quoted by Jesus upon the cross. What strikes me, though, is how David pours out his anguish…which is so extreme and intense. Look at the word ‘groaning’. That word literally means ‘roaring’.
The KJV version says, “Why art Thou so far from helping me, from the words of my roaring?”. David’s anguish was roaring from within him! And so was Christ’s while He hung on the cross.

Have you ever roared in pain? Not physical pain, but emotional. Sometimes I think that there are degrees of heartache that far surpass any physical pain. Roared is such an intense word! David then goes on to say, “I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer; And by night, but I have no rest”. Literal translation…..’there is no silence for me’.
David is basically saying, “God, why are You not helping me? You’re not even close to helping me! I cry by day and by night and You do not answer. I cannot stop crying. My pain is so deep that there is no such thing as silence for me! There is no such thing as rest!” I can just see David upon his knees and anguish pouring from his body like sweat. This psalm paints such a vivid picture that I can see it so clearly in my mind’s eye. I don’t know that I have ever felt exactly as David did. It would be foolish of me to say that I have suffered to the extent of David, and most of all, Christ. But I know anguish. I can see David in my mind because I’ve found myself on the floor, roaring from within.

What happens next, though, in the psalm is extraordinary. David uses the ‘but’.

“But Thou art holy,
O Thou inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in Thee;
They trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
They cried unto Thee, and were delivered;
They trusted in Thee, and were not disappointed.”

In the midst of anguish unspeakable and unceasing, David’s anguish roars from his lips, and then he says, “But I know who You are. My fathers trusted in You…they cried out to You…and you did not disappoint them. Yes, I feel like I am dying on the inside, and, no, You have not answered me, nor helped me. BUT…I know who You are.”

David does this same exchange 2 more times in this psalm! He pours out his soul in pain, and then he says, “BUT I know You.” This is amazing stuff! To be able to lift your head in the midst of such agony and still say, “God, I praise You!” It reminds me of words from CS Lewis. I love this quote so much that I wrote it in the back of my Bible! It is from his fiction book called “The Screwtape Letters”. This book is written from the perspective of demons. It is a collection of letters from a demon higher up on the food chain to a rookie demon, so to speak. He is training this ‘rookie’ in the ways of thwarting God’s plan and work in the lives of believers. Basically, teaching him how to terrorize and destroy his assigned Christian. They have titled God ‘the Enemy’ in their letters. The demon says….

“Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, asks why he has been forsaken…….AND STILL OBEYS!”

Have you ever felt forsaken by God? Have you ever looked around yourself and seemingly found no trace of Him? Can you still obey? Can you still praise? Isn’t He still God? Isn’t He still holy?

Isn’t He still worthy?
God help us still obey!

Joy

I blogged about music a couple of weeks ago, and it has been on my mind ever since…the importance…the significance…how precious a gift. I cannot imagine this world without music. I cannot imagine my life without music. My thoughts are to music. It is such a special gift and I am just amazed that God would let me be a part of creating it.

I love all kinds…all kinds. Different things draw me to a song. The beat. A guitar riff. A piano. Lyrics. The ambiance of the song. The way it makes me feel. But it is usually lyrics that get me. So, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite lyrics. One is from an artist by the name of Ray LaMontagne and the other is from Jennifer Knapp. It is also interesting to see the two different perspectives. One is obviously from a Christian, and one is not.

Ray LaMontagne from the song ‘Empty”

“So I looked my demons in the eye
Laid bare my chest
Said do your best to destroy me.
See I’ve been to hell and back so many times
I must admit you kind of bore me.
There’s a lot of things that can kill a man
There’s a lot of ways to die
Listen some already daily walk beside me.
There’s a lot of things I don’t understand
Why so many people lie
It’s the hurt I hide that fuels the fire inside me.
Will I always feel this way?
So empty, so estranged.”

Jennifer Knapp from the song ‘Hold Me Now’

“From glass alabaster she poured out the depths of her soul.
O foot of Christ would you wait if her harlotries known?
Falls a tear to darken the dirt
Of humblest offerings to forgive the hurt
She is strong enough to stand in your love
I can hear her say..I am weak
I am poor, I’m broken Lord but I’m yours
Hold me Now. Hold me now
Let the first without sin cast the first stone if you will
To say that my bride isn’t worth half the blood that I’ve spilled
Point your finger and laugh if you choose to say my beloved is borrowed and used.”

“Next to the word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts and spirits, A person who does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of donkeys and the grunting of hogs.”
- Martin Luther

I am just stunned by this quote. I was even more stunned to see that it was said by Martin Luther.
I’ve always pondered just how important music is. Luther seems to think that “next to the word of God, it is the greatest treasure in the world”. Do you agree with this statement? If so, why? Do you think God shares this sentiment? If so, why? I mean, why music? What is it about music?
Anxious to hear your thoughts.

~Joy

So, today is St. Patrick’s Day. In honor of the Irish, I want to tell you guys a little bit more about my favorite poet, Amy Carmichael. I included her poem “No Scar” in a previous blog, so that name may be familiar to some of you who read the blogs regularly. Most of what comes next is taken from Wikipedia, not my own words.

Amy Carmichael was born in the small village of Millisle, northern Ireland. She was adopted and tutored by Robert Wilson, cofounder of the Keswick Convention. One story of Carmichael’s early life tells that as a child, she wished that she had blue eyes rather than brown. She often prayed that God would change her eye color and was disappointed when it never happened. As an adult, however, she realized that, because Indians have brown eyes, she would have had a much more difficult time gaining their acceptance if her eyes had been blue.

In many ways she was an unlikely candidate for missionary work. She suffered nueralgia, a disease of the nerves that made her whole body weak and achy and often put her in bed for weeks on end. It was at the Keswick Convention of 1887 that she heard Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission speak about missionary life. Soon afterward, she became convinced of her calling to missionary work.

Initially Carmichael traveled to Japan for fifteen months, but after a brief period of service in Sri Lanka, she found her lifelong vacation in India. Hindu temple children were young girls dedicated to the gods and forced into prostitution to earn money for the priests. Much of her work was with young ladies, some of whom were saved from forced prostitution. In an effort to respect Indian culture, members of the organization wore Indian dress and the children were given Indian names. She herself dressed in Indian clothes, dyed her skin with dark coffee, and often traveled long distances on India’s hot, dusty roads to save just one child from suffering.

While serving in India, Amy received a letter from a young lady who was considering life as a missionary. She asked Amy, “What is missionary life like?” Amy wrote back saying simply, “Missionary life is simply a chance to die.”

In 1931, Carmichael was badly injured in a fall, which left her bedridden much of the time until her death. She died in India in 1951 at the age of 83. She asked that no stone be put over her grave; instead, the children she had cared for put a bird bath over it with the single inscription “Amma”, which means mother in the Tamil.”

If you get a chance, check out some of her poetry. It is beyond description her view and relationship with God.
Thanks for reading.
Joy