Song of the Day: “Next To Me” (Emeli Sande)

1) Because if you don’t know it you should.

2) Because it perfectly sums up my Tom.

Song of the Day: “So Much Grace” (Allison Sattinger).

Song of the Day: “Take a Chance On Me” (Abba).

New daily (sortof) post on the blog: song of the day!

Why? Why not? I love music and love sharing it :).

Today’s song was chosen….just because it’s irresistibly catchy and makes me think of a whole lot of hilarious sing-a-long’s that happened with my best friend in college (that’s for you, Wete the Great Bean).

As a kid I pirouetted around the living room to Abba’s “Dancing Queen” (I mean, really, who didn’t?). Years later I still love their music and their unintentionally hilarious videos.

Enjoy!

P.S. Bet you can’t listen to just one ABBA song.

Country Love.

Some people will love this post. Others will hate it.

Country music is nothing if not ostracizing ;).

I’ve loved country since I was 12. I have no idea why it started then – it just did. Soon after  I found the local country station in upstate New York (no, that’s not an oxymoron) and was hooked.

One of the first songs I remember hearing was George Strait’s “Run“ (which is still one of my favorites) followed by Tracy Byrd’s “Keeper of the Stars” (please enjoy the slow-mo dove – also featured in this video).

I think I fell in love with the simplicity of country music. The honesty of it.

Crude words, crass words have always bothered me – uggh, I shudder when I hear some of the lyrics of today’s top 40 (I also shudder when I hear some of the overly simple lyrics of contemporary Christian music…but that’s another story).

Country does have its crude moments, its redneck moments and its…utterly saptastic moments but, they are fewer and farther between – and, cheesy though it may be, I love country music.

Here, in no particular order, are my (current) top ten favorites. Enjoy (or mock them, whatever floats your boat).

(this first one is “our” song)

(yes, this next one is slightly more blues than country – but it’s getting included on my list anyway ;)).

(this next one is my current fave – who doesn’t have those songs that can bring back memories from years ago?)

Honorary Mention:

I don’t actually love this song (though the chorus is catchy). However, on one of our first dates Tom & I hopped in the car and it was on the radio.

We paused.

Looked at each other…

…and started singing the chorus at the top of our lungs. That’s when I knew I could fall in love with him ;).

Then, NO lie – it was on the radio the next three times we got in the car to drive somewhere.

That’s why it get’s honorary mention.

Also, county music suggestions? I might already know them but HEY I might not!

Sing a Song.

If I could have chosen a “gift” to have in life I would have chosen music.

Particularly, singing. Oh, how I wish I could sing. Really sing.

Not for money, or for fame.

I wasn’t made for the spotlight – I honestly get a little freaked out when my blog gets more views than average (though, please don’t stop reading – I don’t want to be left talking to myself, hehe ;)).

I’m just content in the corner – I like people-watching, staring at a rolling ocean, writing poems in my head. If I could sing, I would sing in the woods.

Music just touches a part of me that nothing else does. It’s rare that I resonate fully with any song but I resonate deeply with a lot of songs, artists and lyrics.

As I once read  somewhere;

Music is what feelings sound like.

My life has a soundtrack. I associate different songs with seasons of the journey – so many different artists, writers and musicians have given voice to emotions I needed to feel before I could verbalize them. I have sad songs, love songs, worship songs, grieving songs, introspective songs, angry songs. Music is powerful.

I wrote in a previous entry about how I’m quite an emotional person (in case you couldn’t tell that just from reading my blog ;)). I think that, for me, music is usually what releases that emotion, gives it words and lets it speak.Yet, sometimes its even deeper. It touches a place that simply wouldn’t be touched otherwise.

Music speaks in rainbow hues

sometimes red. sometimes blue.

fire and ice wed rhythmically.

angst and hope clash lyrically.

So much of my writing is an attempt to mimic the rhythms of music in prose.To translate the songs in my heart.

I’ve written poems following (or in the midst of) most major life events. Dating, breakups, Spiritual growth, falling in love, disappointments. It’s a natural expression for me. It’s also the closest I can get to singing (aside from the attempts I make in my shower ;)).

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent – Victor Hugo

Last night Husband took me out for Thai food to celebrate Valentines day. We were tucked in the corner of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant (which is, as he pointed out last night, my very favorite kind).

I was snuggled up against his shoulder soaking in the scents of rice, steam, spice and incense – all so different than say, Olive Garden, when piano music started spilling out of the corner of the place.

You couldn’t even see the man playing. The dim lighting and placement of the piano left him barricaded. In his own musical world. His fingers danced over the keys, pulling songs from them.

It was magical.

I love that Scripture is full of commands to sing, to worship, to dance and to praise our God. Music is a powerful medium of communication and avenue of worship.

Oh, to be able to sing :).

Below is one such example of emotion in music –  how stunningly beautiful is Adele? Ahh, I know she’s all the rage right now but I’ve been a fan for about three years and I’m really excited for the success she’s having.

So, enjoy and, if you have any songs/artists to suggest leave a comment saying so. I’ll be very grateful!

The Time of My Life.

I don’t normally post twice in one day but I had to share this song.

In high school, when it was my turn to do the dinner dishes, I’d put on Mark Schultz’s “Song Cinema” CD (because washing dishes for 8 people is seriously a chore that needs something to help it along ;)).

Sometimes I’d listen to the whole thing – other times I’d just put “Time of My Life” on repeat. I’d daydream about “someday” and wonder who I’d marry.He never really had a face – just a personality and a love for God, people and my cooking (check, check, check).

I  re-discovered this song today and was amazed. So much of Tom’s heart is in it. His love for God, faithfulness in writing me letters and  complete commitment to our relationship. We are each others only love – for that and for him, I’m so grateful.

If you have 5 minutes and 3 seconds – click here to listen to it.

Rewind: DC Talk

Confession: I know every word to “Jesus Freak”. Even the rap’s.

Especially the raps.

(but really, who doesn’t? ;))

Two seconds of a DC Talk song and I’m a high school student again. Sadly, I was barely conscious of music during their heyday (1989 – 1998). Ok, that’s a lie. I listened to Twila Paris. What skeletons are in your closet?

This morning I awoke with “Free at Last” playing loudly, insistently, repeatedly in my head. Therefore, in honor of the 1990’s, CCM and Toby, Michael and Kevin here are five of my favorite DC Talk songs. Yeah, man.

1) In the Light: This is one of the first DC Talk songs I remember hearing. Still one of my absolute favorites. 

2) What If I Stumble?: Honest and relatable.
“Father please forgive me for I can not compose
The fear that lives within me
Or the rate at which it grows
If struggle has a purpose on the narrow road you’ve carved
Why do I dread my trespasses will leave a deadly scar
Do they see the fear in my eyes? Are they so revealing?
This time I cannot disguise all the doubt I’m feeling”

3) Since I Met You: Just fun. So fun.

4) The Hardway:

But you accept me every time and again
And never mention just how selfish I’ve been
Why must it always take me so long to see
That I have fallen but you will forgive me?

5) 40: Not the greatest (or longest) version but all I could find. One of my most intimate worship times with the Lord was in the mountains of Kentucky while listening to this song.

Ahh, this post didn’t even touch on Heavenbound, Into Jesus, Supernatural, Lean on Me, My Will (honorable mention from my favorites list!) and Colored People. But…but…you can  must click on the links ;).

Please tune in next time for highlights from my years of Newsboys fandom. For now, I leave you with a bonus track (becasuse I can):

Songs You Should Know.

I like a wide variety of music – if you do too you’ll like this assortment! 🙂

1) Set the Fire to the Third Bar – Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright.

2) Give a Little – Hanson.

3) Alexi Murdoch – All of My Days (live).

4) Allison Sattinger – So Much Grace.

5) Poison & Wine – From This Valley (live).

6) Run – Leona Lewis (live).

7) Breathing Down – Throwback

Listen here (5th song down :))

8 ) Tracks in the Rain – The Low Stars

Listen here (also – the 5th song down!).
All for now! Any suggestions for me?

Vision.

“Come meet us, King Jesus
Oh, wind of change blow through this temple
Sweet Spirit of God, come and mend our hearts”

There is infinite hope in a vision of God.

…I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” – Isaiah 46:6

Yet, there is also refining fire in each glimpse of Him.

“And may the vision of You

be the death of me” 

(“Vision of You”)

Believing in His character when he leads me through the midnight valley produces “faith of greater worth than gold” (1 Peter 1:7); a hard-won trust born in tears and bathed in blood.  C.S. Lewis wrote; ““We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be”.

As I write this I am in my seventh consecutive year of higher education. In the midst of papers, research projects, juggling two jobs and a full-time class schedule my vision of God can easily dim.

I so easily lose sight of He who is the why behind the what.

The past several years have held many refining moments. Growth born out of seasons of joy and loss, seasons of shattering and growth, seasons of surrender and seasons of pride, seasons of sacrifice and seasons of selfishness.

By God’s grace, as seasons of refining continue, I am learning, in the moments of celebration and the seasons of breaking, to stare with eager desperation into the face of God. Though I know it means my death, in His eyes alone dwell life, hope and purpose.

“The vision of God is the source of patience, because it imparts a moral inspiration. Moses endured, not because he had an ideal of right and duty, but because he had a vision of God. He “endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible.” A man with the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue; he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it; things come with largeness and tonic to the life because everything is energized by God”.

My Utmost for His Highest

In His gaze is strength to persevere, courage to surrender and grace to hope.

The trials that those men do meet withal,
That are obedient to the heavenly call,
Are manifold, and suited to the flesh,
And come, and come, and come again afresh;
That now, or sometime else, we by them may
Be taken, overcome, and cast away.
Oh, let the pilgrims, let the pilgrims, then
Be vigilant, and quit themselves like men”

(“The Pilgrim’s Progress”)

 

 

God, grant me a vision of you that purifies and sustains.

Refresh my souls with your beauty;

allow me grace to persevere when night feels eternal;

fix my soul on your cross,

may my faith bring you joy.

 

Two by Two.

“Roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine
Together we can see what we can find”*

I’ve been mulling over those lines for the past few days; they beautifully describe the life-changing power of vulnerability.

The Divine reality is; we were created to need each other.

“Don’t leave me alone at this time,
For I am afraid of what I will discover inside”

Our journey’s of healing, sanctification, growth into self-awareness, ability to confront and freedom to confess were never meant to be solo expeditions.

Our trials are eased when we have hands to hold and shoulders to cry on. There is unimaginable grace in acceptance. It divides the darkness.

“The darkness is a harsh term don’t you think?
And yet it dominates the things I seek”

It’s terrifying to face the blackness of our brokenness.

Feelings of despair, loneliness, inadequacy, fear, anger and sadness are suffocating. In the moment they feel eternal.

Yet, they are an inescapable part of life in a fallen world and, for us to live free, consistent and ever-growing we must persevere;

“We need to experience all of our souls, whether good, bad or broken; otherwise what is not brought into the light of God’s love and relationship cannot be matured, healed and integrated into the rest of our character” – Cloud & Townsend (“How People Grow”).

Pain, life and grace force our gaze to the depth of our souls.

Complete redemption has not yet come; we bear the marks of sin and shame;

yet there, in our awareness of pain, lies the hope for healing.

“It seems as if all my bridges have been burned,
You say that’s exactly how this grace thing works”

We can heal each other; living as streams of grace, changing our wounds to scars and, in the process, making Divine mercy visible.

It takes courage to speak with vulnerability; to allow ourselves to be held.

It takes grace to listen with patience; to embrace another’s soul.

It takes time to accomplish both.

It takes determination to persist through pain.

It takes Christ to grant the desire for growth.

It takes the Holy Spirit to guide our steps.

It takes God’s grace to illuminate the path.

“Two are better than one…If either of them falls down, one can help the other up”– Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

*All song lyrics from “Roll Away Your Stone” by Mumford & Sons.