Music is an amazing thing to me...I can hear a song and be transported back to high school instantly....or feel like I'm in the middle of the gym if that song is on my workout playlist....or be immediately back to the day I said "I do"....a good song on the radio can lift my mood and give me a new outlook....and it can also be the tool through which God speaks to my heart. Of all the things music can do, this is by far my favorite.
"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."
Angela Monet
Before I was a believer, I couldn't hear the music from the Holy Spirit--and admittedly thought that those people who "heard the Lord" speak to them were a little nutty! Oh, the sense of humor our Lord has since I probably say daily "that's what the Lord is telling me." Now that I am a believer, I GET IT! On the surface is what everyone hears--but underneath is the gentle, steadfast, unwavering message from above!
Lately, music has become the way I hear the Lord most clearly.....I start my car and the perfect song is playing. I hit shuffle on iTunes and songs play in a wonderfully powerful order. I go to choir practice and we start working on a song I was just moved by on the radio. I show up Sunday morning and the songs we offer in praise could have come directly from my thoughts. I found some fantastic quotes about music that further illustrate its power...
"Words make you think a thought.
Music makes you feel a feeling.
A song makes you feel a thought."
E.Y. Harburg
"Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and give rest,
heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from Heaven to the Soul."
Unknown
"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent."
Victor Hugo
And it gets better....songs that speak to me and my circumstance can speak to you too about YOUR circumstance!! How amazing is our wonderful Creator that He can make things so universally specific (I'm aware that 'universally specific' is dangerously close to an oxymoron but I promise in this case it's the only way to describe my God)!! One of my favorite songs these days is "Blessings" by Laura Story. I heard on the radio the other day that Laura wrote this song after her husband received a cancer diagnosis. As I am sitting typing this, a friend posted a YouTube video of that song on Facebook and mentioned how it moves her to tears each time she hears it. Within minutes, her post was flooded with comments of people stating how it has touched them as well. No one needed to mention exactly how or why it touched them; just that it had. This illustrates the universally specific nature of God so perfectly. Everyone received their own gentle, steadfast, unwavering message from above!
For days now, I have been listening to one playlist incessantly. It's titled "HOPE" because that is the message the Lord spoke to me through each song...
HOPE playlist
(links to YouTube video or lyrics as available)
- Blessings, Laura Story
- Stronger, Mandisa
- Your Great Name, Natalie Grant (there's also a choral arrangement I couldn't find)
- This Road, Ginny Owens
- Glorious Day, Casting Crowns
- Better Than A Hallelujah, Amy Grant
- Arms of Love (2010 Version), Amy Grant
- I Will Lift My Eyes, Bebo Norman
- Trust and Obey, Big Daddy Weave
- You are Loved, Josh Groban
- He'll Take Care of the Rest, Keith Green
- Washed by the Water, Needtobreathe
- Out of My Hands, Matthew West
- Spring is Coming, Stephen Curtis Chapman
- Every Season, Nichole Nordeman
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