I have an addiction! It\u2019s because of a long line of folks who were equally addicted. One of the meanings of \u201caddiction\u201d is: \u201centhusiastically devoted to a particular thing or activity\u201d. I am addicted to old AND new songs of faith. I didn\u2019t have to tell you that because I confess to that addiction often when I have another hymn, song or chorus playing in my head which becomes a part of one of my blogs.
When I lived in Tulsa, I attended and served on a women\u2019s faith-based retreat each year. At the end of the day, we would find time to play the song game, Encore. Divided into two teams, the game is won by those who could belt out the most songs that contain a specific word found on a drawn card. The gals wanted me on their team because I knew lots of songs, most of which were faith-based!
I grew up in an evangelical, traditional family and church where we sang those beautiful old hymns that were inspired by the pioneers of faith who learned to trust God in the toughest of times. They found His goodness amid the storms. Then I met a pastor\u2019s kid, fell in love with him, later married and continued our love for that good old Gospel music. Before long, a new style of Christian music was introduced to us. Andrae Crouch and the Disciples\u2019 songs and Bill and Gloria Gaither\u2019s songs became songs we sang in our Masters IV Quartet \u2013 all catchy songs with choruses that inspired passion and emotion. Those new songs then, are old songs today, but I still embrace them, as well as the many beautiful songs written by Christian composers and artists today!
Music is a common theme and battle cry throughout scripture. David with his harp soothed the weary soul of King Saul. It was by singing and dancing later that King David expressed his joy that the Ark of the Covenant was being returned. And, it has been music that has been central to our family\u2019s lives \u2014 writing, recording, and singing. Music is so powerful. It heightens our emotions, calms our fears, brings light into dark places, and gives us the overflowing joy to not resist dancing, clapping, or tapping to the beat.
It\u2019s no surprise that God is called MY SONG in scripture. MY SONG was the name that Moses used to describe God as he celebrated the miraculous deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. Moses just had to sing because his heart couldn\u2019t contain the gratitude and awe he felt for God. He called the Lord MY SONG. He felt compelled to worship. God had freed and SAVED His people through miracle after miracle. \u201cThe LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.\u201d (Psalm 118:14)
Shouldn\u2019t we be belting out songs, too? If God is our SONG, then how can we not sing? How can we not find a song \u2013 OUR SONG, God \u2013 in both the everyday routine and in the miraculous of our lives. I MUST sing because my heart can\u2019t contain the gratitude and awe I FEEL for God. Like Moses and the Israelites, He has been my salvation.
Bill Gaither\u2019s words in \u201cGod Gives the Song\u201d are my words, too. \u201cYou ask me why my heart keeps singing, why I can sing when things go wrong. Since I\u2019ve found the SOURCE of music, I just can\u2019t help it. God gave the song.\u201d Are you addicted to uplifting and encouraging, hope-filled songs, too?
Psalm 98:4 “Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have an addiction! It\u2019s because of a long line of folks who were equally addicted. One of the meanings of \u201caddiction\u201d is: \u201centhusiastically devoted to a particular thing or activity\u201d. I am addicted to old AND new songs of faith. I didn\u2019t have to tell you that because I confess to that addiction often…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21478,21479,21480,21477],"tags":[2124,5099,13602,21473,1210,1769,1839,21469,21470,21472,3097,40,98,5863,2301,10085,21466,21471,21474,21475,21476,773,21467],"class_list":["post-14805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hymns","category-music","category-songs","category-strength-and-song","tag-addiction","tag-andrae-crouch","tag-ark-of-the-covenant","tag-bill-and-gloria-gaithers","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-christian-music","tag-encore","tag-evangelical","tag-gospel-music","tag-hymn","tag-inspiration","tag-king-david","tag-masters-iv-quartet","tag-music","tag-my-song","tag-my-strength","tag-pioneers-of-faith","tag-psalm-11814","tag-psalm-984","tag-shout-to-the-lord","tag-song","tag-songs-of-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14807,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14805\/revisions\/14807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}