Joyful Noise

     When I was born, so the story goes, I cried for four months straight.  I like to say that I was just warming up my vocal cords.  Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are my mom singing or whistling “Praise to you LORD Jesus Christ” and me responding in song “King of endless glory!”  Now, I sing when I wake up and get ready, I sing when I walk to class, I sing before class starts, after it ends, I sing doing my homework, I sing in the shower.  I. Sing. All. The. Time.

Picture via Jesus Music Oldies 

         
    God has given each of us our own unique way of connecting to him on a personal level, like a love language.  For me, music gives movement and passion to ideas that I can’t articulate with words alone. The rise and fall of the notes paired with the lyrics put emotion behind ideas that can become flat in our busy lives.  I love to hear the stories told by artists through their songs and I sometimes sing to God myself, making up words and tunes based on how I feel.

     Each week I lead a Bible study of about half a dozen amazing girls in my tiny dorm room.  One of my favorite studies we have ever done was our study of grace.  I was out of things to say and the conversation had fallen silent, I panicked for a split second and then my all-time favorite lyric came to mind.  So I figured I might as well play the song for them, that would take at least three and a half minutes.

      I pulled up Relient K’s “Be My Escape” on Spotify and played the song for my girls.  After we had listened I told them the reason I love this song is for the lyric, “The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.”  How beautiful is that!?  I can’t stand it sometimes! I told the girls how this lyric really spoke to me the first time I heard it and how it brings me comfort when things are getting tough in my life.  Then something beautiful happened; the girls started to share their favorite praise and worship songs with the group.  I pulled up each of their songs for us to listen to and after we had listened to them we discussed each one.  I felt so connected to the girls in my study and so connected to the LORD and even connected to the artists who performed the songs. Music bonded my Bible study and bonds me to the Christ.

     We all have different ways to best connect with God.  How do you like to connect? What is your favorite praise and worship song? Questions? Comments? Drop me a line (or a beat) in the comments below!