Amazing Grace

Time sure flies when your having fun! I can't believe that I am halfway through my YAV year already! So far this year I have learned a lot about myself, and the world around me. It’s made for an exciting year. I'm only halfway through my year but I already know that I have changed for the better. I really feel like I fit here and that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. 

Currently, we have some Canadians visiting at Friendship House who are here for a few weeks as part of their mission trip. They are a really nice group and they work well with the kids. It’s been really interesting to get to know them and see Belfast through their eyes. It makes me think of how I might have been when I first came here.

Today when I was at the Friendship House we were getting ready to sing Amazing Grace and I was thinking “finally a song I know”. But it was then that I realized how often I take songs like Amazing Grace that are really powerful and just sing them just like it was any other song on the radio, not worship. I forget about the message behind the beautiful tune.

I was opening the hymnbook to sing Amazing Grace and a piece of paper fell out that said:


The Lord has promised good to me 
His word my hope secured
He will my shied and portion be
As long as life endures

Those words really hit me. It just felt like a reminder that God is ever present in my life and is constantly speaking to me all the time, I just have to listen. Those few lines reminded me that God is looking out for me now and always. It’s nice to have wee reminders like that now and again of how amazing God’s love can be. Sometimes as Christians I think we forget. We are so used to talking about God’s love that sometimes we over look it. It almost becomes just a part of our routine instead of actual worship.

I would encourage you to look at some old hymns from your childhood and just read the words. Really concentrate on the message. You may discover a new connection to these lyrics that you have sang hundreds of times.


We've no less days to sing God's praise 
Then when we've first begun