Since the first day I had in my hands Travis’s new CD When the Stars Burn Down, I have played and replayed and replayed the song Thanks Be To Our God (#13) and a good many times cried through it. I couldn’t think of anything more fitting to post in our community today than the lyrics. Sisters, I am so thankful to God for you. So thankful for your commitment to Him. For your pure-hearted worship. For your love for the Lord Jesus Christ, our one and only Savior. And I am so deeply thankful to God for His unfathomable grace, mercy, steadfast love and redemption toward my family and me and for the living, breathing power of His Word in cracked jars of clay. I am thankful for four generations that will eat at the same table together. I am grateful for the gift of laughter than is rarely left unpacked at our table. Thanks be to our God.
For the road that leads from darkness into light,
For the hope that rescues from endless night,
For the grace covers sin, at the the door where life begins,
For salvation reaching in to guide us through,
Thanks be to our God.
For the healing that no mortal can explain,
For deliverance that breaks the sinner’s chains,
For the strength to carry on, and forgiveness great and strong,
And the promise of your mercies ever new,
Thanks be to our God.
Hallelujah! Everlasting songs will rise
For all you’ve done.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Thanks be to our God!
For the emptiness that cries out to be filled,
For the promise that your word is deeper still,
For the longing and the need, to have more of you in me,
Because nothing satifies the way you do,
Thanks be to our God!
Hallelujah! Everlasting songs will rise
For all you’ve done.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Thanks be to our God!
For the mysterious beyond the veil of death,
For the peace that opens with our closing breath,
When our struggles pass away, and we finally see your face,
And a greater glory rises into you.
Thanks be to our God!
Hallelujah! Everlasting songs will rise
For all you’ve done.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Thanks be to our God!
Hallelujah! Everlasting songs will rise
For all you’ve done.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Thanks be to our God!
Thanks be to our God!
(Travis Cottrell)
As I read this post I am sitting in my hospital bed after having my hip replaced at age 40. I am being released tomorrow and had woken in a panic because of the uncertainty that lies ahead and the road to recovery. After I had a good cry I prayed lord thank you for your presence and your peace. Then I thought why don’t I see if Beth has shared anything today. Thank you for what you have posted I haveTravis’s songs right on my iPhone with me at the hospital and I believe God has used you both tonite to speak to me. I am one of the (I guess unknown)Siesta’s
Sweet Peggy,
I will lift you up in prayer. I helped my mother in law when she had both hips replaced. It is some work, but so very do-able. The outcome is so worth it!!
And nobody in this group of God-loving, Siesta-loving, Jesus-loving women is unnoticed!!! Not to us and especially not to HIM!!!!!
Sweet blessings to you!!!
Thank you so much for your encouraging words. I know I can do all things through him who gives me strength.
God Bless you Roxanne.
I’m do excited about seeing you in Pensacola nxt weekend!! And I’m praying about what God has instore for everyone there!!
My favorite part:
For the emptiness that cries out to be filled,
For the promise that your word is deeper still,
For the longing and the need, to have more of you in me,
Because nothing satifies the way you do,
Thanks be to our God!
Praise the Lord! He fills, and my cup runneth over!
Beth – It is my favorite song EVER of Travis’s and has been used by the Spirit to really minister to my soul. I’ve wept through it many many times myself. It touches deep places in my heart every time. (I would love to know the inspiration behind it from Travis.) I’ve put my Bose player on repeat track and just worshipped as I sing and ponder the power of the words and as I THANK HIM!
I wrote about it on my blog recently too, #420. š
http://granjansjoy.blogspot.com/2011/11/1000-gifts-409-to-425.html
I love you Siestas so much and pray your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Thanks Be to Our God!
LOVE that song – LOVE his whole album! I truly believe Travis has been annointed by God in a special way to bring His word to this generation through song and to give our voices words of praise back to God. Thanks Travis!
Wonderful post, Beth. I would like to add how my heart swells with thankfulness for your ministry. God has worked mightily through you!
Beth, I am thankful for LPM and the seeds you have sown into my life. What beautiful lyrics. I will have to hunt that song down! Here’s my Thanksgiving verse: “How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me?” Psalm 116:12 NIV.
I love this song….after attending the Simulcast in Lubbock, I couldn’t wait to get Travis’s album! It is wonderful.
The following verse touches me the most. My husband and I have both lost our fathers to disease that caused great struggle: cancer and alcoholism. My step-father is battling the effects of Pulmonary Fibrosis…. Peace comes in knowing that with each closing breath, struggles pass away and Jesus is there waiting. Thanks be to God, indeed!
For the mysterious beyond the veil of death,
For the peace that opens with our closing breath,
When our struggles pass away, and we finally see your face,
And a greater glory rises into you.
Thanks be to our God!
I couldn’t agree more, Beth! I, too, have cried tears of healing, sung my heart out, and cried tears of joy.
I purchased 10 when they first came out on Amazon for Christmas gifts. Needless to say, God nudged me to give every single one of them away already. I believe it’s because He knows we are desperate for Him. People need healing and worship soothes our soul and brings honor, glory, and power to Him. I remember his gentle whisper saying…”you cannot keep this to yourself. You are not promised tomorrow. Please deliver to my people.”.
His tender heartedness keeps me weak in the knees! Love and Christ’s blessings to you and all of LPM!
We had a very blessed Thanksgiving Day with my husband’s side of the family. We laughed, cried, shared special memories and were grateful to be together. My father-in-law was diagnosed w/ a brain tumor 3weeks ago and recently discharged from the hospital so we are treasuring our time with him.
Life is a gift and our loved ones are to be cherished. I’m grateful for the reminder of just how precious life and love is and I plan to LOVE with abandon.
Grateful for all of you Siestas! xoxo God’s richest blessings upon each of you!
Shelly
Thank you Beth for listing the words to that amazing song of what He is and has done for us unworthly as we are. An appropriate song for the day, thanks Travis! May all of my Siestas have experienced His presence yesterday. I had the privilege of watching my cousin propose to his girlfriend š
I awoke up Thanksgiving morning to a very vivid dream. A dream that I felt led to share with you because of its meaning and how the Lord spoke to me.
In my dream I am at a funtion with Beth and her daughters, later I end up being a part of a smaller group that is visiting and we are getting manicures (why?)
During our manicures and girl talk, we hear a huge crash and beth and I go to investigate. It leads us next door to my store ( I own a grocery store in a small farm community) Beth breaks in and we see a Huderite (A group like the Amish) family wondering through my store. In my dream I was upset because I was closed and Beth was ringing them up and serving them. And I like “hello I am closed” One of the Huderite kids was walking all around in a zombie state. And Beth starts to pray and all I hear her say is “YES LORD YES LORD..She is smiling and crying with her face lifted toward heaven..and the Huderite family begin to knell around the zombie like huderite boy who is now on the floor and they begin praying over him. Beth and I go over and start to lay hand on the family. I on the boy, Beth on me and the father, She prays and then I. I say “Lord you are the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” the Huderite boys sits up and says…a demon…a demon…the demon of light…he falls back and his mouth opens and black like bugs crawls out(tons of them) and a vapor like substance and slight screaming sound starts spewing from his mouth. It continues for a awhile and in my dream ,Beth and I are scared but the Lord assures us he is with us nd to not be afraid. Then the vapor gets whiter and whiter and screams get deeper and louder until a face comes out of the vapor and hisses at Beth and I and it is gone. The boy sits up and smiles and is back to normal. I look at Beth and ask her if she ever casted out a demon and she said no. The feeling in my dream was that she has been a part of something like this but never experienced it to this level.Then I look at her and ask her what she is doing later on, and if she would like to come over for Mexican food because my husband makes a Mean Mexican feast. She agrees and I yell to my husband. “Ted, Beth is coming over for dinner and its Mexican….Then I woke up..
I kept wondering about this dream all day…It was Very vivid and filled with emotion.
Why was beth in my dream?….Earlier that night I awoke to our cat freaking out. I could not go back to sleep so I laid in bed and was praying for people that the Lord placed in my heart. One was Beth. I thanked the Lord for her ministry and all the work she has done, and prayed that He would protect the ministry etc,.
I moved to a small farm communty in Montana from LA. We bought a store. I feel alone many times in my walk. Lately I have been very discouraged. Ted and I started a kids youth group and we are reaching out to this community. I have been in a giving up stage… Beth your ministry has been vital. I think your participation in my dream also represtents that you are big part of my life as I do your studies. I am thankful for your words and for your love for the Lord. Please feel comfort knowing you got a community of gals that got your back. Praying for you…even at 3 in the morning! I love you Beth and I am thankful for your example…Believe it or not this dream encouraged me and put spark back in my heart. To keep on in his word, to get back to praying and that there is work to be done in this community.
I feel that the demon represented the sprirual warefare, the work of Satan around here and he wants us to pray over it. Thank you again for your faithfulness The Lord is using you!!!!
Amen and amen! And it brought to my mind the words of the Doxology…”Praise God from whom all blessings flow!”
God bless you Beth!
Marilyn…in Mississippi
I wrote this and posted it to my FB Notes, and just want to share it with all of you. May each one be blessed through and through! jd<
GOD'S CRAZY LOVE FOR US THROUGH OUR THANKS AND PRAISE!
One of the things about Thanksgiving that you can definitely count on is "leftovers" a plenty! Even left over coffee! Just warm it up again. š But, the one thing we should never offer our Lord God in Heaven is left-over thanks and praise! He deserves fresh thanks-giving and praise with each new day He gives us.
Thanks and praise just opens up the windows of our souls so that the Light of the Lord shines out for people to see and not lose heart. This pleases God. The Lord hears the needy and their prayers, and He hears our thanks and praises, too. He wants us to worry about nothing. NO THING! So, when we give thanks for everything, even our difficulties, this is like sweet honey and beautiful aromas to our Lord.
Because He is over everything, we should thank Him and praise Him for everything, and we need to trust Him in everything. He is able to make things that are bitter … sweet … and He does this when we thank Him and praise Him. The peace of God will come and guard our hearts. As you are thanking and praising Him, throw in some hallelujahs, and just see if your worries don't fly away.
God looks at thanks and praise as honor to Him. He takes note of this and honors us. He unleashes calm into our storms. Even greater things! Great deliverance's occur! Yes, this is His crazy love! A GREAT unleashing of God's power … for He cares for us.
We should never think that anything that comes into our lives is not known to Him. Nothing is out of His sight regarding us. In His sovereignty, He wants us to thank Him, praise Him, and trust Him, as He works everything in and out of our lives. HE IS ABLE! He inhabits the praises of His people.
Even in the midst of difficulties, and when life seems to be caving in, thanking and praising God is the thing to do … amazing as it sounds … this is His crazy love for us, and it yields great things from Him!
May God richly bless you from His love and goodness as you thank and praise Him, today, and always!
He is WORTHY!!!
Blessings in Him,
jean dean <
Phil 4:6-7 … "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanks-giving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus/Messiah Yeshua!"
http://youtu.be/vCpP0mFD9F0 (youtube video)
Beth… thank YOU so much for your continued obedience to Him. I appreciate you and everything you do for us… we love you… and are thankful for you.
AMEN!!!!!
So very thankful for your ministry Beth! It has been life altering for me and has been such a catalyst in my passion for more of Him! Thank you so much!
Thanks for this. Love it. Praise God for His goodness to us!
thanks Beth, a difficult season – Travis’s music is always a remarkable blessing
LOVE that song! It is definitely the most-played on the cd. I am the crazy girl raising her hands and crying while singing and driving down the road!
Thank you Beth and LPM for all you do for so many!
I listened to this amazing song over the holiday too….there’s just something about a song of Travis’s to bring you to a place of real worship. Having it on my ipod is the best!!! Thank you, Beth, for posting the words for us. In HIS love, Denise
Amen and Hallelujah!! SO thankful for this ministry and YOU!
Blessings,
Sasha
I wanted to post this here so that each of you could be as blessed by it as I was:
http://versesformyking.blogspot.com/2011/11/trading-my-lists-for-reminders.html
Shay, the author, is a personal friend of mine who I just love dearly. She is such a godly woman and someone who touches my heart almost every time we are together. (she makes me laugh, too, which is always a big plus in my book!) If you are like me and make lists of lists, then I urge you to read this post.
Much love and many blessings, Kristi š
Thank you Beth for sharing these lyrics and for your sweet words. Been having some discouraging days lately and I decided to check out your blog to see if there was anything new because I always know that there will be a sweet word here that feels like a hug!
much love and thanks,
Dayna
Hugs to you Dayna! We all get that way:)
I sat today with my sister, Susan. She has recently been diagnosed with small cell cancer. Last Friday she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior. Today I shared Psalm 23 with her as a Psalm of LIFE….so often read at funerals many do not get the message of Life it presents. She marked it in her Gideon Bible that’s in the motel room where she is staying until her treatment next week. Please pray for her.
Beautiful lyrics! We had the most joyful Thanksgiving holiday. We spent it in the Chicago area with our son who graduated Navy bootcamp the day before Thanksgiving. It was a joyous reunion with the son we hadn’t seen since Oct. 2. And it was a reunion we thought may not happen.
We spent the whole time he was gone praying like crazy because he had some medical issues to get cleared up. There were at least a half dozen times it looked like he was going to get sent home, but praise God, the night before he graduated they cleared him of any medical issues and said he’s “fit for duty.” We got to see him graduate and then spend Thanksgiving day with him. God has been so good to us in answering our prayers. We are so undeserving and so very humbled.
Saw this post and was so grateful for the reminder of Travis’ great song and our GREAT GOD. Tons of spiritual warfare here… hard holiday and I blew it HUGE by omitting “in Love” when “speaking the truth” to my man. Seriously, only Jesus can clean up the messes made here.
Anyway, Track 13 is my fave! My 1st grader said last week, “who’s singing this?” And I told him about Travis: gifted worship leader, teams with my fave Bible Teacher…”4th grader chimes in “You mean Beth Moore.” Grin from Mom. Then I gave my little guy the CD case and they decided Travis looks like “Tory” from Mythbusters! It actually makes sense. FYI they think Tory is extreeemely cool.
Praying for so much healing in my own family and in many of my Siestas’ Our God is able. Thanks be to our God!
Mercies new every morning is really all the gift any of us ever needs…
Been loving this song…I think I’m burning it through on dvd and I don’t know but can one burn through their Itunes? This is just an anthem for my life right now…Isn’t God good to inspire someone else to design something (this time it’s music) that so reflects what I cannot adequatly express!
I LOVE this latest Travis CD — in the stillness of being alone with God I lift up thanksgiving to a Most Holy and Gracious God!! This particular song does bring tears to my eyes. I so much enjoy #2 & #9 especially too! But they are all wonderful for worship and praise—-THANKS, Travis for using your musical gifts for the Lord to bring blessing to many.
I wrote a note to God years ago that I carry in my Bible. When I come across it I take it out and pray it out loud. I have been prompted to share it with you during this time of Thanksgiving.
Dear Lord, I love you. Thank you for Beth Moore, for her willingness to be used to reach us, her sisters. Give her strength, wisdom, courage and endurance. Thank you for a well of love that never runs dry. Thank you for giving us a cup to dip from that well. Thank you for a cup that grows to the size we need for whatever situation we are facing. š Help us remember to go to the well with our cups. Beth
travis out did himself on the new CD. I think each new CD is fabulous, terrific, and wonderful but this CD speaks to the heart. Each song has a personal message that encompasses our relationship to the Lord. I am so thankful for you, Beth and your willingness to let God use you, and Travis and the praise team for the wonderful worship they provide at your Living Proof events and thankful for how my life has changed since I’ve come to know my Savior.
A thought for all of us. if you woke up this morning with only what you thanked God for yesterday what would you have today. God Bless each and every Siestas.
I just listened to this song for the 1st time today while driving in my car. The words to this song are my life. How does Travis KNOW these things? Anyway, I didn’t have a wreck while driving with tears in my eyes; so, THANKS BE TO OUR GOD for that, too!!
I recently traveled to Guatemala and stayed at an orphanage. That trip opened my eyes even more so to the great poverty around the world. And, in turn, I found even more reasons to be thankful in all circumstances. I hope to no longer create pity parties for myself and, instead, participate in THANKS LIVING. Here’s a short video of our amazing trip (I hope it encourages you to live fully and with thanks): http://refusingtotiptoe.com/2011/11/17/in-a-world-away-from-luxury/
Oh my goodness Beth, How my heart needed this today. I am having one of those crying, I do everything wrong days and this song has just touched my heart. I am not alone, I am not where the hand of God can’t reach me and I AM covered with his mercy and love. I can’t wait to see his beautiful face and bow at his feet. Praises to MY Father.
Hugs to you Beth, I had this song on my mind tonight too. I donāt know how many times Iāve played Travisā cd, but I still am not tired of it either. The song that gets to me every time is Refine Me. It gets to me every time. Itās so real to life. Iām thankful that I have hope in Him tonight, an anchor for my soul when the enemy comes after me to steal, kill, and destroy. I know that the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Thereās much that needs fixing in me, in all of us. Iām so glad He is that committed to us! I need that-every minute of every day-His perfect grace, and enabling, His mind and perspective shining over my day. I NEED that!
I LOVE those lyrics…
My most played, cried to, praised with Thanksgiving lyrics on the CD are # 6
I come broken to be mended,
I come wounded to be healed,
I come desperate to be rescued,
I come empty to be filled,
I come guilty to be pardoned, by the blood of Christ the Lamb,
And I welcomed with open arms, PRAISE GOD,
just as I am!!!!!
PRAISE GOD FOR mending, healing, rescuing, filling, and pardoning me!!! One sooo unworthy, broken, wounded, desperate, empty, and GUILTY!!!!!!!!!! Praise God, Praise God, Praise God!!! I could shout it forever!!!!
Love to you sweet Beth Moore!!!
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. NIV Matthew 11:28
Yes, Thanks be to God! So thankful for HIS COVENANT and HIS incredible GIFTS, the most incredible CHRIST Himself! That through Him the most vile can be made clean and right with GOD. I am one made clean and like Paul have a clear conscience because OF JESUS! PRAISE HIM! Thanks be to GOD!
Oh, man. I should’ve told Jeremiah I wanted this cd for Christmas instead of the newest Casting Crowns cd that he ordered. Yes, he’s that good at keeping secrets. He gave me a hint after he’d already told his sister’s he knew what to get me for Christmas. Music, duh! Mom’s greatest love! Besides Jesus Himself! Then, he said it had to do with Casting Crowns before the throne of God. I said, “Oh, you got me a Casting Crowns cd’s.” Of course, at that point I had no idea which one. I only own one of their cd’s and so he handed me the iPad and showed me the cover!!! He sucks at this surprise thing!!!
I just returned from my church’s praise team practice. This song is among the new ones we will be introducing to the congregation. I was ready to work on getting the notes right, the words right, but God met me in practice tonight, and I ended up listening to the message of this song. And, wow, He brought me to my knees in tears right there in the middle of practice! I just pray that these words reach out to the congregation too! They are defiantly blessed lyrics.