Music is amazing. I love music. I am a musician, but I have always loved music even before I learned how to play an instrument. I listen to music while I sleep, while I work, while I clean, when I cook, etc. It always helps to set my mood, depending on what I am doing. If any of you like to listen to music, you will know what I am talking about. Even as I write this, I am listening to my favorite playlist.
So why am I going on about my love for music, you ask? Well, God taught me something last week and knowing my love for music, you will understand how important this lesson was for me.
Last week, I was dealing with this feeling of being a burden to those around me. I knew it was not true and was just a lie, but I could not seem to find the truth that would help me overcome this feeling. I prayed that God would tell me what He thought of me, to tell me the truth. However, I did not hear anything for a few days. During this time though, as normal, I played my music. For me, music, especially worship music, helps me get out of any funk I am in. However, this time it did not work. On Friday, I took a bike ride to a park near my house. As I was sitting on the bench at the park, I decided to remove my earphones and listen to nature. I wanted to spend some alone time with God and enjoy the evening. As I did this though, suddenly I heard God so clearly! He told me, “Daughter, I love you. You are not a burden. You are a blessing. You are a gift. This is the truth and I do not want you to believe anything otherwise.”
It was such a beautiful moment. But then I started to think about it. God talked to me when I was in a quiet moment, when I could actually hear His voice. He spoke when there were no distractions from listening to Him. I wondered, if I had put aside time earlier that week to have real quiet time with Him, maybe I would have heard this truth sooner.
This was definitely a lesson learned. Quiet times with God do not always need background music, but need to just be… well… set-aside time that is quiet. There is nothing wrong with playing worship music while spending time with God, but I realized there is a time for everything. Sometimes, He wants us to play worship music and sometimes He just wants silence.
Princesses, I wanted to share what I learned this week because maybe some of you needed to hear this too. Setting aside alone time, quiet time, whatever you would like to call it, with God, is one of the most important things we can do. He longs to spend time with us always. Every moment, we are constantly on His mind. But how much importance is place on Him in our life? How hungry are you for Him? That is something He asked me once. How hungry was I for His voice, His presence, etc.? In other words, was I willing to lay down my life, put aside anything that was coming between Him and I, take up my cross and follow Him? I made a covenant with God and told Him that my life was His and there was nothing that I wanted more than Him. Last Friday, He reminded me of my promise.
Music is amazing. I love music. But I love God more. And I never want it, or anything else to get in the way of hearing my Papa’s voice. Besides, His voice is the sweetest song I could ever listen to.
I want to end with this amazing song by Matt Stinton & Bethel Music called “Give Me Jesus”: