Songs Speak To My Heart
Because of my love of words, the emotions that are voiced through music, and the sincere and intimate lyrics, songs speak to my heart.
Songs are one of my go-tos when I want comfort and encouragement. They are balms to my aching, hurting soul.
When I’m struggling to find the words of praise or prayer, songs become my voice to the Lord.
When our home is full of chaos, disunity, and warfare, I pull up a music app on our Apple TV to blare throughout the house. (Sorry to my neighbors if some days it gets a little loud. At least it’s better than the twins screaming at me. 😜 )
A wise friend of mine has often texted me, “Play worship music,” because she knows the power of praise to disarm the spiritual forces of evil trying to invade our home.
Some people have voices like angels. Some pour out music from their instruments with passion and ease. While I find joy in singing alone in my car really loudly, and I can play the piano, my favorite artistic expression of worship is dancing. Only my Lord sees me as I express my emotions to Him by dancing to worship songs.
Once in a while I’ll dance in front of my kids. Sometimes they join, and we have a worship dance party. But mostly, they laugh and give me the “You are weird, Mom” look.
Additionally, the book of Psalms is my favorite book of the Bible. The psalmists did not hold back and expressed their thoughts and emotions honestly, yet humbly, before the Lord. Most of these psalms are truly song lyrics.
Podcasts are in the ear buds of many people; audiobooks are playing to children through the speakers of cars. But music is always playing in my van as I drive the kids around. One of the twins used to say, “ON! ON!” if the radio was turned off. Now, he asks for “Jesus music.”
Recently, I was having a really rough day. Kherington gave me a hug and said, “I like to think about the song, “Firm Foundation.” Especially the lyric that says, ‘joy in the chaos.’ We can still have joy in the chaos, Mom.”
My twelve year old humbles me once again, and reminds me of truth from a favorite song of ours. The same girl, when seven years old, rubbed my back and sang to me as I wept in bed from grief. In lament before the Lord, you most likely will find me hiding under the covers with music playing.
Artwork by Gary Varvel
Throughout my book, Living Hope, I share QR codes to listen to songs that were meaningful to me as I grieved Seth and Roi. Now, I’m sharing the playlist of those songs and additional songs that did not make it into the book!
Below are the links to a YouTube playlist and a Spotify playlist. (We are big fans of music videos in our house, so YouTube wins over other platforms for us!)
Back in March, I spoke at a women’s conference about being broken after losing Seth and Roi. I have previously shared my speeches (which if you missed it, you can watch Part 1 and Part 2).
I also have made a playlist of some of my current favorite songs on brokenness - whether broken from sin or suffering. I have found comfort, hope, and healing from the truth of these lyrics, and I pray they do the same for you.
Looking for more music? These entire albums recently have been on repeat:
P.S. Let it be said: I am not condoning an artist’s overall theological beliefs by sharing a specific song. There are debates all over the internet, and you can choose where you fall on the spectrum. Personally, I don’t cancel an artist and never listen to any of their songs again, since some of their song lyrics actually do line up with biblical truth. In Mama Bear Apologetics, they say it best when they encourage the “chew-and-spit method”; “chew” or discern between truth and lies, “swallow” what is true, and “spit” out the rest. Or in this case, “listen and press skip” or “listen and sing.” 😉