7/20
((from Brittany))

This week we’re talking about the hard stuff of life and today I want to do something a little different.

Instead of overwhelming you with my words, I want to share a brief story and a song with you. You see, when my life fell apart and I couldn’t see any way out of the mess, I had an extremely difficult time spending time in the Word. The only two books of the Bible I could stomach were Psalms and Lamentations. So for about six months I just stayed put in those books, reading a few verses here and there, but my focus was limited and capacity for words in general was sparse.

It wasn’t apathy; rather it was that my wounds didn’t allow me to have the ability to see the grand scheme of any story. I had to focus on the small and take tiny bites. Truth was still my sustenance, but I had to get creative in digesting it.

One of the ways I consumed truth wasn’t just through reading, but through music.

Hear me out. I am the child of a Baptist pastor and church secretary; I cannot tell you the popular music of my teenage years, but man can I sing every word to DC Talk, Steven Curtis Chapman, and even Carmen (Righteous Invasion Of Truth… Anybody? Bueller? Bueller? Hangs head in shame).

Needless to say, once I left for college I threw the baby out with the bath water and went on a decade long fast from Christian music.

Enter my undoing, and all of a sudden I found myself drawn to music with truth intertwined in its lyric and message. Now, I’m not talking about the stuff you find on the Christian radio station, I’m talking worship music. Deep lyrics chalked full of truth. I found artists I never heard before and reintroduced myself to some that got unfairly tossed out in my Christian music purge.

I had a stash of songs that I played on repeat, but this video, I would watch and just weep and watch again. And amidst deep sorrow, I knew that I was loved. I knew I had not been abandoned. I was reminded that there was purpose in my suffering.

So today, I want to share this video with you. If you are suffering, I’m begging you to know that you are not abandoned. Our God sees you, He loves you, and your suffering is not in vain. I’ll spare you my words, but I’m begging you to listen to these ones:

Cheering you on in your pain,
Brit