Acoustic Story time

Ephesians 4:25 – “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

I try to be careful to not mention actual product names (and sometimes people’s names) for obvious reasons. Today, I will make an exception.

A couple of devotions ago, I mentioned a song that even without listening to the lyrics touched me to the point of crying (this isn’t easy for me to admit because I was raised that guy’s don’t cry).  Today, they replayed the same program on my satellite radio and I’d like to share more of it with you.

The name of the show is Acoustic Storytime hosted by an artist Jason Gray. His guests for this show were Laura Story and Jon Reddick. The interesting aspect is that the Christian artists give you insights into their songs.

For example, Laura Story shared how just 2 years into their marriage, her husband was diagnosed with brain cancer. There is a lot more to her story (I’m fairly sure you can access it online) but she used it to express her belief that God gave her musical insight (as opposed to mastery in her own life) to write “Blessings”. 

Here are part of the lyrics:

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

And all the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops?

What if Your healing comes through tears?

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near?

And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

If that isn’t enough to make you well up, the song by Jon Reddick, “You Keep Hope Alive” is the song that made me cry without even listening to the lyrics.

Here are part of the lyrics:

You keep hope alive, You keep hope alive

From the beginning to end

Your word never fails

You keep hope alive, because You are alive

Jesus, You are alive

Death had a stronghold

But Your life was stronger

Rose from the grave, rose up from the grave

Yeah

When evil is rising, You're rising higher

With power to save, with power to save, You keep hope alive, You keep hope alive

Both of these songs have powerful messages that are exponentially increased when you hear the artist’s testimonial with them.

I share this with you not to recommend these artists (or even the radio program) but for two reasons. The first is music is a powerful praise tool in your worship of God. I encourage you to pour your heart into listening to music and singing/performing music whenever you have the chance. The second, and that is more cultural for men from my generation, God is teaching me that it’s okay to express emotions.  In fact, I hope and pray, he has expanded my heart and focus to be more on him and others than on myself and that, in and of itself, is opening up my emotional response to the world.