amazing grace Archives - Reflect, Daniel & Catherine

April 3, 2015

Free Hymns Albums!

We are now offering both of our Hymns albums as free downloads (SEE BELOW), for you to enjoy! These albums contain many of the most well loved Hymns of the faith, like Amazing Grace, In the Garden, and Old Rugged Cross, etc…

I once walked into a facility and found residents hovering over the CD players singing along to our CD, Reflect Hymn. The nurse told me that they do this every day and, “Do you have another album?” (They had to listen to it every day too!) I was glad to report that I did: “Reflect Amazing Grace”.

Highlights of our album Reflect Amazing Grace are, of course, Amazing Grace, featuring Catherine on her piano accompanied by strings and an all new Hallelujah chorus (watch the video). Other tracks that stand out are the opening track, a Sufjan Stevens inspired Fairest Lord Jesus. You might just find yourself humming the guitar solo of How Firm a foundation for awhile… as I did. Before the Throne of God Above opens with a lush open “C” tuned guitar and also features tasteful drums… I could mention something interesting about all the tracks and our hope is that you’ll take the time to listen to them all!

Our version of I Surrender All was inspired by a song by the band The Civil Wars called Poison and Wine. It has been so freeing for me to see what a privilege it is that we “get to” surrender to love. Love is who God is! Discard all former misconceptions. He is a loving heavenly Papa who accepts you and loves you unconditionally just as you are! His grace is transforming. It is a life changing experience to realize just how very loved you are. This love, and His grace (his smile and loving embrace) is the most amazing thing you could ever experience. This is who we “get to” surrender and give our all to… Jesus. Yeshua (whose name means “I AM Salvation”). God in the flesh who went to the cross for you and me because he loves us that much! Receive his kindness toward you in this very moment.

Our hope and prayer is that you are blessed by these collection of songs and then find someone to share this gift of music with!

Our ultimate goal in sharing this is to provide a free resource for those who serve residents in Nursing Homes and Hospice Care. We want to bring smiles and encouragement to people in nursing homes and also to bring comfort to those in their last moments in hospice care. (See testimonies below)

We need your help to accomplish this goal!

Here are a few ways you can help:

1.) Will you share this link on Facebook or elsewhere to spread the word about what we are trying to accomplish? Copy and paste this link from our website:

http://reflectworship.com/2015/04/free-hymns-albums/

or the noise trade link: http://noisetrade.com/Reflectworship/reflect-amazing-grace

2.) Do you have a loved one or know someone in a nursing home? Please download the music, put it on a CD, and send it to them! Of course you can also purchase our Hymns CD’s at our online store (or at Lighthouse Christian Books in Green Bay, WI), and bring a copy to someone in a nursing home.

3.) Do you know someone who works at a nursing home? Please send this message to them!

4.) If you are so inspired, you may Donate to our ministry so we can continue supplying albums for free to nursing homes. Donate button is on the right upper side of this website, or below.

Enjoy our albums Reflect Hymn and Reflect, Amazing Grace!

FREE DOWNLOAD:

You can also go to www.reflect.bandcamp.com to begin downloading.

Be sure to download both albums!

TESTIMONIES:

Since its release, I have been sending out the “Reflect Hymn” CD to various Nursing home facilities throughout Northeast Wisconsin and recently I received back this report about how the Reflect Hymn project is being used:

“Daniel, Having a chance encounter with an old friend who works the night shift at our local nursing facility, I wanted to share with you her comments about your music.

She told me that a copy of your music on CD; Reflect Hymn, appeared at their nurses station, and that they had been playing and enjoying the music. However, she said the greatest benefit seemed to come when your music was played exclusively in the rooms of those patients who were experiencing their last days. She told how the staff all remarked that such a great sense of peace seemed to envelop the room and the people in attendance, that they have a policy of always playing this music for such times as this as it provides such comfort.

I thought you might want to know this, since I know you send out these CD’s as a sample of your work when booking concerts at various Nursing Homes. Even though this facility has never had you there in person, your music is being used and valued, which I just ‘happened’ to find out a few weeks ago during my ‘chance encounter’.

Blessings, Cindie”

I was so moved when I received this report. What an awesome blessing! I would love to see every nursing home throughout Northeast Wisconsin to receive a Reflect Hymn album for their use for the above mentioned purpose, or to use for a church service or bible study, or even just for music therapy. If this is something that you would also like to see happen please donate toward this ministry.

Here is another letter I received:

Hi Daniel…

Recently you came to Shady Lane Nursing Home here in Manitowoc to entertain the residents and I was in attendance with my mother who was a resident there at the time. She just passed away this past Thursday March 25th. I bought one of your CDs and played it for her every night when she was drifting off to sleep. This past week when she had slipped into a deep sleep on comfort care at Shady Lane I played it in her room….it was very soothing. I think the staff at Shady Lane enjoyed it as well. I plan to give these CDs away as a result. If it is alright with you I would like to play it next to her coffin at the funeral.

Thank you.

A Recent Encounter (2015):

I was about to go in and entertain at a nursing home when a lady stopped me and asked, “I am a hospice nurse and I have your Reflect Hymn CD. I use it so often that it doesn’t play anymore. Do you have another one with you?”

I was able to provide her the Reflect Hymn album and also our latest Hymn project Reflect, Amazing Grace. She was on her way to someone who was passing away that very day.

Thank you for listening,

Daniel Lovett

July 28, 2014

Reflect Amazing Grace, Album Release

Our latest release, Reflect, Amazing Grace, is an acoustic collection of well loved hymns themed around the song Amazing Grace. What could be more vital and central to understanding God and the good news of Jesus than to have a firm grasp on his grace? The beauty part of it is when we come to recognize that his grace has a firm grasp on us!

Our primary motivation for making this album is that after nearly five years in full time ministry to residents in nursing homes we felt it was time to offer them some new material. On occasion Daniel has walked into nursing homes where ladies will be huddled around the CD player listening to our first Hymns record and humming or singing along. Their caregivers will mention how much the residents enjoy the music and how often it gets played and hint that it would be great to have something new.

Highlights of this project are, of course, Amazing Grace, featuring Catherine on her piano accompanied by strings and an all new Hallelujah chorus (watch the video). Other tracks that stand out are the opening track, a Sufjan Stevens inspired Fairest Lord Jesus. You might just find yourself humming the guitar solo of How Firm a foundation for awhile… as I did. Before the Throne of God Above opens with a lush open “C” tuned guitar and also features tasteful drums… I could mention something interesting about all the tracks and our hope is that you’ll take the time to listen to them all… which you can do Here!

Our version of I Surrender All was inspired by a song by the band The Civil Wars called Poison and Wine. It has been so freeing for me to see what a privilege it is that we get to surrender to love. That this is who God is! Discard all former misconceptions. He is a loving heavenly Papa who accepts you and loves you unconditionally just as you are. This grace is transforming. It is life changing to realize just how very loved you are. This love, this grace is the most amazing thing you could ever experience. This is who we “get to” give our all to… Jesus. Yeshua. God in the flesh who went to the cross for you and me because he loves us that much!

We pray you are blessed by this latest collection of songs. If you’d like to help fulfill our vision for sending a copy to every Nursing Home in Northeast Wisconsin, please donate here at our website, or purchase the album. All the proceeds go toward our ministry to nursing homes.

Visit our Bandcamp website to listen through the album!

Amazing Grace Song Story and History: http://reflectworship.com/2014/07/amazing-grace-song-story/ ‎
My Own Journey Toward Grace: http://reflectworship.com/2014/07/my-own-experience-of-gods-amazing-grace/

July 23, 2014

Amazing Grace, Song Story

The story of John Newton, the man who wrote Amazing Grace, inspires and moves me. Here was a man who underlines the profound truth that there is no one beyond the grace of God. There is no one beyond his reach of redemption. (For a more thorough look into the historical details surrounding John Newton see the video at the bottom of this post. Personally, I am more interested in how his story relates to us all.)

John Newton was by his own admission a wretch and blasphemer. He was raised by a Christian mother who had high hopes for him to become a pastor one day. But she died when he was just a boy. In his adolecsence he pursued his dream of life as a sailor and eventually became a captain of a slave ship. He revealed that during this time he sinned with a high hand and made it a practice to tempt and seduce others.

I can only imagine all of the lives he destroyed and the horrors he inflicted on others as a slave trader and the wicked man that he confessed to be… but all of this mans wickedness provides a context for how truly amazing God’s grace is.

God forgave him.

God embraced him.

God saved him.

God’s grace is his unmerited favor toward all sinners won for us by the loving sacrifice of God’s dearly loved Son, Jesus. God’s grace is his smile upon you. It is a warm hug from God in spite of all your filthiness and that which you think makes you unworthy. In fact, it is his loving kindness that cleanses the filthiness from us. As we receive his love and the Fathers embrace, we are healed.

As I think on John Newtons story I can’t help but think of the story Jesus told of the prodigal son. Jesus told this story to reveal the Father’s heart toward all us sinners. He runs to meet you. He embraces you. He freely forgives and forgets how you have wronged him. He will NEVER bring up your past shame… ever again. You are his beloved child.

I have been moved to tears so many times by the prodigal son story. When I hear a song about it or when I read the passage in Luke 15, it moves me. Why? Because I can relate. I am that foolish prodigal son who is often so ignorant of how loved he truly is… but I’m gradually catching on. Thank you God for your patience! At other times I have been like that older son who perhaps represents all the religious self-righteous who can’t rejoice in the redemption of their brother. Both need to come home to Papa. Both will find grace when they do.

I love the Scripture that says, “God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NIV)

There is no one beyond the grace of God. You are not beyond his reach. There is no one you know or have even ever heard about that is beyond the grace of God. With all the profound sinners the world has to offer, Jesus sacrifice covers them all.

This is scandalous! I once got fired for talking about how scandalous God’s grace is. He forgives serial killers and rapists, he forgives pedophiles and child abusers. He forgives torturers and sex traffickers, He forgives porn stars and porn addicts. These all are, after all, his lost kids that he is reaching out to, aching for them, anxious to forgive them, anxious for them to return home.

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV)

This is the good news.

God saves sinners, no matter how far gone, no matter how bad off. There is hope for us all.

And now you can take this message of grace to anyone, anywhere.

Watch the video below to learn more details of John Newtons story:

Amazing Grace The Story Behind the Song from Oxvision Films on Vimeo.

The Story of the Prodigal Son

Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” (Luke 15 NLT)

Click here to learn more about Amazing Grace

Lyrics:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun

July 20, 2014

My Own Journey Toward Grace

Five years ago I prayed to understand grace. I’d been a Christian for most my life. I’d been leading worship for eight years. I’d been in ministry to nursing homes for three years. And, I didn’t understand grace.

Something had to change. On the way back from a church conference I asked a group of friends from our church to pray for me to understand grace. As their worship leader, this required some humility. But it was worth it. God honored those prayers and he began to answer that prayer in profound ways.

Soon after, my wife and I became pregnant… well, she did… I obviously wasn’t pregnant… because I’m a boy and boys don’t get pregnant.

I was very concerned about being a father because I wanted my children to grow up knowing God loved them deeply and for them to be surrounded and immersed in Gods grace every day of their lives. I was more than a little apprehensive that I couldn’t provide that kind of environment for them which was why we waited eight years to have children in the first place. I didn’t know if I could convince them of these truths because I wasn’t quite convinced myself. But now the pressure was on.

I prayed and prayed and prayed about this and one day I was at a stop light and I heard God whisper to my heart,

“You know, I created you to love you.”

Wow! Of course he did! How could I have been so blind? The truth of it hit me in a fresh and profound way that changed everything for me that day. Up to this point I suppose I had been believing the lie that I was created to see if I would amount to anything or measure up. If I failed to impress, I thought, I would be shelved and God would move on to someone else. That was how I felt. Shelved. I didn’t measure up, and God had abandoned me.

Grace has since taught me that I never have to impress my Papa. He always has and always will love me just for who I am. I didn’t have to earn his love. In fact, there was nothing I could do that could make God love me any less, and on the flip side, there is nothing I could do that could make him love me any more. He just loved me, with a perfect infinite unfailing unconditional love that could bring you to tears in a moment… the good kind of tears that comfort and wash away all the pain of the past, all your shame, all the time wasted in the darkness when you doubted that love.

“There is nothing you could do that could make God love you any less, and there is nothing you could do that could make him love you any more.”

Believing I was that loved set me free.

This is the essence of the Christian life and the primary responsibility of every human being on the planet:

Let God love you! Receive his love!

Songs like How He Loves and Jesus prodigal son story made me weep as I let the sunshine of God’s love into the dark gollum cave of my heart. It had been dark for so long, the light of his love was most welcome! It seemed God would always give me what I needed when I needed it and as I could receive it as he led me deeper down the path toward love.

I would drive in my car and pray, “Jesus I receive your love right now”. I would often feel my spirit light up and His love wash over me. It was brilliant! I still purposefully get alone with God often to experience him and his love… who knew prayer time could be so exciting!

I was now free to be fully me, abundantly alive like never before, but… I was also free to run back to the darkness. I was free to play in the mud. I was free to be foolish once again. His love would not force me to stay in that love. As much as he desired me to stay in that love, as much as it broke his heart to see me go, his love would let me go.

How often I have prayed foolish prayers like that found in Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above

He simply will not do it. He will not chain you his side. You are not a puppy dog and he is not a cruel master. He won’t force you to stay. His love will not let him. Love has granted you and I free will. We can choose to keep company with LOVE Himself (God is Love) or play in the mud with all the nasty demons of darkness.

A widely-told story of the author of Come Thou Fount says that one day as he was riding in a stagecoach a lady asked him what he thought of the hymn she was humming. He responded, “Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then.”

Even Solomon whom God named Jedediah (Beloved of the LORD) with all his personal visits from the Lord and profound wisdom wandered from the One who loved him and blessed him so much.

“With great grace comes great responsibility”

We have the holy responsibility to remain in the love of God. Remain in the love of Yeshua.

“Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love.” (John 15:9 NIV)

Jesus tells us how.

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:10-12 NIV)

Just today my little Elisabeth Grace was shouting out in our front yard one of her bible story songs, “Keep my commandments and you will live!” Then she loudly announced, “The commandment of the Lord is to love others!”

“I love your song Ellie, and thank you for sharing that with our neighbors.”

We named her Elisabeth Grace and she has been one of the greatest gifts of grace in my life. Five has biblically been associated as the number of grace. Elisabeth (whose name means “dedicated to God”) was born on 5/5/10 and spoke her first phrase the day she was dedicated when she was five months and five days old on 10/10/10. (She said “Oh my Mama” in case you were wondering).

Exactly five years after my prayer to know God’s grace we are releasing our album Amazing Grace. Ellie closes out the album singing “Jesus Loves Me”. There isn’t a more profound truth than this.

FREE DOWNLOAD! (PLEASE read about why were giving it away HERE!)