It's in the lyrics....

Today in church, my pastor had a very good point that really hit home with me... He said (and I'm pretty much paraphrasing this, fyi), "God has unmeasurable power. BUT, you can't use the full extent of that power when your keeping bits and pieces of your life away from Him- keeping it private." How true of a statement is that!? We can't expect God to help us work on things that we won't hand up to Him.

So, I said this comment really hit home for me, and this is how: For the past 3 years or so, I've been struggling with my relationship with God. But there was one area that was a huge part of that struggle, and that area was my music. I'm a person that LOVES a good beat, something that's easy to dance or sing to. The problem was, the music that I listened to, was not something that I'd want my pastor to see on my iPod.... There were a few times I'd delete all the crappy music I had, only to gain it back later when I was in a bad mood and wanted my "good music" back.

But, I vowed that when I moved into my sister's house, I was going to change my life. I don't want to be the same person I was in high school. And I've been doing pretty good with that.... But, music has still been an issue. Today though, it was like God sent a jolt through me when my pastor was talking about keeping parts of ourselves private from Him. I knew that was a sign, that something needed to change, NOW. So, I've spent the last 3 hours going through my iPod, deleting first all the music I knew I shouldn't have, followed by all the song I wasn't totally sure about, then finally just the stuff that I've never actually listened to (that friends randomly put on). I deleted over 400 songs. And believe me, it was HARD. Eminem was the guy I turned to when I was angry or was just in the mood for rap. I loved Ke$ha, P!nk, Pitbull, all the rappers, I loved it all. But I love God more. I cherish my relationship with God more than my crappy music. After all, it was Him that got me through the hard times; the money problems, job hunts, school issues, family problems, broken hearts, hurt relationships. He never left me unsatisfied, empty. Like the end of a song. This has been by far one of the hardest things I've done with trying to become a better Christian, but I feel so much better knowing I can't blatantly turn away from Him in defiance for music.

This is definitely going to be a work in progress for me. I know there will be a lot of temptation to listen to my old music again. But I'm going to do my best to stay away from it, and I know with God's help, there's nothing I can't do.... If you have any suggestions for clean music for me to look into, it's much appreciated!

Loving thoughts,
Girl With No Name