Songs that Hurt, Songs that Heal

I love music.  I grew up listening to music; my parents hosted hootenannies, my grandmother taught guitar and piano, my dad played jazz piano.  I’ve studied folk music and written out “clean” lyrics of popular rap songs for my students to read.  I’ve taught songs to Girl Scouts, youth groups, Sunday School classes, and hundreds of students.  The first album I owned was a Joan Baez LP that Mom passed on to me:  folk songs and protest songs.   The song “Pass It On” led me to Christ when I was 15.  The first “date” Marty and I went on was to a feminist singer’s concert.   I sang songs and hymns to Mom when she was recovering from cancer surgery, and many years later as she was going through the dying process.  One of my favorite things to do is to worship God, singing His praises with other worshippers.

Several years ago I went through a rough patch.  A crime was committed against my son and because of that a handful of our church family judged us to be unfit (for ministry, for the church, for working with kids, for parenting…?).  This, along with other traumas sent me into a spiritual and emotional depression.  During this period I found out that songs that used to bring me joy could hurt.  For a couple of years I couldn’t worship God…well, I worshipped Him but I couldn’t feel it.  It was hard work sometimes, but I did it.

We had to look for a new church.   It was often a song that would send me fleeing from a church that previously felt “okay.”  It might have been a song that the kids at my previous church home used to sing.  The song hurt because I missed my ministry, I missed my kids.  It might have been a song that we sang dozens of times at our previous church home; and I simply missed hearing Kathy sing harmony.

God heals.  Time heals.   I started being able to worship God again with my heart as well as my actions.  We are part of a new church family – and the worship team rocks!  I’m making new memories with new favorite songs.

Last Saturday  I went to GraceFest AV.  I sat with friends from school, and through the afternoon I saw other friends from work.  What a blessing to work with brothers and sisters in Christ!  I felt so comfortable and at home, sitting with my friends. 

Gracefest - with friends!

Ahead of me, to my right, were friends from my previous church family (Judy!).  To my left, friends from my new church family (Anita, Nahrin!).  In the past few years I’ve often felt anxious in situations like this, worried that I might see someone who would trigger difficult emotions.  I felt no anxiety yesterday at GraceFest….. until I remembered what MercyMe’s biggest hit was.

MercyMe at Gracefest AV 2012

The band MercyMe was blessing our socks off.  I was surprised how many songs were familiar.  I had heard them at Spirit West Coast ten years ago or so, and we loved the band, but I hadn’t kept up with their music (hadn’t purchased any songs).  I checked my iPhone to see which music I had, and checked iTunes to see what their biggest hits were.  That’s when I realized…. I Can Only Imagine.

I Can Only Imagine beautifully ponders what heaven will be like, and what the singer’s reaction to God’s presence will be.  My friend, Mary, has sung it at memorial services.  I loved the song when it first came out.  I “broke up” with I Can Only Imagine seven years ago.

My son and “N” were driving to a wedding rehearsal, singing along to I Can Only Imagine when a gust of wind caught the car and they slammed into a telephone pole.  Our pastor called us to tell us about the accident – I was in the hospital in Bakersfield for bilateral carpal tunnel release surgery.  I wouldn’t let them give me anesthesia until I spoke to Calvin and found out he was okay.  A month later we learned that “N” had betrayed our family, and my world began to fall to pieces.   

Spirit West Coast DelMar

Spirit West Coast Monterey

Saturday evening I asked Mary to pray for me if MercyMe played I Can Only Imagine.  She was away from our group of chairs when the song started, and I braced myself for anxiety or bad memories.  HOWEVER, instead of bad memories I remembered worshipping God at Spirit West Coast ten years ago.  I remembered singing I Can Only Imagine with over a thousand people.  I remembered Marty’s vision – that this was a glimpse of what heaven would be like; the joy, honor, and pleasure of worshipping God eternally.  Mary came back, put her arm around me, and asked if I was okay.  YES!  I was okay!  I was good!  Praise God, I can sing and listen to that song again.


Sunday morning I went to church by myself.  We had spent the past two weekends at our retirement home in Nipomo, and Marty was there again this weekend (working on the sprinkler system).  I found a friend to sit with, and found joy in worshipping our Lord through music.  Then the song Jesus Paid It All started.  This was a song that we (my sister and I) sang to Mom last February, and we sang it at her memorial service.  I wondered whether I would cry, remembering Mom’s passing.

Yes, I cried!  I cried because Jesus melted my heart of stone (I really did feel like my heart had turned to stone for a couple years there).  I cried because I truly felt like I was worshipping with a church family.  I was sitting next to Nicoletta; we’re praising God because her husband’s recent accident did NOT kill him or take away his hand when his van tipped on its side with his hand out the window.  I was sitting in back of friends of Stan and Gail.  Gail recently died in a motorcycle accident, and this church family rallied around Stan and the kids beautifully.  Right behind me was another friend, whose teenaged daughter was positively glowing with a bright scarf around her neck.  The scarf covered the stitches from very recent thyroid cancer surgery.   Our strength is small, but in Him we find our healing, but even more:  our HOPE!

I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all."

Chorus:
Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper's spots And melt the heart of stone.

(Chorus)

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
"Jesus died my soul to save" my lips shall still repeat

(Chorus)

O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
O Praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead