It is well..

So I have always struggled with Christian music. To me, a music enthusiast, it always seems to have a cheese factor that  I can't overlook. There are exceptions to the rule, Sara Groves and JJ Heller come to mind, I love their voices and their lyrics move me. About a year ago I heard a version of It is Well, one of my favorite hymns, by Kristene Dimarco , that is perhaps one of the most moving pieces of Christian music I have ever heard. This past weekend was Easter. Jeff and I took the kids to our old church for a few reasons. One of which was the church has recently hired a new pastor and we have heard great things about him. He was great. It was a great message and really what I needed to hear. The message was about how Christ came and died for our sins to release us from the power those sins hold over us. The pastor had several biggish rocks up on the stage and he put them in a backpack. As he added one and then another and another, you could see the weight of the rocks pulling on the backpack. The backpack analogy represented all the crap and sin we try and fill our backpacks and lives with. The most powerful part of the message was when the pastor said that what we need to do is bring our backpack, our rocks, our sin to the cross and and lay it before Christ. I had to laugh, because otherwise I would cry, at the thousands of times that I have tried to lay my stuff before Christ and then I find myself grabbing those dang rocks back and filling my backpack up again. I feel like Christ has to be thinking sometimes..WOMAN! Just leave the back pack here. It is all so unnecessary but I will fully admit those things that I fill my life with, at the time, seem to fill a need. I know that isn't true but it has been a struggle my entire walk with God to truly trust in him. It seems that I have a well worn trail between the cross and my own sinful nature. One of the lines in the song I talked about earlier is, "And through it all, through it all, my eyes are on you". Those words are so powerful to me. If I keep my eyes on Christ and the cross and things that are holy, I have a much better chance of leaving those rocks for good! Oh, how my soul longs for that. Unfortunately, my flesh is weak. There in lies the power of what Christ did for us on Easter. He died so I could be redeemed.  His grace is sufficient. And all I have to do is keep my eyes on him, through it all. Here is the video..enjoy!