In the Eye of the Storm

It has been said that music brings a soothing, healing effect to those in pain or in stress or crisis. Kari Jobe's song, "Healer" soothed my sweetheart's racked-with-pain-body as we played it over and over for him. That's why I chose "Amazing Grace" and "It is Well With My Soul" to post about over the last two days. I know God was giving me those songs to not only inspire me for the tough times, but also those of you that needed an encouraging word that could take you through to tomorrow.

I grew up in church singing hymns, of which many were written and composed during the most perilous and painful times. Indeed the sound of music has brought such healing and calm to me when I needed it most.

While watching the progression of Irma on the news yesterday, I kept hearing them talk about the "eye of the storm" -- that period of time during a storm when it becomes calm. And, whether things get better or worse after it, we know our anchor is God and His love and peace surrounds us....in the eye of the storm. It reminded me of this more recent recorded song that has blessed me so much.

May the words encourage those of you who are facing storms today -- literally AND figuratively -- with the calmness of knowing....God is in control. The YouTube link is at the end of my post.

In the eye of the storm, You remain in control.
And in the middle of the war, You guard my soul.
You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn
Your love surrounds me, in the eye of the storm.

When the solid ground is falling out from underneath my feet.
Between the black skies, and my red eyes, I can barely see.
When I realize I've been sold out by my friends and my family,
I can feel the rain reminding me.....

In the eye of the storm, You remain in control
In the middle of the war, You guard my soul
You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn
Your love surrounds me , in the eye of the storm.

When my hopes and dreams are far from me
And I'm runnin' out of faith.
I see the future I picture slowly fade away.
And when the tears of pain and heartache,
Are pouring down my face,
I find my peace in Jesus' name.

In the eye of the storm , You remain in control
In the middle of the war, You guard my soul.
You alone are the anchor, when my sails are torn.
Your love surrounds me, in the eye of the storm

When the test comes in and the doctor says
I've only got a few months left.
It's like a bitter pill I'm swallowing, I can barely take a breath.
And when addiction steals my baby girl,
And there's nothing I can do
My only hope is to trust You, I trust You, Lord

https://www.ccmmagazine.com/media/stream/video/music-video/ryan-stevenson-eye-of-the-storm/

What's the First Song You Think of With a Color in It?

This post today was prompted by someone’s FB post I saw yesterday. They said, “What’s the first song you think of with a color in it?“ I didn’t respond on the post but my mind started racing with songs with color in them. My first thought was to one of my favorite singers in the 60s, Bobby Vinton, and his song, “Blue on Blue – heartache on heartache”. Oh me. I didn’t like the negativity of that one and so I thought about another of his songs “Blue Velvet” but, in that one, he’s thinking about blue velvet through his tears, and then I thought about Bobby Darin’s (same era) “Red Roses for a Blue Lady” , but it talks about the silly quarrel he and his girl friend had. Then I thought about “Yellow Submarine” – a hit by the Beatles (same era) which was an imaginary song of living under the sea – a little more positive than singing the “blues”! LOL! I guess the older I get, the more I think about the "oldies", and the closer to God I get, the more I don't sing those songs anymore.

I grew up in an evangelical, traditional church and sang most songs from hymn books, which presented a stark contrast to those 60s "bluesy" songs. Being a Christian back then was all I knew because of my Bible-toting, church-attending, prayer-praying family. My faith experience included being around other faithful men and women of God who taught Sunday School, (my dad was the Sunday School Superintendent) and my mom served on many committees and led many prayer groups. I don’t ever remember not wanting to go to church I grew up loving God’s Word and His church.

Before long, a new style of Christian music was introduced to me. My boy friend (who eventually became my husband) and I fell in love with Andrae Crouch and the Disciples’ and Bill and Gloria Gaither’s music – catchy songs with choruses that inspired passion and emotion. Those songs depicted a faith in God that was alive and relevant to what we were going through at the time. Something stirred within me as I listened to that music. Something was happening in my heart, beyond the love I had for my cute boy friend. My faith was expanding from head-knowledge to life-changing, heart knowledge.

I still can picture us at a sold-out music hall before a live “Jesus” concert as people were swaying and waving their hands in the air for love of Jesus. It wasn’t the “traditional” way of singing. Quite frankly, it was undignified, but oh so liberating and I knew I wanted more of that all out abandonment love for Jesus and wanting to express it so much.

We were “extreme” Dallas Cowboy fans back then – when they first became a franchise – and we were completely undignified in our support of “our team”. We would whoot and holler and carry on as we watched the games like crazy, fanatical people. So praising God for Who He was in our lives -- from the tips of our toes to the tips of our fingers – made perfect sense in support of “our God”! We didn’t worry at all about what others thought.

Think about the story of King David dancing before the Lord. He sure didn’t worry what others thought. David had overseen the return of the ark of the Lord, and as it neared, he couldn’t contain his joy. He replaced his kingly attire with a simple outfit and danced with all his might. His wife, Michal, didn’t approve of David’s behavior. She was disgusted with him and told him so. David wasn’t fazed and responded with words that encourage me today: "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel — I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this …” (2 Samuel 6:21-22).

That’s my hope and prayer for myself. I want my longing for more of God to help me completely release my fears and worship with uncontained joy. Someday, some folks may look at me and think that I’m too old to dance and whoot and holler, but I hope I’ll still be lifting my wrinkled hands in praise with my gray head bobbing and my body swaying in worship — still wanting more. And then one day, beyond that, all my longings will be fulfilled because I'll be completely and totally in His presence and worshiping Him face to face. Oh, what a day that will be!

John 4:23, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”