Growing up, I measured time by the books I was reading and the songs that captured my attention. As the months turned into years, I realized that a certain song could not only trigger a single memory, but paint a whole scene, bringing me right back to what was happening when that song was my favorite. As I got older, songs highlighted more of what God was teaching me in specific seasons, which is why I’m calling this category Songs for the Seasons.
I started asking the Lord for songs, so that I wouldn’t just be looking back at my favorite music for memory’s sake, but looking ahead, expectantly awaiting what He would teach me in the month before me. It became a regular and beautiful thing, with God putting His Finger on specific songs throughout the month and each song contained a theme that followed me for that month. I began to look forward to the songs and the different ways in which He would point them out to me. Each time was completely unique and special, and I was often brought to tears over this personal and intimate way that He was caring for me. The songs served as reminders that He knew what I was going through each step of the way and was ready to equip me by providing the tools and the power I needed to take the next steps and learn the lessons He had for me at a particular time.
This tradition has continued for several years and I have lists of songs for each season in my journals. These past couple months, my attention waned, and though God gave me songs, I didn’t allow myself to focus on them as I had in the past.
But just last night, the end of January, I was in prayer and received what I wasn’t even sure I was asking for. God gave me a song…and it’s the type of song you want to pore over diligently until you know the words—not a song that preaches at you, telling you what you need to believe, but one that you feel the need to sing until you believe it.
If you haven’t checked out Bethel’s album “Brave New World”, you should; you will be blessed! https://bethelmusic.com/albums/brave-new-world/
The album title alone is applicable to my life right now…a glorified way of saying that I’m in a new place and I often find myself acting out more bravery than I feel. A new world requires bravery, and you don’t always get to prepare as much as you’d like. In places where you are comfortable, you don’t feel this inadequacy, this desperation for God to fill you with Himself, because nothing else will do. The “brave new world” drives you to your knees for what you lack, “overwhelmed by the conviction that you have nowhere else to go,” as Abraham Lincoln put it.
The song God gave me was one I had only heard once in passing…“Heroes.”
You’d think from the title that the song is about being heroic, but the first lines are “Let the heroes rest/Let the striving cease.”
This song highlights the choice that lies before each of us every day–a choice to trust while “in the mystery”, knowing that in the midst of things you don’t understand, God doesn’t change.
This is the type of song you can declare in any season…because, let’s face it…even in seasons where everything is going “perfectly” and you are doing God’s will, there will always be something to surrender to Him, something that didn’t go your way, some part of your will, your mind, your heart to give to the Lord. And this sacrifice isn’t a burden…
This song speaks of the joy in all that He is making new…a reason to choose to sing Hallelujah! To find everything in Him when we’ve looked in vain for it elsewhere. A reason to cling to Him–the only One who can teach us to dance, to scale the heights, to rejoice.
I am so thankful for a song that can be my anthem for this season. Thankful for a God whose patience and limitless love don’t ever end.
"Heroes", Amanda Cook, Jason Ingram, Paul Mabry, Bethel Music, 2015
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