When was the last time you were driving down the road, your jam came on, and you had no choice but to crank up the music and wholeheartedly belt out the lyrics with an occasional raised hand or a fist pump? You’re jamming out so strongly, with no restraint knowing that everyone who passes you can’t help but laugh at the sight of you giving it your best Kelly Clarkson. Yeah, you know the feeling. That is my favorite. I love when I am so obsessed with a song that I want to sing it out so loud, so strong that at the end I’m breathless.
There is something so powerful about music. It’s motivating, lifts your spirits, and most often gets your body moving. But one of my favorite things about music is when it inspires.Being a writer, it’s probably pretty evident that words are important to me. They have power, they speak for us when we can’t find the voice, they share emotion, they evict love, they proclaim truth- they’re just good. So when you partner a beautiful melody with strong words that speak to the heart- that’s when I love music the most.
The scenario I described at the beginning of this post? Yeah… that was totally me this Tuesday. I was on the two hour drive up to our family cabin and I was jamming out. A hand was being raised, my head was bobbing, eyes were closing here and there (quickly and carefully of course- I mean, I was driving) – it was pretty epic. Not too long ago, I discovered an artist named Lauren Daigle who has an Adele-like voice combined with some truth-speaking, Jesus loving, God seeking lyrics. I am pretty obsessed with her. (If you haven’t heard of her, check her out- you will not regret it, and you’ll probably thank me.) The song that keeps finding itself on repeat, the reason that I felt inspired to write this post, and the cause of my jam-session is called Trust in You. With lyrics all about giving our dreams to the Lord, recognizing that His ways are better than mine, and with a full breathed declaration to trust in Him even when things aren’t going as we hoped – it seriously speaks to my heart.
I have very high hopes for this summer in regards to reaching for my dreams. I feel a pressure on my soul to be intentional about what feels to be my calling as a writer, but the fear that tries to grip me is wanting to be certain that this isn’t just my dream, my hope for my life, but that it is indeed His call for me. Being able to listen to a song that so clearly, and so profoundly describes the desires of my heart is so liberating and pushes me to make my trust in Him an outcry of my mouth and a declaration of my heart.
Singing the words, “Letting go of every single dream, I lay each one down at your feet… Truth is you know what tomorrow brings, there’s not a day ahead you have not seen” and then joining in the anthem cried out in the chorus where it says, “When you don’t move the mountains I needed you to move, when you don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through, When you don’t give the answers as I cry out to you, I will trust, I will Trust, I will Trust in you!” I know that the Lord is using Lauren’s beautiful voice and powerful lyrics to inspire and encourage me to over and over again give it all to Him.
I am so thankful that there is power in words.That God himself uses words to speak to us through the Bible - and that He reaches out to us through His Spirit to lay the truth that we so need to hear on our hearts. And I’m thankful that God created Lauren and her beautiful voice.
So if you drive past me in the near future and it looks like I’m embarrassingly in the zone, don’t worry, I'm most likely singing Trust in You. :) If you need a new jam with words that speak truth to your heart and give glory to God, I highly recommend checking out Lauren Daigle's cd How Can it Be. Then we can both be the crazies on the road turning up the music and pumping our fists- but better yet we can join together in giving our dreams to Him.
xo
