This morning was hard. I woke up and did not have any desire to get out of bed. I didn’t feel
like doing anything. The hard things of life were weighing my shoulders down. I got up anyway,
knowing all the things I should or could do to shake off the heaviness.
Sitting down with my coffee, I prayed. I gave my heart, my emotions, and my discontent to the
Lord. I read scripture. I journaled. I shared with Matt. Not much changed but it was time to
start the rest of my day. I reluctantly got up, moving slowly, and wasting as much time as
possible before getting the kids off to school.
I put on my running shoes. Usually, I listen to a podcast or a book as I run, but this morning I
needed something else. I put on some worship music and stepped out the door. The first few
steps were like sinking in concrete as my body warmed up to the rhythm of the running.
Halfway down our long street I began to get distracted by the song in my ears.
And then HE did it again. God showed up. The music spoke the words I couldn’t find earlier in
my prayer time. My heart connected and began to wake up from its sleepiness. My pace
quickened and I began to sing. Out loud. I began to worship and remember and see God. Cars
driving by might have wondered about the woman running with her arms raised in the air.
I arrived back to the house. Exactly none of my circumstances had changed. God hadn’t
changed. But I was different. My time running, singing, and praising lifted me up above it all.
God has given us His word as an anchor for our souls. Sometimes He speaks through a friend,
sometimes he speaks in the whispers of our hearts (1 Kings 19:12) and sometimes He speaks to
us through song. The songs today allowed me to grab hold of and declare what was already
true.
This isn’t the first time I have had this experience. God has come to me through song, time and
time again.
How can you reach out for God today? You never know when or how he will come out to meet
with you.
Here is a playlist to get you started: Songs of Deliverance
“You are my hiding place; You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of
deliverance.” - Psalm 32:7
“I woke up in darkness, surrounded by silence. Oh where, where have I gone? I woke to reality
losing its grip on me. Oh where, where have I gone?
‘Cause I can see the light before I see the sunrise. You called and you shouted. Broke through
my deafness. Now I’m breathing in and breathing out. I’m alive again.
You shattered my darkness. Washed away my blindness. Now I’m breathing in and breathing
out. I’m alive again. “
-Alive Again, Matt Maher
“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave
me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” -Ps.
40: 2-3
