Attribution: minds-eye

I bought the latest album from Mercy Me this week. There’s one song that has really resonated with me. The rhythm is infectious plus the content of the song hits where I’ve been for the last year or so.

When life won’t play along, and right keeps going wrong, and I can’t seem to find my way I know where I am found, so I won’t let it drag me down, oh, I’ll keep dancing anyway… I might bend but I won’t break, as long as I can see your face

There are many things in my life recently that haven’t played out like I thought. There are days when the disappointment and frustrations feel overwhelming. But this song and others like it remind me of the promises of scripture.

When you’re fighting to believe in a love that you can’t see, just know there is a purpose, for those who wait.

When I want to focus on how everything is going wrong, I have to be reminded that God hasn’t forsaken me in this spiritual wilderness that I find myself.

I will hold on to this hope that I have, you gave me your promise I’ll push through this moment, I’ll never give up, you gave me your promise

I spent the summer of my freshman year traveling from church to church in Montana doing VBS. I spent the last few weeks working at a children’s camp. I received news on a couple of different fronts that devasted me. In hindsight, none of this was a big deal, but with my naivety and lack of inter-personal skills, it seemed like the end of the world.  Earlier in the summer I had bought the new Clay Crosse album that summer. I found solace in the lyrics of one of his songs.

It must have been your hands, turning my world in perfect time I know it was your hands, holding my heart in your design.

Also during that summer, I was wrestling with whether God was calling me to full-time mission work. I was working with church planters and met career missionaries home on furlough. At the end of the summer I went to Student Week at Glorieta. It was one of the last nights and during the invitation I spent the time in prayer with the Lord. After I had settled things with the Lord, the band started playing the next song.

Hallejuah, God has spoken and I know it changes everything, Hallejuhah, praise him only sing the slave adopted by the king.

This cemented the decision in my mind. A few years later, through unchecked jealousy and frustration I was afraid I had lost a very close friendship. I was replaying all my failures over that weekend and couldn’t get any rest. I was helping a friend move so he had me driving his van back and forth. The radio was tuned to one of the local country stations. I kept hearing the new song by Garth Brooks. I know what you’re thinking, but if God can use a donkey to talk to someone then I guess he can use country music.

Troubles I forgot ‘em, I buried ‘em in the sand

The rest of the song is about getting hammered on the beach but that one phrase stuck in my mind. I couldn’t change what I’d done. What I could do was leave it in the past and move forward with repairing my friendships.

Other songs take on a new meaning after some event in my life. I’d been playing the song “How Can I Keep from Singing” with our band at church. But I sat down to play it a few days after a friend died and it brought me to tears.

I can sing in the troubled times, sing when I win I can sing when I lose my step and fall down again I can sing ‘cause You pick me up, sing ‘cause You’re there I can sing ‘cause You hear me, Lord, when I call to You in prayer I can sing with my last breath, sing for I know, that I’ll sing with the angels and the saints around the throne.

There are many other songs that bring back memories or bring comfort and reassurance. What are those songs for you? Leave a comment about a song that brings you comfort or has a strong memory for you.