I’ve been listening to a song on repeat today. It’s the only sound I hear, apart from the hum of my refrigerator and the occasional car driving past my apartment complex.

It’s always like springtime with you, making all things new.
Your light is breaking through the dark.  

Bethel, somehow, you connect with my heart in ways I never expect, but constantly am in love with. Mmmm, Jesus. How glorious is a morning with crisp fall air, blue skies, and singing birds? Can it get better than this? Is there anything better than your presence? Anything more calming, more peaceful, more life-bringing? I do not believe there is.

Your hope is rising like the dawn.
This is what you do. You make me come alive.

These words, so common, the tune, so simple. It isn’t rocket science or calculus. It isn’t complicated chord progression. It is joy, found in song. It is hope, seen in dance. It is love, shown in music.

Yet the power behind this easy to remember phrase, the truth in it – it’s enough to make my entire being calm. Directly, from my heart to the Father, there’s this connection, almost palpable.

I’m working from home today – I have Skype calls with people in Malaysia, the U.S, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and El Salvador – and the comfort of my coffee table and couch seemed irresistible.

Sitting on the floor, cup of chai in my favorite mug, the windows open, this song playing, I’m at peace. I’m waiting for someone to get online, and basking in the magnificent life that the Father has given me.

It’s like I’m living for the first time.
Finally living for the first time.

I have the honor of seeing his hope around the world. Reading blogs, watching videos, speaking to participants and hosts – these things are insight into what the Lord is doing around the world. Let me tell you, something big is happening, and I am floored and thankful to be a part of it.

Being a part of the story, being a part of the Kingdom, being His kid… it is exciting. It brings me such LIFE. I get giddy thinking about the joy and hope and love that is being spread throughout this Earth because of sons and daughters. His children, who are finally living and joining what he is doing.

His compassion is new every morning. Every day is fresh. Every day, I have the chance to see through his lens. Every day, I can choose to remember and know that love casts out fear and covers a multitude of sins.

People say that love is a feeling. It’s a noun, and a verb, and a choice, ultimately. Today, as this song floats through my living room, I know that it rings true. Love is a choice. And the mere notion that God would choose to love me renders me speechless.

And his love, oh, His perfect love, it’s better than I could have imagined, could have hoped for, could have dreamed.

This love, it is sweeter than wine, bringing joy, bringing life.

Lord, this is what you do. It’s what you do! You are in the business of bringing the dead to life. Your breath restores and redeems and rejuvenates. Your love makes us come alive.