Redemption Song…. A poem for my youngest daughter

"God told me you would be a sweet sound in His ear."

 (for my baby girl)

Your eyes they say so much

They search for me to show you the way

The beauty of their color fades 

because of your deep sorrow

Its easier to say,

"I don't know anything"

than to show your brokenness.

I understand your dreams 

they were of a prince that never stops fighting

And I am the beautiful princess

That should never be crying

Oh baby, the prince gave up trying 

because he lost his way 

when HIS King began dying 

inside all your father feels is shame

He is running away

The pain tells him to

The fear rules now

it blinds, it steals, it destroys, it kills

So baby, pray he finds his hope soon 

that he remembers his heavenly home

That he understands he is 

not the bad boy of the palace anymore

Hold on to your dreams, don't let them die

Your dreams are in the palms of a God 

who has always been alive

Cry for awhile if you must, its ok

But don't you go losing your hope, trust or faith

All those who wander are not lost, 

they have only lost their way

all they think glitters is not gold 

and all they believe is love is only a toad

The prince is in the dark, a deep fog, a cold cave

But oh! the King is calling out to him with your song

so sing it out and sing it strong

He lost his way, but he has not forgotten your song…

and your voice will lead him home to you again

So Baby, don't be silent, or tuck your song away

sing it again and again at the top of your voice

all night if you have to

for God's gift to you is the redemption song 

with it God breaks all chains that bind

returning fathers to their daughters again

and relighting the path that made them lose their way

Your song is the song of every girl crying, 

"bring my father home"

-Aida Cooper

originally written January 25, 2010 

edited 12/28/13

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My Success and Shield

Walk blameless in Him

He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless. -Proverbs 2:7 

May 02, 2013 

By Aida Cooper 

I have pondered this…especially in recent days; it was one to chew on for a while.

I know from personal experience that as Christians, we want to lean by default on the side of living for God will  bring me good things.

If anyone has had a relationship with Jesus for any length of years like me; at 27 years now; we have most likely learned that is often time not the case.

However; HE is not about  worst things or martyrdom for His children either!
Good News! 

A powerful statement by one of my favorite, modern day prophets said this, “God is not interested in our comfort He is interested in our Glory.”

I have never forgotten that statement. Although not a bible verse, I have hidden it in my heart. And the Holy Spirit has been good to allow me to vomit it when I have needed it most….so that I could chew on it some more.  Yeah, sounds gross! But that is what the experience in those moments have felt like. Bitter Sweet often times. Since I wanted to stay in my place and moment of self-pity and woes me, in other words….”give me a break, God!”
I have found that God's love always breaks through….and sometimes in these kind of gross moments when we want to sulk, and  be a bratty child.
For me, it seems HE picks me up off the floor of my temper tantrum, sometimes pulling me by the legs as he takes me for a ride  on his shoulders to a place where HE and I can visit for a while.

And then it’s always so wonderful and extravagant to sit with my Daddy and to hear His heart for me and the ones I had a problem with or who had hurt me; done me wrong. Unfortunately, those pains most times have been from members of my own family: blood or the Church. Sad and hard to get through, absolutely; yet God has shared with me lovingly and dealt with me in the same way. 

Success for the upright is more than just being “good”, following the golden rules, memorizing verses and going to Church to me. In my past I have done all of that and still felt far from success. In fact, I probably do less of those things now and feel more successful in life than ever!

UPRIGHT is a stance we take to trust God to cling to HIM even in our bodies.

I picture a soldier, standing upright in the face of his enemy. Unafraid. Willing to lay down his life. He has placed his body and his spirit in a position of unmovable devotion and service to the ONE he serves. He takes that stance even to the point of losing a limb, or worse yet death.

How is that soldier successful for taking that stance if he comes home with out his arms? How is he successful if he doesn’t come home at all?

Most would think it such a loss. Be saddened and brokenhearted that he lost his life.

I am reminded of the battles I have fought. They bring me to the place where I find myself standing today. A single mother living pay  check to pay check and sometimes having to borrow from my Mama. Living on the smallest house on the block, driving a car that is 18 yrs old and working at a job that still doesn't feel like my dream job….and yet I feel so successful when I contemplate the redeeming work God has done in my life….and the extravagant love I have discovered in the heat of my own fiery furnace.

The second part of this verse, HE is a shield  to those whose walk is blameless…AH! That is the key and the winning trophy that we get to call our own…more so than the success that HE has in store for us for taking a stand for HIM through it all.

IN it all….whether in the fire of our journeys or as we sprint towards the finish line having finished without scars, wounds or injury the power of our lives and faith is KNOWING that we walk with an invisible shield at all times.

That ultimately although wounded in the battle, the Shield of our faith is God. Nothing can ever really harm us or leave us feeling lifeless forever. we are unpenetrable from the vices of our enemies. God is a shield about us. We are able to keep our joy in this journey through our faith in Him. 

So death or failure where is your sting?! ….

For those Christians tired of appearances and games of nonsense, those ready to love as Jesus showed on the cross…an everyday kneel at the cross is our place of success and it is our greatest shield.  

ONLY ONE that has influenced my life so deeply....

My Mama and Me at the Eugene Celebration in 2011. She loves to dance and have fun! 

10/29/13

 Only One

When I think of a Hero…

There is one person who comes to my mind.

It’s not superman, or wonder woman,

Not the Lone Ranger or even Speed Racer…

It’s not Charles Ingalls, Mr. Brady and

no it’s not even Sheriff Griffith from

The Andy Griffith Show,

it’s not one of my brothers, although they play their

special roles in my life,

it’s not my Pastors, or the women with whom I have prayed, laughed and cried.

It is not my daughters, however; they are a rare prize,

it’s not the love of my life that recently I became his Bride.

No, when I think of a Hero…

I always think of only One.

All my life, it is her inner beauty that I most prized.

Along with her shoes, her clothes, her jewelry,

her attitude, her personal pride,

She is a classy lady and a brave soldier in my eyes.

In every season of my life, no one has ever come close

to wearing the medals of honor that I would bestow,

for such a beautiful fragrant rose, bloomed through life’s storms.

She is my hero, she is my mirror in life, she is my teacher, my diamond,

my horizons, my sunrise, my sunset, my starry filled night.

She is my ocean, my forest, my mountain top, and even in my deepest valleys

when all I wanted to do was die, she was my sustenance;

my food, my water, my warmth and my shelter as she cradled me in her arms.

And in her shadow, she became my safest place to hide;

so I could stay cocooned for a while to rest near the heartbeat of my God.

Yes, she is the only Hero I have ever known.

She modeled to me everything good that I share now with my own.

And in her lavish love and constant love

She made me discover that I could fly against all odds

like a breathtaking butterfly does

so freely high in the endless sky.

She is the most costly gem in all the world, I could ever own

She’s my Hero;

She’s my Mom.

Don't give up...NEW LIFE is ahead!

Photo taken by Aida Oct 2013, Oregon-"Marci's Pink Tree"

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The Message (MSG)

^16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

God makes new life starting from the inside out by HIS grace. Then he celebrates the new life in us by giving to us in lavish ways!

During the darkest days of my life, as my life seemed to be falling apart and I was being putting into a fiery furnace of testing faith, I looked physically horrible and my circumstances grim. I was now a single parent on a small income, barely rising to the surface of the seas I was drowning in financially to see any light ahead for myself and the daughters I adore. I was side swiped by a train. I was not taking care of myself physically and I had lost so much weight I was asked if I was an anorexic. I was pale and lifeless, weak at heart and strength. It hurt to even breath. I began to suffer panic attacks and was told I was mentally ill by psychiatrists. And I began to believe the lies, and grasped at my fate with any medication Dr’s would dispense.  I began to self medicate this doomed hopeless fate. I was a prodigal daughter and I was Job from the Bible. My daughters and I were Mesach, Shadrach and Abendigo and the fires were raging around us. Only a SAVIOR could turn our fate.

On the outside it was dark and ugly.

On the inside God was doing the deepest work of my life. And HIS GRACE was penetrating even the crevices of my heart that I didn’t know existed. His LOVE was about to explode some furious disease of which my heart would be permanently changed forever. I was on a jungle journey to radically defining to Whom I belonged…MY FATHER, the God of the Universe, the same,yesterday, today and forever and the RESCUERER and LOVER of my soul was after me. IN pursuit. And Wooing me with the most amazing mercy I have ever known

And in a instant it seems after years of misery, I was given a new face, a new body, a new heart of flesh instead of stone and a new LIFE…that led me to the LOVE of my life: my husband, Steve as of September 1st, 2013.

And in that LOVE, God has given me the sight to see myself as the Princess I never thought I could be. And with that new lease on life, I have been lavished with all a little girl could ache for.

Picture this, an orphan who is suddenly among royalty, playing in a castle, and feasting on the finest fare of the Kingdom.

That orphan and that princess is me.

God does far more here than meets the eye. He gives in this life amazing beauty and richness. Yet he outdoes HIMSELF if that is possible for God! He transforms us with the internal changes we experience inside ourselves if we allow HIM to work in our hearts with abandoned trust. That Gold  can never be taken from us. It lasts forever. It goes with us into ETERNITY. And our lives leaves an inheritance to those we leave behind of which no price tag can be placed. Jesus in us, remains long after we are gone.

I warn you passionately with all that is within me, DO NOT GIVE UP! Trust HIM Ruthlessly. How could you give up? Just imagine all the GLORY that awaits you and others in Him.  

That’s good stuff!

Press On!

~Aida

10/17/2013