Just before bedtime one night our six year old daughter Emma (featured in this video) said, “Papa, I have a song on my mind.” She sang the opening lines, words and melody. I was awe struck! “Is she hearing angels sing this? Because that was really good!”
Have you ever struggled to find your place, or wondered if you will ever feel like you fit? It can be hard to find a place where we feel at home, where we feel we truly belong. As we explored these ideas we came to the conclusion that our true forever home is in the heart of our Father who created us to be loved. He is our Home.
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Thanks for listening,
Daniel & Catherine
LYRICS:
Hide away from the darkness Hide away from the pain Try to escape all that’s heartless, But it seems a waiting game
I’ve been running for a while now I’ve been running on my own Heart’s been aching for a while now Ever since I left home
CHORUS:
So I’m coming home, I’m coming home I’m longing for belonging I’m longing for a home
I’m a mixed juxtaposition A puzzle piece out of place And I don’t have a recognition of where I fit into this space
I can’t check any of your boxes Don’t want the ditch on either side My heart feels full of paradoxes But I’m okay with this collide
(CHORUS)
In the heart of my Father I am complete I have no need to wander For I have found Peace
In the heart of my Father (x4)
In the heart of my Father I have found home
credits released March 1, 2020 Emma, Daniel & Catherine Lovett
“Look, I am making everything new!” – Jesus (Rev. 21:5)
After a long season of darkness and cold, the days start to warm and the light lasts longer, things begin to grow and the world is full of new life again. In this season of trial, now more than ever, we need hope. Hope that God is on the job and that all His promises are “Yes” and “Amen”.
As we recorded this song for you this month, we sang it as both a cry and a declaration. God makes all things beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). He will make all things new and bring light to all that is dark. God will refresh us with His presence (Acts 2). We will rise as sons and daughters of the King of Kings (Romans 8).
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Lyrics:
You make all things new, You make all things new Like the dawn breaking after the night You make all things new, You make all things new We are drawn to your beauty and light To your love
We are made a new creation, as we receive your salvation You’ve come down, and live now in us Now One with our Creator, partakers of your Nature You conform us to your Son In your love
Just like the wildflowers springing from the desert When the latter rains fall to the earth Your sons and your daughters will rise with love’s power When your presence drenches your church With your love With your love
“Surprised by hope this holy Light now dances in my soul…”
These are the opening lyrics that sprang into my mind as I was a block away from my house on my way home. “Good timing, inspiration!” The opening riff just stumbled off my fingers as I played my drop D tuned guitar and the song came together like magic.
Have you ever been surprised by hope? Has joy unspeakable and full of glory ever snuck up on you and ambushed you when you least expected?
These are truly delightful and healing moments when you finally and fully align with the present moment where God’s complete salvation abides. You are home now in the love of the Father. You are loved by the One in whom you live and move and have your being.
“Nothing in the universe can change your love for me Enfolded in your family, a child of the King”
I really wanted to include something in this song about being in God’s family and my wife and I were both led to read Romans 8. As we read it together in The Passion Translation, the phrase “enfolded in the family” jumped out.
“That’s it!” I exclaimed.
Originally I had written, “Nothing in the universe can take your love from me.” Papa corrected me and said, “No, say ‘change’ instead of ‘take’. That’s what I want to say to my kids.”
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If this song has blessed you, please share it with those you love!
Lyrics:
Surprised by hope this holy Light now dances in my soul You reached out when I was caught, in an undertow You pulled me up to where you are, so I will always know I am loved, I am loved
You carried me when I was weak, I could not help myself You promised me you’d never leave, even in my hell When I lose sight of who you are, you’re always here to tell me I’m loved, I am loved
Nothing in the universe can change your love for me Enfolded in your family, a child of the King (2x) I am, I am, I am loved
You began a beautiful work inside of me So I will lean upon your Grace until it is complete A new creation I am made, I’m choosing to believe I am loved, I am loved
Nothing in the universe can change your love for me Enfolded in your family, a child of the King (2x) I am, I am, I am loved
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” Jesus
John 14:27 NLT
Catherine and I (Daniel) are SO excited to present to you our studio version of Safe Place!
We think it sounds amazing and we know it will bless your heart!
One of God’s names is YHWH Shalom which can be roughly translated as “I AM Peace” and “in God we live and move and have our being”. There is WAY more depth to this Name than can be expressed. The ONE who IS Peace is here to be experienced!
We encourage you to take some time to hear the heart of God in this song. Put on your head phones, find a quiet space and experience Jesus in this prophetic song. This is a message from Jesus to you. Jesus invites you to come to him and experience his Peace, his Shalom. It is yours to experience right now if you want to. He is your Safe Place.
lyrics
You do your best to wear a happy face But your hearts a mess Just below the surface of your smile I want to be, a comfort in your suffering A mender of your broken wings A safe place to rest for a while
You are not alone You’ll always have a home Please know that you belong with me I’m throwing you a line I’ll make your sorrows mine I know the plans I have to bring you peace I’ll bring you peace
Take one step at a time I’ll be your light Right through your darkest night Into your dawning glorious new light So walk through the door It’s so much more than you knew to ask for And I will always be Your safe place to rest for a while
Peace, My peace I give to you My love, will guide you Peace, My peace I give to you My love, will see you through
Yes I will always be Your safe place to rest for a while
Shalom!
Did you know that “Shalom” means peace? There is a wonderful Scripture that doubles up on that word in the Hebrew to emphasize it’s awesomeness:
“You will keep in perfect peace (shalom shalom) all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”Isaiah 26:3 NLT
May you experience the Perfect Peace of Jesus of Jesus now.
The inspiration behind Come Lord Jesus came as I was reading a book by C.S. Lewis called the “Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” to my five-year old daughter. C.S. Lewis wrote this book as an allegory for the Gospel. There is a white witch who had kept Narnia under her spell for a hundred long years. It was always winter and never Christmas. Everyone suffered under her rule and everyone who opposed her was turned to stone.
Then Aslan returns to Narnia. Aslan is the Creator of Narnia and the Christ figure in this book. As soon as he sets foot in Narnia, the white witch loses her power. Everything thaws and Spring comes in a single day! The birds are singing, trees and flowers are blooming… It is beautiful!
As I read that to my daughter, a thrill came to my heart. I thought about the day when Jesus will come back to this world he created. The devil will lose his power and my prayer is that all our hearts, which the devil has kept frozen, untrusting, and suspicious of the true nature of Jesus, will thaw at his return!
This is also what happens to anyone who comes to the Lord. An eternal Spring comes into their heart. All your life previous to knowing Christ was the longest, hardest, most brutal winter you’ll ever know and then you meet Jesus! Spring has come at long last!
The first century church had an Aramaic word they used to greet each other:
Maranatha
This word means, “Our Lord is coming” or “Come Oh Lord”.
Jesus is returning soon! It is closer now than it ever has been!
Lyrics:
Come Lord Jesus
The winters passing on and spring has
Come, come, come Lord Jesus
Our hearts are thawing ever drawing
Near to you Lord Jesus
Fill our hearts with love and beauty
Fill our lives now, Holy Spirit
The trees are reaching for Yeshua,
Come, come, come Lord Jesus
The birds are singing Hallelujah,
Come, come, come Lord Jesus
Fill our hearts with love and beauty
Fill our lives now Holy Spirit
Fill our hearts with love and beauty
Fill our lives now, Holy Spirit
Spring rain is falling down,
Spring rain is washing out,
All the filth, all the things we could do without
All the pain all the stains you are cleansing out
All the filth, all the things we could do without
All the shame all the stains you are cleansing out…
(Instrumental)
Come Lord Jesus, Come Lord Jesus
Come Lord Jesus, Come Lord Jesus
The winters passing on and spring has
Come, come, come Lord Jesus
Our hearts are thawing ever drawing
Near to you Lord Jesus
Come, come, come Lord Jesus
Come, come, come Lord Jesus
A few extra details about this song:
This Official music video was released at exactly 11:15 AM CST on the Spring Equinox 2018 on Tuesday, March 20th.
I wrote the music for the song after a concert one day at a nursing home. It was first recorded on a smart phone on the first day of Spring as I played it for Daniel Betters, a man of God who was on his way to be with Jesus. He passed on into the next life that day and I later played this very song at his funeral. They had named the memorial service a “celebration of life”. And it most certainly was! I was delighted to hear all the amazing stories of this man of his faith and love for Jesus. I was so excited and glad to have been there to hear of his walk to remember!
Jesus would tell each one of us, “Love the person you are with in the moment. This is how we will change the world.” (I put that in quotes because this is exactly what Jesus told Howard Storm when Howard met with Jesus and the angels in a Near Death experience. I interviewed Howard Storm on my radio show, Sozo Talk Radio. You can listen to that here.)
Be blessed and be filled with God’s Holy Spirit so you can be the love this world so desperately needs!
There have been times, I’ve wondered what you see in me
Stuck in my mind, the ruts of failure running deep
I try to think, of ways I can appease my guilt
You never blink, as you undo the beast I’ve built
CHORUS:
(Cuz) You see and you know
All our brokenness inside
And you dare to love
With Your eyes open wide
I drift away, the current sweeping me downstream
I feel the fade, this hopeless feeling crashing in
The enemy, has filled my heart with dread inside
How can this be? You’re eyes betray a Father’s pride
(CHORUS)
BRIDGE:
I’m undone when I think of how
You know the depths of me
And that you love me more than I could dream
Outro:
In what you’re goin through,
I wont give up on you
(I see you oh my love)
Years ago Catherine and I had the idea for a song about how God is committed to a relationship with us even though he fully knows exactly what he is getting into. He knows it will get messy and be difficult and often slow going when it comes to us yielding to righteousness. And yet, He’s all in.
We had the chorus and bridge that just sat on the back burner for a few years simmering till it was nice and tasty (nothing like a slow cooked song), but we never could settle on the verses. We tried a few times and nothing ever seemed to fit.
Then one day, not too long ago, I was taking the kids to swimming lessons. I would have some time to kill while waiting for them but had no book. So I grabbed some paper and a pen and in a half hour I had written the verses.
Emma came up to me on the benches at the side of the pool and asked what I was doing.
“I just wrote a song! You wanna hear it?”
I didn’t know there was a melody yet. I hadn’t really worked that out but I sang it perfectly the first time and it stuck. Wow! Within an hour I was at a nursing home concert and sang it acapela. I hadn’t worked out the guitar yet.
Well, the recording came together so perfectly and you want to know the crazy part? I did not feel like recording. I hardly ever do. But you just do it regardless of how you feel. It opens up the flow and you get the ball rollin down the hill. Momentum. Movement. Purpose. Happiness. =)
I decided to collaborate with my cousin Esther Eyre. She plays the piano and recorder on this one. Click HERE to listen to more of her music!
I want everyone to hear my new love song for my wife! This is the story of our life together.
Love Love Love by Daniel Lovett
LYRICS:
our hands touched as we sat on the grass in the park,
on that fourth of july after dark
and the fire in the sky, could not compare,
with the fire that lit up my life
you looked to me and our destiny flashed before my eyes
of how it could be, how it could be, just you and me
holding hands in the forest with our maker before us,
we took our solemn vows
for the first time i knew, that me and you
would never be apart
oh there’s someone to share every joy every care
someone to lean on and trust
and to love love love (someone to love) mmmmmm
if i could live ten thousand lives,
i’d spend every one of them with you by my side
you bring me so much joy and life
a universe opened wide
and now when our daughter keeps on asking for water
long past her time for bed
crying “papa” at midnight, i’ll help her to sleep tight
so you can rest your head
i hope that you dream of lovely things, and what our future holds
i know it is love, love, love, i know it is love
if i could live ten thousand lives,
i’d spend every one of them with you by my side
you bring me so much joy and life
a universe opened wide
you’re an endless holiday, an angel of God’s grace
you have filled my life with love love love
remember how we would talk, exhausting every thought
late into the night
you gave me, sparkling dreams
& someone to hold thru the night… and so much love love love
I am planning to make a video with Catherine of how we met. It’s an amazing story! Before meeting her I had sworn off dating and made a promise that the next girl I kissed would be my wife. “You bring her to me God”, I prayed.
Well, when I first saw Catherine I knew she was the one. We were likely best friends in the realm before this one and had agreed to meet and marry in this life. I do agree with what the Bible teaches about how we existed with God before having our memories wiped to have this fresh and amazing human experience. (Like this one: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you!” Jeremiah 1:5, and many more!)
We were destined to be together. And God let us both know it. She had been given dreams about me and was even told my name before we met. You just have to watch the video of our supernatural love story once we make it. Subscribe so we can stay connected!
One of our first interactions happened on the fourth of July watching fireworks. Her mom was there and I had the strongest impulse to call her “mom”.
I see my wife as a native of the kingdom of God. She was raised to love and know Jesus and commune with the Holy Spirit in a very pure way. Her name Catherine means “pure one” and she certainly is! I have never met a more godly young woman before or since. She knew God and would hear very clearly from the Holy Spirit.
It’s been an amazing 16 years of marriage and it was such a joy to sing this song to her for the first time just the other day.
I love the third verse to this and my Emma proved it true once again tonight. Just before drifting off she says “water!” and I had to get up and go get her some. I love my kids and also my children. Ok, so I don’t really have any baby goats (kids) but if I did, I’d love them too.
I tell my children stories every night and thought about starting to share some of them with you on my personal blog: www.daniellovett.com – there’s a reason to go there and subscribe!
Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
We chose to include the third verse in this version because it often gets neglected. I didn’t know there even was a third verse until just recently. How profound to think that Jesus has undone the curse and now he wants to apply the cure into our lives. He has come to bless us and make his blessings and Joy flow as far as the curse is found in us.
Do we think of Jesus as “full of Joy”? I think that all too often we remember him as a man well acquainted with sorrow and grief. This is true, but I will postulate that there is also no one who could ever hold a candle to the kind of Joy Jesus knew and displayed as well. This is part of why he was SO attractive to the innumerable crowds that walked for miles to see Jesus and encounter his love.
Scripture tells us that in the Lord’s Presence there is fullness of joy and at his right hand, pleasures evermore. Do we believe this? If we truly did we wouldn’t turn to a drink or ______ (fill in the blank) to make us happy, we’d come to hang out with him. I mean, the reason any of us “sin” is because we don’t believe this. Joy is the evidence of his presence in our lives (“fruit of the Holy Spirit”).
But I believe that part of why we are here on earth is to experience pain and sorrow and a sense of separation so that we can come to understand joy. The greater the suffering, the more joy you can appreciate. This is why Job may have been given a great gift in disguise through all he suffered. Hey, it’s a working theory that makes a lot of sense to me.
In my mind this joy/suffering thing works like a pendulum. The farther you swing into the suffering side, the farther you can then swing into the joy side. So let me ask you, who has ever suffered greater than Jesus?
No one. No one knew pain and sorrow greater than Jesus.
So who has ever had a greater experience of Joy than Jesus?
No one.
And here is the really amazing thing. Jesus said in John 15:11:
“…These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you and your joy may be full…”
Amazing, right?
Jesus is simply just giving you His joy. Only he knows and experiences the greatest joy there is, and he wants to share it… with you.
Interested? Me too!
But, of course, the verse above didn’t happen in isolation. It was part of a conversation. What is the context? How can we “get in” on the Joy of Jesus?
Well, he tells us. Here it is:
“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love. 10If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
12This is My commandment, that you love one another as I loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
14You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 17This is My command to you: Love one another.” John 15:9-17
So what do you think of that?
He is saying that we must love like he does. Who else is struggling with that right now? How do we love like Jesus does? Are we willing to lay down our life for our friends like he did?
This reminds me of a talk I did awhile back called “A K-19 kind of Love“. Deep.
So, how do we love like that?
On our own. Impossible. “But with God all things are possible”, Jesus says.
“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
“Christ in you the hope of glory” the Bible says.
I wonder if is as simple as surrender.
“Jesus will you love others through me sacrificially with your Agape Love? Will you pour it out and in and fill me with your love? Teach us how to remain in and operate out of your perfect Love! Amen”
Dm Am Dm
Twas in the moon of winter-time When all the birds had fled,
That mighty Gitchi Manitou, Sent angel choirs instead;
G Dm
Before their light the stars grew dim,
Am Dm
And wandering hunters heard the hymn:
F G Dm F G Dm
“Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria.”
Within a lodge of broken bark, The tender Babe was found,
A ragged robe of rabbit skin, Enwrapp’d His beauty round;
But as the hunter braves drew nigh,
The angel song rang loud and high…
“Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria.”
The earliest moon of wintertime, Is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory, On the helpless infant there.
The chiefs from far before him knelt
With gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria.
O children of the forest free, O sons of Manitou,
The Holy Child of earth and heaven Is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant Boy
Who brings you beauty, peace and joy.
“Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria.”
I love how the Christmas story is framed in a Native American way in this song, don’t you? I love how the translator retained a Native word for God – Manitou – which literally means “Great Spirit” in the Algonquian language. Manitowoc, where we used to live, means “Home of the Great Spirit”.
Enjoy our brand new version of Canada’s oldest Christmas song, “The Huron Carol” (Jesous Ahatonhia), along with a couple of other Christmas songs in this little Concert we put on just for you:
“O children of the forest free, O sons of Manitou,
The Holy Child of earth and heaven Is born today for you”
I love being a free son of the Great Spirit!
“For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17
So, as a free son of the Great Spirit, what will we do with our freedom?
I’ll tell you what Jean Brebeuf, the man who wrote the Huron Carol, did with his freedom. He gave his life (literally) to serve the Wendat (Huron) people. Imagine devoting your life serving people who were often suspicious of, and sometimes even hated you, who rarely loved or celebrated you.
Was their suspicion for good reason? How much do we know of how Jean loved and “manifested” the character of Christ? I hope he truly knew and loved Jesus and represent him well?
No one can know for certain I suppose and yet, Jean faithfully stuck with the Wendat and served them best he knew how. He believed so much in the Lord and his mission that in 1649, even after being warned that an Iroquois raiding party was on their way to kill all the inhabitants of his village, he stayed on to help those who chose not to flee for their lives. Instead he was captured and, while being tortured to his death by the Iroqouis, he encouraged his fellow missionaries to consider the eternal glory that awaited them just beyond the pain of the moment. Wow!
What are you going to do with your freedom?
Song Story and History:
The Jesuit missionary, Jean de Brébeuf (1593-1649), is the most likely candidate to have written this song. He lived and worked among the Hurons for 22 years putting their language into written form and trying to “win converts”.
After learning what I had in my research it was hard not to judge the man. I realize that perhaps he did the very best of his ability and knowledge but how can anyone honestly believe that sprinkling someones head and making the sign of the cross over a Native actually did anything to convey the wonderful news and glories of Jesus in someone’s life? Or effect any change in their heart? And why would a Native convert have to adopt a European “Christian” name? This is ridiculous and shameful.
From the documentary (below) Brebeuf confessed that he was making no headway with the Wendat. “That is not our custom”, they would tell him. The one convert he did make was because the man recovered from the smallpox that the missionaries brought with them. The one healed considered it a miracle and that these missionaries God must be more powerful because they remained unaffected by the plague. Once “baptized” he was given a Christian name of Joseph. To be honest, this ticked me off.
Sorry, I couldn’t just whitewash this man’s story and I have to be true to what I have found in my research and also in the documentary video below. This goes to show you that people who write the history books have the power to sway public opinion or make a saint or a villain of anyone.
I found the following from an internet search:
In 1649 an Iroquois war party invaded Huronia, killing or driving out all the Hurons, and destroying the missions. Refusing to leave their people at St. Joseph, Brébeuf and Lalement were captured and killed at the stake after enduring many hours of savage torture.
Some of the Hurons escaped to Lorette, near Quebec City, and there their descendants live to this day. They did not forget Father Brébeuf’s carol, and about 1750 another Jesuit, Father de Villeneuve, heard them singing it and wrote it down. Then it was translated into French under the title “Jesus est né” and it is still sung in that form in Quebec. In 1926, a Canadian poet, J. E. Middleton, wrote the English words, which have become widely known. (From the liner notes of ([Mills-A 1960])
Here is the fascinating documentary of the man Jean Brebeuf:
So who has ever had a greater experience of Joy than Jesus?