Sing, sing a song...

Many of you know how often I sing.  From a young age I've always loved music and been known to walk about singing just about anything!  There's quite the eclectic library of music in this brain of mine.  On a random day you might find me singing anything from Motown to Madonna to a show tune to Tupac to Donnie McClurkin.

Most often praise and worship songs permeate my mind.  And yes it is partly because I love that music and there's something powerful about raising your voice to God...but it is also because it keeps my mind set on things above and hanging on to the hope that this world is temporary and God is in control.

Consider this song.

I encourage you to listen to this song if you haven't heard it before.

The lyrics to this song...they so perfectly express my heart.

I have one of those hearts that hurt for others easily.  I have one of those hearts that feels deeply.  I have a broken heart.  It's been broken by my own rebellion, broken by unhealthy relationships and choices of my past, broken by heartache around me, by loved ones who are suffering...

So there is much truth in these lyrics for me:

I've gone through the fire
And I've been through the flood
I've been broken into pieces
Seen lightnin' flashin' from above
But through it all I remember
That He loves me...And He cares
And He'll never put more on me
Than I can bear

For me, there are heavy days.  Sometimes it almost seems too much to bear.  

And yet I know that it is not.  I know that there is nothing I have or will experience that He has not.  No pain.  No injustice.  No misunderstanding.  No judgment.  No heartache.

And that gives me insurmountable comfort.

And it gives me song.

And that song brings me to my knees.

As a believer in Jesus Christ...I know that I have a responsibility to live as authentically and obediently as I can to His truth.  But it's not to please others.  It's not to stand out as a "star".  It's not to convince people to be like me.  It's not to make God look good.  Believe me, He looks good IN SPITE of me, He does not need me for that.  

It's not my job to keep other people, including other believers happy.  It's not my job to "keep quiet" so that the "pot" isn't stirred.  It's not my job to always look the other way and pretend.

It's because I live for an audience of one.  And He is the One.

So it's not going to look like anyone else.  Because I have to speak when He says to speak.  And I have to be silent when He says to be silent.  I have to stand when He says to stand.  And I have to fight when He says to fight.  And I have to sing when He says to sing.

Because through the fire and flood, the brokenness around me, the storm that brews around me...He is there.

Praise God.  He is always there.  And that gives me song.

That's what I got today.